Vol 54 No 10 | MALI The rush to the vote 10th May 2013 Political and logistical obstacles mean that elections scheduled for July could cause more problems than they solve Partisan politics is back as the Bamako establishment focuses on the presidential election promised for 7 July. The transitional government of President Dioncounda Traoré, encouraged by the United...
Vol 54 No 10 | MALI EU brings budget support 10th May 2013 A meeting with financial institutions, regional neighbours and external partners in Brussels, Belgium, on 15 May is the next main focus for the accelerating international drive to help...
Vol 54 No 10 | SIERRA LEONE Impunity in Freetown 10th May 2013 An arms and gem dealer for the civil war militias lives openly in the capital with apparent government approval and in defiance of UN sanctions Africa Confidential has discovered the whereabouts of one of the key financiers and middlemen who worked for the Liberian ex-President and convicted war criminal, Charles Taylor, during the...
Vol 54 No 10 | SIERRA LEONE Testimony on Bah 10th May 2013 Transcripts from the Special Court on Sierra Leone’s trial of Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor contain copious evidence about the central role of Ibrahima Bah in diamond trading and...
Vol 54 No 10 | SIERRA LEONE Not an honorary consul 10th May 2013 The Italian businessman who claims to have been cheated by Ibrahima Bah over gold deals, Vittorio Narciso Ruello, made other interesting connections through Bah in the region. In...
Vol 54 No 10 | BURKINA FASO Keeping up with the Compaorés 10th May 2013 The President’s control of national politics may be sure and his international backing stronger than ever but his succession strategy is risky President Blaise Compaoré must leave office by the end of 2015, when his constitutional term of office ends. Yet he and his brother François, his sister Antoinette and...
Vol 54 No 10 | BURKINA FASO Pillars of the regime 10th May 2013 President Blaise Compaoré is married to Chantal Terrasson de Fougères, a protégée of the late Ivorian President Félix Houphouët-Boigny. She runs several businesses and charities.
Vol 54 No 10 | BURKINA FASO The economic underpinnings 10th May 2013 Burkina Faso is enjoying a mining boom which provides the ruling clan with wiggle room. Gold is now the leading source of export earnings, followed by the traditional...
Vol 54 No 10 | GUINEA BISSAU All at sea over drugs 10th May 2013 Panic envelops the political and military elites amid US anti-drug operations and ECOWAS feels exposed by its support for the government Top politicians and military officers are nervously looking over their shoulders after the detention of former navy chief José Américo Bubo Na Tchuto and the indictment of Army...
Vol 54 No 10 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Com-Zone, come all 10th May 2013 The Forces Nouvelles plundered the area they controlled when they were confined to the north of the country, says the latest report by the United Nations Panel of...