Vol 53 No 7 | NIGERIABRITAIN Ibori goes to Southwark 30th March 2012 Having pleaded guilty to ten money-laundering charges and obtaining a money transfer by deception and fraud, James Onanefe Ibori, the former Governor of Delta State, will...
Vol 5 (AAC) No 6 | GUINEACHINA Condé wants quick results 28th March 2012 Five-year plans, inspired and financed by China, are winning support in Conakry as pressure mounts on the government Officials from the China Development Bank (CDB) are offering to finance a substantial part of the Conakry government’s US$8.6 billion overhaul of mining and industrial infratructure, according to...
Vol 5 (AAC) No 6 | GHANACHINA Wary of pipeline politics 28th March 2012 Political and technical worries are holding back progress on the ambitious plans for a national gas industry Planning and construction work on Ghana’s US$850 million gas pipeline is slowing down because the lead contractor – China’s Sinopec – fears that national elections in December could...
Vol 5 (AAC) No 6 | GHANACHINA The three billion dollar question 28th March 2012 The government’s decision to borrow US$3 billion from the China Development Bank (CDB) has become a key election issue, much to the irritation of the authorities in Beijing,...
Vol 5 (AAC) No 6 | NIGERCHINABRIEFING Pressure at the pumps 28th March 2012 President Mahamadou Issoufou is under pressure to reduce petrol prices at the pump. On 23 March, the Syndicat National des Travailleurs du Commerce (Syntracom)warned that unless the government...
Vol 53 No 6 | NIGERIA Oil cuts as Delta erupts 16th March 2012 Piracy and militant attacks are cutting oil production in the Niger Delta as the government struggles with northern insurgents As the government contends with a Boko Haram militia determined to make the north ungovernable, a new round of attacks has erupted in the oil-producing Niger Delta. Apart...
Vol 53 No 6 | NIGERIA Abacha’s ghost and Boko Haram 16th March 2012 Security agents trying to disentangle the roots and widening network of the Boko Haram militia have identified links with a group of senior military and police officers who...
Vol 53 No 6 | GAMBIAIRAN Friends reunited? 16th March 2012 Could President Yahya Jammeh, who has run one of the region’s most corrupt and brutal regimes since 1994, be planning to reopen diplomatic relations with Iran?
Vol 53 No 6 | GUINEA BISSAU Gomes in the lead 16th March 2012 On 18 March, Guinea Bissau chooses a successor to the late President Malam Bacai Sanhá, who died in harness on 9 January.
Vol 53 No 6 | SIERRA LEONE Personal, not business 16th March 2012 Correspondence on the recall of the United Nations chief, Michael von der Schulenburg, indicates an almost irrational hatred of him by President Ernest Bai Koroma.