Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou, set to step down after two terms as president, was last week awarded the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.

Last week, the Liberian Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of a lower court which ordered the imprisonment of former Liberian Defense Minister Brownie Jeffrey Samukai Jr., for two years. A one-time deputy minister in the country’s Ministry of National Defense, Samukai was former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s pick to head the ministry when the latter took over the reins as president in January 2006.

The foundation’s prize committee stated that Sirleaf had shown exceptional leadership, and noted that Liberia was the only African country out of fifty-four to improve in every category of its Index of African Governance.

Strengthening South Korea’s alliance with the United States begins with a return to strong shared values and principles based on the common systems of liberal democracy and market economy.

Ballots are seen on a table at a polling station in a slum of Monrovia November 8, 2011. (Luc Gnago/Courtesy Reuters) Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf coasted to victory in the November 8 presidential runoff e…