Ethnicity and Constitutionalism in Africa

The Organisers of the Stellenbosch Annual Seminar on Constitutionalism in Africa (SASCA) are pleased to announce the call for papers for the Tenth anniversary of the Stellenbosch Annual Seminar on Constitutionalism in Africa (SASCA 2023), which will be held in Stellenbosch (South Africa) from Tuesday 19 September to Friday 22 September 2023. SASCA 2023 will be jointly organised by the Institute for  International and Comparative  Law in  Africa  (ICLA)  of the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, the UWC Chair in Constitutional Design for Divided Societies, the South African Research Chair in Multilevel Government, Law and Development (SARChI) at the Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape, and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) in partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Rule of law Programme Sub-Saharan Africa (Anglophone Countries), based in Nairobi.

The theme for this seminar is “Ethnicity and constitutionalism in Africa”.

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 Separation of Powers in African Constitutionalism by Charles M. Fombad is now availible free of charge.

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The series Stellenbosch Handbooks in African Constitutional Law will engage with contemporary issues of constitutionalism in Africa, filling a notable gap in African comparative constitutional law. Separation of Powers in African Constitutionalism is the first in the series, examining one of the critical measures introduced by African constitutional designers in their attempts to entrench an ethos of constitutionalism on the continent.

 The Pretoria Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross together with the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa and the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria will be presenting the nineteenth All Africa Course on International Humanitarian Law between 25 October and 04 November 2022.

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The Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA) invites members of the Faculty and broader University Community to a seminar entitled: The role of constitutional courts in post-coup d’état and post-insurrection transitions: The West African cases of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali.

In recent years, a resurgence of military coups has been observed in West Africa, particularly in countries such as Niger (in 2010) Mali (in 2012 and 2020) Guinea Conakry (in 2008 and 2021) and Burkina Faso (a popular insurrection in 2014 and military coup in 2022). All these coups d'état led to the suspension of the normal constitutional order and the setting up of transitions to organize a return to normal constitutional order. The constitutional judge has often been a key actor in these transitions.

 The Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA) congratulates Professor of Law Charles Fombad on being awarded the University Chancellor's Award for Research for 2021.

Professor Fombad has established himself and has rightly been recognised as a world-leading scholar in the field of comparative constitutionalism in Africa. Professor Fombad has published  an astounding number of research works: Over his career, he has published 94 articles in peer review accredited journals; 62 book chapters in peer reviewed books; and 16 books (authored, co-authored, edited or co-edited). He holds an NRF rating in the B1 category (indicating substantial international recognition).

 The Faculty of Law (UP Law) at the University of the Pretoria (UP) congratulates Simon Mateus, 2020 LLB graduate and former Editor-in-Chief of the Pretoria Student Law Review (PSLR), on obtaining his LLM (Research) with distinction.

Mateus completed his LLM (cum laude) under the supervision of Professor Dire Tladi, the NRF SARChI Chair in International Constitutional Law at the Department of Public Law.  He completed the LLM within a year, while working as a Research Fellow at the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA).