Vol 52 No 13 | SENEGAL One day, son 24th June 2011 On 22 June, President Abdoulaye Wade – officially 84 but probably nearer 90 – was about to propose a constitutional amendment to secure a guaranteed third term in...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 8 | GUINEACHINABRIEFING Doors open, doors close 9th June 2011 In early June, Guinea’s President Alpha Condé set the tone for more tense negotiations with mining investors when he declared that Chinese-style mines-for-infrastructure deals are unacceptable. The government...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 8 | SENEGAL Madické Niang 9th June 2011 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Senegal Senegal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Madické Niang has kept up a busy Asian schedule this year. February took him to Delhi for meetings with his counterpart, SM Krishna....
Vol 52 No 11 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Cocoa holds the key 27th May 2011 President Ouattara needs to stop the smuggling and bring the soldiers under control After his grand inauguration at Yamoussoukro on 21 May and pronouncements on the need for Ivorians to reconcile and rebuild the country, one of new President Alassane Dramane...
Vol 52 No 11 | SENEGAL Wade wants to stay on 27th May 2011 Wade looks to farm prices and prestige for electoral success Despite a growing sense that he is losing his political touch, President Abdoulaye Wade is determined to stand in February’s presidential election, people close to him have told...
Vol 52 No 11 | CÔTE D'IVOIRESENEGAL Peace in Côte d’Ivoire, relief for Dakar 27th May 2011 President Abdoulaye Wade warmly welcomed Ivorian President Alassane Dramane Ouattara’s victory at the polls. The two are politically close, which excluded Wade as a mediator during the subsequent...
Vol 52 No 11 | NIGERIAAFRICA The fastest growing family 27th May 2011 The United Nations’ latest projection of world demographic trends* predicts that Africa’s population will reach 2.2 billion by 2050, 24% of the global population. Nigeria’s population, according to...
Vol 52 No 10 | GHANA All for the sake of the party 13th May 2011 A battle royal for the presidential nomination of the National Democratic Congress will shape the country’s politics for the coming year and beyond Overseas, Ghana’s stock could hardly be higher. Its many admirers point to its record of organising free elections, resolving conflict and sound economic management. So onlookers are baffled...
Vol 52 No 10 | SIERRA LEONE Not so golden jubilee 13th May 2011 Freetown’s independence celebrations said much about the parlous state of the country and looming difficulties for the government When Sierra Leone gained Independence from Britain in 1961, the event was so peaceful that one foreign observer described it as ‘independence without pain’. On 27 April this...
Vol 52 No 10 | CÔTE D'IVOIREANALYSIS Stabilisation now, reconciliation later 13th May 2011 Ouattara is a strong Western ally but his national skills are more of an unknown quantity as he tries to reconcile his own fractious forces as well as Gbagbo’s loyalists. With Gbagbo confined in the north under UN guard and his forces demoralised or captured, the new president has signalled his seriousness by not allowing his staff any time off, despite having spent four months trapped in the Golf Hotel. ADO's woes The difficulties facing President Alassane Dramane Ouattara (‘ADO’) in reconciling former enemies emerged again in the 6 May inauguration ceremony. In his acceptance speech, he praised...