Country focus

Focus on any country in the world, whether large or small, whether constantly in the news or largely ignored by the global media – and CIRCA has the up-to-date information on how it is run, who's in power and what the key issues are.

The following example comes from People in Power, our constantly updated service on government structures and personnel worldwide.

Post-coup elections held in Niger

From People in Power

Background
President Mamadou Tandja was ousted in a coup on 18 February 2010. The coup suspended the constitution, dissolved all state institutions and established the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) as the new ruling body.
A referendum was held on 31 October 2010 on a new constitution designed to return the country to democratic rule and reduce the power of the president. Elections were held under this constitution in early 2011.

Principal parties
National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD-Nassara);
Nigerien Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ANDP-Zaman Lahiya);
Nigerien Democratic Movement for an African Federation (Moden FA-Lumana);
Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS-Tarayya);
Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP-Jama’a).

Presidential:
31 January 2011 (first round). The second round is scheduled for 12 March.
Results
First round:
Mahamadou Issoufou (PNDS-Tarayya) 36.1%;
Seyni Oumarou (MNSD) 23.2%;
Hama Amadou (Moden FA-Lumana) 19.8%;
seven other candidates.
Opposition candidate Issoufou led the first round of the 2011 presidential election, and faces Oumarou, the candidate of the ousted ruling party in the second round. In the 2004 election Issoufou had lost to incumbent president Mamadou Tandja, who was ousted on 18 February 2010. Gen. Salou Djibo took over as head of state in his capacity as leader of the CSRD.

Legislative:
31 January 2011.
Results
PNDS-Tarayya 39 seats;
MNSD-Nassara 26 seats;
Moden FA-Lumana 24 seats;
ANDP-Zaman Lahiya 8 seats;
RDP-Jama’a 7 seats;
others 9 seats.
The PNDS-Tarayya, which had boycotted the 2009 election, emerged as the largest party in the 2011 elections, though well short of a majority. The MNSD-Nassara, the ruling party at the time of the coup, finished in second place.

For up-to-date election details of all countries of the world and government listings, go to People in Power

Country focus: Kyrgyzstan

Full name: The Kyrgyz Republic
Capital: Bishkek

Current constitution: 2010. A referendum was held on 27 June 2010, which approved a new constitution, in which the power of the president was much reduced and a single term limit was introduced.

Head of state: The head of state is a president, directly elected by universal adult suffrage. Under the 2010 Constitution, the presidential term of office is six years, non-renewable. Askar Akayev, first elected in October 1990, was deposed by popular uprising on 24 March 2005, left the country and was replaced on an acting basis by Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Bakiyev was elected president in July 2005, and sworn in on 14 August. He was re-elected in July 2009, but was forced from office in early April 2010 and left the country, and replaced by Roza Otunbayeva (a former foreign minister) as acting president at the head of an interim government. The interim government announced that it had received a letter of resignation from Bakiyev on 15 April, but Bakiyev was also said to have denied resigning. Otunbayeva was formally appointed interim president by decree of the interim government, to hold office until the end of 2011. This appointment was approved in the June 2010 constitutional referendum, and Otunbayeva was officially sworn in as interim president on 3 July.

Legislature: The legislature, the Supreme Council (Jogorku Kenesh), is unicameral. As elected in 2007, it has 90 members directly elected for a five-year term.

Executive: Under the current interim arrangements, the interim president chairs the government, pending the election of a new legislature.

Most recent elections:
- Presidential: 23 July 2009. The next election was scheduled for 10 October 2010, but has been postponed to late 2011.
- Legislative: 16 December 2007. The next election is scheduled for 10 October 2010.

Political makeup of government: In the 2007 legislative elections, held for the first time under a recently introduced multiparty system, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s Ak-Zhol party received nearly half the votes cast, and a large majority of the seats. (In previous legislative elections, a majority of members were elected to the Supreme Council as nonpartisan supporters of the then President Akayev.) Bakiyev was forced out of office on 7 April 2010 after more than 50 people were killed in clashes between police and opposition crowds protesting about government violations of basic rights. The minister of the interior was killed, and one of the deputy prime ministers taken hostage. Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov, who had been in office only since the previous October, resigned on 11 April, and an interim government, led by Acting President Roza Otunbayeva, was set up and sworn into office on 13 April. The minister of foreign affairs was appointed the following day. Parliament was dissolved: on 22 April it was announced that elections would be held in October 2010. A minister for youth affairs was appointed on 21 May, and a minister for education and science on 1 June. After the new constitution was adopted, it was announced that Otunbayeva, as interim president, would continue to chair the interim government until the October 2010 election.

Head of State
Roza Otunbayeva (f) — Interim President; Chair of the Interim Government

Interim Government
Almaz Sharshenovich Atambayev — First Deputy Chair; Economy
Temir Argembayevich Sariyev — Deputy Chair; Finance
Omurbek Chirkeshovich Tekebayev — Deputy Chair; Constitutional Reform
Azimbek Beknazarov — Deputy Chair; Co-ordinator of the Activities of the Prosecutor’s Offices and Courts
Ismail Isakovich Isakov — Defence
Ruslan Kazakbayev — Foreign Affairs
Bolot Sherniyazov — Internal Affairs
Keneshbek Asanbekovich Dushebayev — Chair of the State National Security Service
Emil Umetaliyev — Economic Regulation
Emilbek Salamatovich Kaptagayev — without portfolio
*Kanat Sadykov — Education and Science
Erkinbek Isakov — Transport
Sheraly Abdyldayev — State Property
Elmira Ibraimova (f) — Co-ordinator for the Social Sector and Public and Media Relations
Damira Niyazaliyeva (f) — Health
Osmonbek Artykbayev — Energy
Baytemir Ibrayev — Prosecutor-General
Edil Baysalov — Head of the Executive Office of the Chair of the Interim Government
Ryskeldi Mombekov — Culture
*Aliyasbek Alymkulov — Youth Affairs
Mukan Abylgaziyev — Director of the Social Fund
Kuban Kulmatov — Director of the State Customs Service
Temirkan Berenaliyev — Chair of the Fund of State Material Reserves
Adylbek Kasymaliyev — Chair of the State Tax Service
Bolot Elebesov — Chair of the State Fund for Compulsory Medical Insurance
Aybek Turganbayev — Military Prosecutor
Cholponkul Arabayev — Chair of the State Agency for Human Resources
Almambet Shikmamatov — Chair of the State Registration Service
Taalaybek Nuraliyev — Chair of the State Penal Service
Kubanychbek Mombekov — Chair of the Supreme Court

Country focus: South Africa

Rich in natural resources, South Africa comprises a central plateau, or veld, bordered to the south and east by the Drakensberg Mountains. After eight decades of white minority rule, with racial segregation under the apartheid policy since 1948, South Africa from 1990 underwent a social and political revolution. The first multiracial elections were held in 1994 and the African National Congress (ANC), initially under Nelson Mandela, has been the leading political movement ever since. Poverty and the spread of crime and HIV/AIDS are major problems.

Climate
Despite the moderating effects of oceans on three sides, the warm temperate climate is dry; 65% of the country has less than 50 cm (20 in) of rain a year. Drought is a periodic hazard.

Transportation
Priorities include expanding port capacity and cross-border rail networks. Africa’s first high-speed train link opened in 2010 from Johannesburg to Pretoria (Tshwane). Public transportation is limited and expensive, but there is an extensive informal network of minibuses and taxis.

Tourism
South Africa has huge tourist potential, with attractions ranging from beaches to mountains, and from prizewinning vineyards to world-renowned wildlife reserves. The enormous Kruger National Park boasts 137 mammal species and 450 bird species. Visitor numbers increased throughout the 1990s, but tourism was slow to recover from the country’s isolation during the apartheid era. Today, the key constraint on growth is rising crime. Studies suggest that by 2005 tourism could create an additional 450,000 jobs and contribute 10% toward GDP (compared with 4% in 1995).

People
Under apartheid, people were divided into racial categories: Whites (Afrikaners and English speakers), with the most privileges, and three black groups – Coloreds (people whose descent was deemed mixed), Asians (mainly Indians), and Africans, by far the largest single group. While blacks now dominate politics, whites still control the economy. The white population has fallen by 16% over the last decade, causing a shortage of engineers, teachers, and doctors. The traditional African extended family has been undermined by the need for men to migrate to towns for work. Once enforced by the state, this remains as an economic necessity. A small black middle class has developed, but most blacks are underemployed. There is considerable resentment over wealth disparities in the many townships. Violence flared up in 2008 against black immigrant workers seen as “stealing” South African jobs: 25,000 foreigners fled the worst-affected Johannesburg–Pretoria area. The expected postapartheid ethnic conflict failed to materialize. Race-based movements such as Inkatha have not made a national impact. An area of the Kalahari Desert was returned to a Khomani San tribe in 1999. The constitution enshrines equality of the sexes; many women are now prominent in public life. South Africa has led the way in Africa in providing homosexuals with legal rights; same-sex marriage was legalized in 2006.

Education
Education reform is a central task of the postapartheid government. Progress has been made in improving national literacy, and access to education has been widened through the Tirisano (working together) education program, launched in 2000. Long-established universities continue to be white-dominated.

Health
Health services were desegregated formally in 1990, but equal access to care is still a distant goal. Statistics on medical provision hide a strong bias toward whites and urban areas, where the vast majority of doctors work; infant mortality rates are increasing sharply among the poorly provisioned rural communities, most of whom are black. South Africa has over five million HIV sufferers, the highest number in the world. The government has won the right to buy cheaper generic drugs for HIV/AIDS sufferers and has increased spending; a reversal of government policy in 2006 will allow ARV drugs to become much more widely available. Obesity is increasing.

Politics
South Africa became a multiracial democracy following elections in 1994.ProfileThe 1994 elections ended 45 years of apartheid and saw political power transferred to the ANC, with veteran ANC activist Nelson Mandela as president. In 1999 the party increased its majority, while Thabo Mbeki succeeded as president. Its dominance has enabled the introduction of reform but has stifled debate. Parliamentary defections gave the ANC a two-thirds majority, which it retained in the 2004 elections. The former white-rule NNP disbanded in 2004, many of its members joining the ANC. Veteran anti-apartheid militant Jacob Zuma beat incumbent President Thabo Mbeki to win the ANC party leadership in 2007, despite the cloud of corruption allegations hanging over him. The bitter rivalry between the two split the ANC, with Zuma’s supporters gaining the ascendancy to the extent that Mbeki was forced to step down prematurely as president in September 2008, the courts having ruled that he had tried to manipulate the corruption allegations against his rival. Several senior ANC members left the party and formed a new opposition party in December – the Congress of the People. This fresh option for the April 2009 elections meant they were heralded as the most democratic since 1994: in the end the ANC lost little support, though its majority was reduced just under the two-thirds necessary for making constitutional amendments. Zuma acceded to the presidency in May.Main Political IssuesTruth and reconciliationThe creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1996 to investigate and air the horrors of apartheid was a truly innovative step and one since replicated in other countries emerging from conflict. Two years of painful and often controversial hearings culminated in a final report in 1998. Initial praise has been modified by allegations of corruption. In 2003 the government agreed to pay $3800 dollars to each victim of apartheid – a figure derided by many as too little.Crime and corruptionArmed robberies are now more frequent than under apartheid. High crime rates have led to an exodus of skilled workers, which South Africa desperately needs to keep. The cost of crime has been equated to an extra 5% on companies’ salary bills. Government attempts to improve security have been derided by the opposition, which accuses the ANC itself of being riddled with corruption. Charges against ANC president Jacob Zuma were dropped in the week of the 2009 presidential election.Coping with AIDSSouth Africa is home to more than five million of the world’s 40 million AIDS sufferers. The cost to the economy of health care, as well as coping with losses in the workforce, is debilitating and set to rise. The provision of treatments has been held up by controversy over international patents for drugs and even by Mbeki’s unorthodox stance on the nature of the infection itself. Public ignorance permeates national attitudes.

Defense
The creation by postapartheid South Africa of a truly national defense force seems almost miraculous, as it fuses together once bitter enemies: soldiers from the old white-run army, and guerrillas from the liberation groups. However, doubts have been raised over the army’s ability to operate effectively. A recruitment freeze since 1994 has raised the average age and created a glut of higher-ranking officers, while the incidence of AIDS increases. A large arms procurement program has failed to overcome the effects of previous swingeing cuts in spending. Few tanks are operational and the air force tends to run out of fuel toward the end of each financial year. A full strategic defense review was announced in 2004. A major arms industry is the legacy of years of sanctions.

Aid
Apartheid-era South Africa was denied aid, particularly from the World Bank and the IMF. It now seeks financial assistance for massive reconstruction programs. As part of Nepad – Africa’s “Marshall Plan” launched in 2002 – Mbeki stressed the importance of ending reliance on foreign aid.

World Affairs
After several decades of political isolation and economic sanctions, South Africa has been welcomed back into the international fold, rejoining the UN and Commonwealth. It is a key member of the SADC and also leads continental opinion on regional issues; it was in Durban that the AU was founded in 2002. Former president Mandela often intervened to help resolve foreign conflicts, and passed the role of main mediator in Burundi to Mbeki’s deputy Jacob Zuma in 2000. Mandela prompted some criticism from the West for his relations with apartheid-era supporters Libya and Cuba. Mbeki advocated an “African Renaissance” through Nepad and pushed for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In neighboring Zimbabwe he claimed a belated success in persuading Robert Mugabe’s regime to adopt a form of power-sharing.

Economy
Strengths
Africa’s largest and most developed economy; highly diversified with modern infrastructure. Stong financial sector, for mobilizing investment, and manufacturing sector. Varied resource base.
Weaknesses
Growth too low to overcome deprivation among blacks; black unemployment hovers around 30–40%, against 7–8% for whites. Cost of AIDS treatments. Population boom. Fluctuations in rand and gold prices. Emigration of skilled workers. Power cuts, affecting mining sector.
Profile
South Africa has a large and diverse private sector, much of it controlled by multinationals. Privatizations have gone some way to reverse the strong state-control necessitated by apartheid-era sanctions. The ANC cooperates with big business in an effort to boost the economy and develop the townships, and aims to get 30% of commercial farmland under black ownership by 2014. However, wealth disparities between the wealthy white elite and the majority black community are widening. The economy shrunk for the first time in a decade in late 2008 as global economic downturn hit commodities prices and manufacturing demand. Incoming president Zuma in 2009 made the fight against poverty and job creation his key priorities. The construction sector benefitted from investment for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

Resources
South Africa has some of the continent’s richest natural resources, in particular minerals. Its dominance of the world market in gold and diamonds helped it survive sanctions during apartheid. From 2000, platinum overtook gold as the main foreign exchange earner. South Africa is also a leading producer of manganese, chrome ore, and vermiciline, as well as uranium, vanadium, and nickel. With little oil, South Africa pioneered the transformation of coal into oil, and otherwise uses its huge coal reserves to generate electricity. Almost 15 million black South Africans are without electricity, and nongrid options are being considered, including developing solar energy. The country’s first wind farm, near Cape Town, began generating in 2008. An ongoing power crisis is unlikely to end until new power stations come online.

Wealth
Wealth disparities are marked and widening. At the top, the white elite enjoys living standards similar to those of Californians. In contrast, living conditions for the poorest group, the majority black community, are among Africa’s lowest. Around a third of black adults are unemployed. In between are the mixed-race and Asian communities, who enjoyed more privileges under apartheid’s strict racial hierarchy. However, a small black middle class is growing slowly, with some black-owned firms doing well on the stock market. In 2003, the government offered $3800 each to victims of apartheid. The ANC’s 2009 manifesto promised universal access to food, water, and sanitation within the new parliamentary term.

Environment
Floods and drought are familiar hazards. The vast Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park straddles the borders with Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The littering of flimsy plastic bags was so severe that they were banned in 2003.

Crime
South Africa is a dangerous country, and crime rates are rising: murders occur with extreme frequency, and rape, armed robberies, and muggings are rife. Vigilantism is a huge problem in the Cape. The death penalty was abolished in 1997. New gun control laws came into force in 2004. Mob violence against immigrants in 2008 required army intervention – an echo of the apartheid era.

Chronology
Until 1652, what is now South Africa was peopled by Bantu-speaking groups and San nomads. Then Dutch settlers arrived. British colonizers followed in the 18th century.
1910 Union of South Africa set up as British dominion; white monopoly of power formalized.
1912 ANC formed.
1934 Independence.
1948 National Party takes power; apartheid segregationist policy introduced.
1958-1966 Hendrik Verwoerd prime minister. “Grand Apartheid” policy implemented.
1959 Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) formed.
1960 Sharpeville massacre. ANC, PAC banned.
1961 South Africa becomes republic; leaves Commonwealth.
1964 Senior ANC leader Nelson Mandela jailed.
1976 Soweto uprisings by black students; hundreds killed.
1978 P. W. Botha in office.
1984 New constitution: Indians and Coloreds get some representation. Growing black opposition.
1985 State of emergency. Sanctions.
1989 F. W. De Klerk replaces Botha as president.
1990 De Klerk legalizes ANC and PAC; frees Nelson Mandela.
1990-1993 International sanctions gradually withdrawn.
1991 Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) starts work.
1993 Mandela and De Klerk win Nobel Peace Prize.
1994 Multiracial elections won by ANC; Mandela president.
1996 TRC begins work.
1997 New constitution takes effect.
1998 TRC report condemns both apartheid crimes and ANC excesses.
1999 ANC election victory; Thabo Mbeki succeeds Mandela.
2001-2002 Rand goes from record low to record high.
2002 World summit on sustainable development held in Johannesburg.
2004 Elections: ANC wins over two-thirds of vote.
2008 Zuma wins ANC leadership; Mbeki resigns presidency. New party formed by splinter group from ANC.
2009 National elections: Zuma wins presidency.
2010 First soccer World Cup to be held in Africa.