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Guinea has been suspended from the African Union as a result of a military coup after the death of Lansana Conte on December 22. Conte had led the country for 24 years and living standards had barely changed in that time. However, the coup has met with widespread popularity in the streets and coup leader Captain Moussa Camara may not relinquish power that easily. Another country looking for a new president is Somalia after Abdullahi Yusuf's resignation following a power struggle with prime minister Nur Hassan Hussein. They clashed recently over attempts to negotiate a peace deal with the Islamist-led armed opposition. Under the constitution the parliamentary speaker Aden Mohamed Nur will become acting president until MP's elect a new president in the next month.

The United Nations calculates that 1bn people will go hungry in 2009 for the first time in human history. This incredible landmark will be hit not because of a shortage of food but because people are too poor to buy the food produced. Part of the problem lies with governments in developing countries failing to invest in agriculture which forms the mainstay of their economies; another lies with rich countries failing to meet their commitments towards tackling the food crisis.

Despite numerous statements by African governments on their efforts to improve the food security on the continent this is just not happening. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO) and World Bank in a joint survey state that food production is on the decline in sub-Saharan Africa. This is mainly due to declining use of fertilisers and unless this situation can be turned around countries there will struggle to feed their ever-increasing populations. Agriculture represents 32% of the region's GNI but overall capita yields have recorded a sharp fall since 1970. With crop yields well below the world average most countries, not surprisingly, are net importers of food. Unless there is much more action rather than words with serious investment by African governments in the sector it is predicted that crop yields will continue to fall leaving more and more people hungry.

Slowly but surely governments in Africa are starting to speak out about what is really happening on the continent in general and in Zimbabwe in particular. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia is the latest. In a speech made at a 90th birthday celebration for Nelson Mandela she spoke of an Africa where authority is transferred peacefully from one civilian government to another, where governments invest in basic services like health and education for all, where there is a vibrant open media, where economic growth is driven by the private sector through open markets and where leaders are accountable to their people. On this last score she is emphatic - rampant corruption is one of the key reasons why Africa is unable to deliver basic social services to its people. She then strikes a note of hope - Africa is not poor, but rather it is poorly managed. On the subject of Zimbabwe she is clear and speaks for the heart when she denounces the run-off election in Zimbabwe. She goes on to say that in 1985 Liberia held a sham election that was endorsed by Africa and the world. Thirty years of civil war and devastation followed which sucked in neighbouring countries with thousands dead and millions displaced and it need not have happened. So a warning to Southern Africa that until the situation is resolved in Zimbabwe the entire region will feel the effects of instability, and the dream of democratic and accountable government will remain unfulfilled. She ended by saying that she would like to be remembered for raising the bar for accountable governance in Liberia and across Africa. Wise words from a leader who knows the challenges facing the continent and how to try to deal with them and hopefully her words will be followed by actions and by others. Africa needs honest, compassionate and competent leaders.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has been accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and it is calling for his arrest. He is accused of masterminding and implementing a plan to destroy three groups - the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa - during a campaign of ethnic cleansing where 300,000 died and more then 2,000,000 people were displaced in the five years since 2003. The ICC accepts that any government has the right to control armed rebellions and the right to control its territory but no government can commit genocide to control its territory. The final decision to decide whether to uphold the charges will be made by three judges from Ghana, Lativa and Brazil. But with the immediate response from Khartoum to the accusations to turn Darfur into a graveyard it seems there can only be one verdict.

So China and Russia have vetoed the UN resolution brought by the UK, US and France on the need to introduce tougher sanctions on the leaders of Zimbabwe. These two countries, supported by Libya, South African and Vietnam in the Security Council, have refused to sanction tougher sanctions stating that the situation in Zimbabwe does not threaten international stability. And they are right for the state of Zimbabwe today means that it is a threat to no other country. But after more than 60 years in existence how come this UN resolution is debated in terms of international security when the problem to everyone else on the planet is the grinding down of the people of Zimbabwe through misgovernment and repression. But perhaps this should not be surprising as in the 60 years since its birth the UN has failed to lift the bar and so still tolerates countries breaching the UN Declaration of Human Rights signed by all its members. Had the UN insisted on the gradual raising of standards on human rights regimes in countries like Burma, North Korea and certainly Zimbabwe would have been isolated long ago leading to the overthrow of all three governments. It seems then that the UN is more concerned with protecting the governments of its member countries rather than the people of the world. Maybe it is time then for more progressive countries to leave the UN and set up a new world organisation which will promote improving values in human rights. At the same time the opportunity could be taken to establish new voting patterns reflecting the world in the 21st century instead of post World war II.

Interesting thought - If a football manager fails to motivate his players the team struggles and he usually gets fired; if a major public company sees profits collapse or fail to advance it will undoubtedly look for another chief executive; if the ruling political party in a rich country fails to increase prosperity it will be voted out of office at the next election but in poor countries no matter how badly a government performs it will be 're-elected' time after time after time. And of all the people that need to see a change of leadership it is people living in poor countries where every day can be a struggle to survive. In 2008 governments in rich countries still deal with leaders who steal elections and in so doing perpetuate their people in poverty.

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