Elections “will be a true litmus test of the power of the country’s youth and a testament to their collective aspirations for a better, more prosperous country,” said Jeffrey Smith, Washington-based executive director of the Vanguard Africa Foundation, which advocates for inclusive democracies.

Jeffrey Smith, executive director of Vanguard Africa, says the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe is worrying as armed soldiers and police are terrorizing local people following protests over the nation's economic decay.

Au lendemain des élections en République démocratique du Congo, le Web et les SMS ont été suspendus. Ce n’est pas le premier pays du continent à user de cette méthode.

Jeffrey Smith, executive director of Vanguard Africa, a pro-democracy organization that engages with African governments, says he is not surprised by the insult law arrests. Mnangagwa — nicknamed the Crocodile for his crafty ways as a liberation fighter — rose to power through a de facto coup. Smith believes it would be a mistake to assume the country will now become more democratic.

Hot FM Gambia heads to Washington, DC as Jeffrey Smith, who helped highlight the plight of Gambia's dictatorship at the highest levels of the US administration, tells us what he thinks of the Barrow government after two years.

Jeffrey Smith, director of Vanguard Africa, the Washington-based organization that advised Barrow’s coalition during the transition, agrees that the government has made a series of missteps. “People with which Barrow surrounded himself at the beginning had really good intentions, but the lack of governing experience is really hampering efforts. A lot of people are really disappointed, me included,” he says. “Unfortunately, I think this is giving more power to the APRC and in many ways it’s paving the way for their eventual comeback to the political scene. That’s something I’m keeping an eye on and I’m particularly worried about.”

On Tuesday morning, gunmen shot at the car driven by American missionary Charles Wesco, fatally injuring him. He died shortly afterwards in a nearby hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières.

Africa's oldest president is on a mission to rule forever, it seems.

“What really stands out in Cameroon and elsewhere is the degree that highly abusive, repressive, and, in this case, dictatorial regimes will go to, to somehow get this stamp of approval,” said Jeffrey Smith, the executive director of Vanguard Africa, a nonprofit organization focused on democracy promotion in African states.

Jeffrey Smith, the executive director of Vanguard Africa, agrees with the Douala-based cardinal priest of the Catholic Church. "Should Biya be declared the winner, Cameroon will continue on its downward trajectory, with the very real possibility of increased violence, additional human rights abuses and the same sort of brazen impunity that has long characterized Biya's oppressive rule," Smith said.