NO. 2 MAY news 2005 from the Nordic Africa Institute FROM THE CONTENTS • Togo: Family matters Richard Cornwell • The lost status of women of Madagascar Mireille Rabenoro • A portrait of Tore Linné Eriksen • Theme: History in the making Contents no. 2/2005 To Our Readers 1 Lennart Wohlgemuth Commentaries 2 Togo: Family matters Richard Cornwell 6 Madagascar: The lost status of women Mireille Rabenoro Interview 9 A portrait of Tore Linné Eriksen History in the making 12 Safeguarding the primary source Marianne Lidskog 15 The National Archives of Namibia Ellen Ndeshi Namhila 18 South African initiatives Narissa Ramdhani 20 The SOMAFCO Collection Mohammed Tikly 22 Yonah Seleti on Freedom Park 24 A new history curriculum Felicia-Inez Padayachy 25 Archival challenges Proscovia Svärd 26 A historian’s view Christopher Saunders 28 “Let people write their histories” John Daniel 30 Vladimir Shubin Conference reports 33 Conferences and meetings 37 Yvonne Vera In Memoriam Publishing 38 Recent publications Poem 40 ‘Words’ by Makhosazana Xaba Editor-in-Chief: Lennart Wohlgemuth News from the Nordic Africa Institute is published by the Nordic Africa Co-Editor: Susanne Linderos Institute. It covers news about the Institute and also about Africa itself. News appears three times a year, in January, May and October. It is avail- Co-Editor of this issue: Marianne Lidskog able online, at the Institute’s website: www.nai.uu.se. Statements of fact Editorial Secretary: Karin Andersson Schiebe or opinion appearing in News are solely those of the authors and do not Language checking: Elaine Almén imply endorsement by the publisher. To Our Readers A shared experience and history that is accepted point of view; and Tore Linné Eriksen from Oslo by all citizens is a major foundation in building University College, also a historian who has done a nation and a condition for sharing a common some major work on documentation of African destiny. Without a well documented history which history. binds the nation together, it quickly falls apart. In addition to our major focus, we present two This is a lesson which many people all around commentaries in this issue of News. In the first, the world have learnt over time. A common his- Richard Cornwell of the Institute for Security tory is of course not the only factor that glues a Studies in Pretoria, summarises in a concise way nation together, but one of the most important. trends and emerging issues as regards conflict and This fact is one of the underlying reasons why the peace in Togo. Although major efforts are being Nordic Africa Institute has concentrated a part of made by the African community – mainly through its activities both on documenting, and assisting ECOWAS and AU – he reminds us that the founda- African scholars and countries in documenting, tions of peace still remain frail. He also makes the recent historical developments on the continent. point that Togo’s electoral process remains deeply This issue of News will present what the Nordic flawed. The promotion of democratic governance, Africa Institute has been doing in this regard and economic reconstruction and human security also reflects some of the diverse perspectives from remain very critical to peace in West Africa. different countries in Africa on their efforts to The second commentary is by Mirelle Rabe- document past experiences and develop a com- noro, a senior researcher at the University of Tan- mon history. anarive, Madagascar and one of the participants Ellen Ndeshi Namhila, Director of the in the recent NAI conference ‘Writing African Namibia Library and Information Service, and Women – Poetics and Politics of African Gender Narissa Ramdhani, Director of the Campell Research’, held in Cape Town in January (cf. Collections and ANC Documentation Centre, the conference report elsewhere in this issue of summarize the situation in Namibia and South News). Rabenoro deals with the historic changes Africa respectively pointing at the multitude of of women’s status in Magadascar, explaining how initiatives that are being taken in this field. South in pre-state Madagascar differences of caste over- Africa, as in so many other fields, is setting the ruled differences of gender, and how traditional trend, which is shown in a number of short articles women’s organizations secured a basic measure and interviews in this issue. We are extremely of women’s rights. All through the 19th century happy that so many well-known and experienced Malagasy sovereigns were women. Because of researchers and practitioners were prepared to the state’s need for soldiers, the status of women share their experiences with us. The Institute is became increasingly subordinated to that of also fortunate to co-operate with many of them men. This gender bias of the Malagasy state was in the field of documentation and history. continued by the colonial government and again We are also pleased to present two interviews by the post-independence First Republic. Thus with prominent researchers on Africa: Vladimir in the present situation Malagasy women have Shubin from the Russian Academy of Sciences lost the status traditionally granted to women Institute for African Studies and recently guest in Madagascar, while not (yet) having access to researcher at our Institute is a historian who has modern courts of justice. ■ devoted most of his life to documenting devel- opments in Southern Africa from the Russian Lennart Wohlgemuth News from the Nordic Africa Institute 2/2005 1 COMMENTARIES Togo: Family matters By: Richard Cornwell Head of the Africa Security Analysis Programme at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa Does Eyadéma’s demise signify real change in Togo’s political direction? In this commentary, Richard Cornwell explains and analyses the recent dramatic developments in Togolese politics. The death of President Gnassingbé Eyadéma concession of defeat, is still a rarity. Yet in recent on 5 February 2005 after almost 38 years as years the continent’s leadership, expressing itself Togo’s head of state has ramifications far beyond through the African Union (AU) and such ideas the borders of this small, impoverished country. as those contained in the New Partnership for There were, of course, few of his countrymen Africa’s Development (NEPAD), had been at pains who could remember a time when he had not to demonstrate to the world at large that concerns dominated the national scene, and his sudden for ‘good governance’ and ‘democratic practice’ departure suggested to many, friend and foe alike, had indeed taken root and were to be encouraged that the moment constituted either a threat to the at every turn. The implicit tension between these established order, or an opportunity to instigate two perceptions of the essential nature of African radical change in the domestic balance of power. politics was revealed starkly in the days that fol- Yet the principal players in this political drama all lowed Eyadéma’s death. faced constraints, not least of which was the ruling The late president died en route for emergency edifice constructed by Eyadéma during his long treatment overseas. He had been ill for some time, reign, which bound together a number of now seriously so for the past few months, yet such was vested interests centred upon his own extended the nature of his rule, and the almost supernatural family and benefiting others, many of whom hailed veneration in which his courtiers held him, that from his home region in the north of the country. anticipating his removal from the scene was almost Not only were all significant organs of the state and unthinkable within the presidential palace. He formal economy run from the presidency, but the had, over the past few years, introduced his son years of Eyadéma’s rule had seen the creation of Faure Gnassingbé to the formal political field, an army more than 10,000 strong, relatively well- appointing him minister of minerals, transport trained and equipped by the French, and for the and communications, and encouraging him to most part comprising members of the president’s play a prominent role in such negotiations as own ethnic group. were necessary with the international donors There were other, less tangible, matters, and with the domestic opposition. Though there which might be subsumed under the heading was no official acknowledgement of the fact, of political culture. Roughly put, in many cases many observers assumed that of his many sons, the competition between individuals and groups the well-educated Faure was being groomed to for the political leadership in African states has succeed to the patrimony. A premature formal come to be perceived as so much of a zero-sum announcement to this effect could have been contest that compromise, let alone the gracious counter-productive, antagonising either kinsmen 2 News from the Nordic Africa Institute 2/2005 COMMENTARIES or, more likely, other barons within the ruling RTP that the Togolese could turn this tragic affair into (Rassemblement du people togolais), who might an opportunity to move towards real democracy. sense their ambitions eclipsed by the formation President Chirac, an old ally and friend of Eyadéma of a presidential dynasty. expressed his sense of personal loss, but otherwise As it stood, the Togolese constitution stipu- kept his own counsel, preferring that others should lated that in the event of the president proving take the lead in what might prove, for France, a mortal, his place as head of state should be as- delicate matter in a region where there were diffi- sumed by the Speaker of the National Assembly, culties enough, especially in Côte d’Ivoire. France, pending the holding of presidential elections though, as a steadfast supporter, politically and within sixty days. financially, remains a key player, whose protesta- When it became apparent that Eyadéma’s tions of disinterested neutrality in Togo’s internal health was failing rapidly, the Speaker, Fambare affairs need not be taken at face value.