Vol 53 No 15 | MALI The jihadists take over 19th July 2012 The MNLA has lost out to AQIM and its allies in the north and may now offer its forces to fight them In a desperate bid to hold itself together, a much weakened Mouvement national pour la libération de l’Azawad has abandoned its ambition of an independent Azawad state. The...
Vol 53 No 15 | MALI Bamako drift 19th July 2012 Mali’s transitional Prime Minister, Cheick Modibo Diarra, is now echoing the talk in the corridors of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) of creating an enlarged...
Vol 53 No 15 | GABONGUINEA Sam with a plan 19th July 2012 The fog around Samuel Mebiame is clearing. His signature appears,along with those of ministers Mohamed Lamine Fofana and KerfallaYansané, on the controversial loan Guinea took from the South...
Vol 53 No 14 | NIGERIA Dazzling statistics 6th July 2012 The government’s financing gap is opening up and the reformers are being blocked but the investors keep on coming Which are the more stunning figures? The billions of dollars of investment sluicing into Nigeria despite its deepening security crisis? Or the billions of dollars of oil and...
Vol 53 No 14 | NIGERIA Turning security upside down 6th July 2012 A new political strategy would be more use in the fight against Boko Haram than sacking officials The latest wave of attacks on churches, police stations and even building workers across northern Nigeria seems to be the insurgents’ response to President Goodluck Jonathan’s sacking of...
Vol 53 No 14 | SENEGAL Selected heads roll 6th July 2012 After Macky Sall’s presidential victory, the judiciary are targetting many of his predecessor’s business and religious friends No witch-hunt. That was Macky Sall’s message after he won a resounding mandate with two-thirds of the vote in the presidential run-off in March. Now he hopes he...
Vol 53 No 14 | LIBERIANORWAY Killers united 6th July 2012 The Norwegian court trying Anders Behring Breivik, the self-confessed killer of 77 people in July 2011, has heard evidence on his stay in Liberia. In the 1,500-page...
Vol 5 (AAC) No 9 | SENEGALASIA President Sall’s priorities 30th June 2012 Macky Sall is auditing the government of his predecessor and choosing which of his projects the new government will pursue Macky Sall will celebrate his first 100 days in office in July. The new President is making discrete changes to relations with Asian countries established under his predecessor,...
Vol 5 (AAC) No 9 | BENINCHINABRIEFING Union takes government and China to task 30th June 2012 Benin’s Syndicat national des travailleurs de l’administration des transports et des travaux publics (Syntra-Ttp) is leading public calls for African governments to hold Chinese construction companies to account...
Vol 53 No 13 | GUINEASOUTH AFRICA A new battle to control the mines 22nd June 2012 The collapse of an opaque scheme to set up a multi-billion dollar national mining company prompts recriminations in Conakry and South Africa The Guinean government’s decision this week to shut down a bid by South African businessmen who wield high-level political connections, to run its national mining company follows growing...