Africa has been a constant focus of international politics, non-governmental human rights organisations and most recently the international courts. It has been perceived as a theatre of endless political violence associated with weak states such as Somalia and Libya to the alarming rise of terrorism in Nigeria. The AIDS epidemic has been battled for years with international assistance while the recent cases of Ebola epidemics put Africa and the world on a new level of alarm.
The old-fashioned international humanitarian aid relief has been criticised for years as doing too little and too late while no real alternative has been articulated to fill in the enormous need for food, medicines and know-how offered by international and multi-lateral programs. This UN FORUM issue reflects on some old-standing and some emerging problems in Africa through the new mechanisms, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) to deal with them.