The Chairman of the Board of the Société africaine de raffinage (SAR) is Serigne Mboup, a one-time ally of former Prime Minister Macky Sall, who is expected to...

The starting gun for Liberia’s second free presidential election since the civil war was officially fired on 5 July. Early indications for October’s poll show that President Ellen...

Beyond the bonhomie and the stream of foreign dignitaries trooping to see President Alpha Condé in Conakry, evidence is emerging of grand corruption in public works and mining...

The most obvious beneficiaries of Ghana’s oil boom so far have been the shareholders of the international companies operating there. Both Ireland’s Tullow Oil, listed on the London...

Few seem convinced by President Goodluck Jonathan’s assurances that the security situation is under control following the bombing on 16 June of Louis Edet House, the national police...

Community control of oil can worsen local strife, to judge by the experience of the Neconde Group, which won the bid for Shell’s 45% of Operations Management Licence...

Sierra Leone will start earning hundreds of millions of dollars from taxes when iron-ore production begins in November. At least that is what the controversial British-based mining entrepreneur...

So far the election season is a three-cornered contest with a lively battle for the leadership of the governing National Democratic Congress, which has prompted the leader of...

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...

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...