Vol 51 No 16 | NIGERIA Goodluck with the numbers 6th August 2010 President Jonathan is slowly winning over the governors and party barons - but time is short The arithmetic is not right yet but Goodluck Jonathan is making steady progress in his bid for the candidacy of his party in next year's presidential elections. Last...
Vol 51 No 16 | NIGERIA Political spills 6th August 2010 A new burst of militancy is haunting the Niger Delta less than a year after the amnesty deal delivered an uneasy peace Delays over cash payments, the coming national elections and rising concern over oil pollution are behind the latest wave of protests and attacks in the Delta. Scores are...
Vol 51 No 16 | NIGERIA Father Kukah, Professor Jega and the vote 6th August 2010 In the Nigerian tradition of irrepressible optimism periodically suffused with brutal realism, Father Matthew Hassan Kukah argues that the last decade's attempts at democracy in Nigeria have been...
Vol 51 No 16 | NIGERIA Abuja takes Halliburton to court 6th August 2010 President Goodluck Jonathan's government is taking on the United States' oil services giant Halliburton and its Nigerian associates for organising bribes to secure contracts for the $6 billion...
Vol 51 No 15 | GHANAUNITED STATES Storm in an oil barrel 23rd July 2010 A commercial dispute between the government and a US oil company has become diplomatically damaging – so President Mills is looking for a way out The grand launch of Ghana’s commercial oil production this year has begun inauspiciously with a bruising battle between the government and the state oil company on one hand...
Vol 51 No 15 | GHANA The 3.8 billion dollar question 23rd July 2010 Aside from the party political rivalries, geopolitics and diplomatic jousting involved in the Kosmos Energy debacle in Ghana, there is a central concern: that the government stands to...
Vol 51 No 15 | SENEGAL He’s old but he’s running 23rd July 2010 President Wade is set to take the presidency again but his favourite son is not sure to follow At 84 and still looking chipper, President Abdoulaye Wade plans to run for the presidency again in 2012. His advisors insist he is full of ideas and enthusiasm...
Vol 51 No 15 | SENEGAL Wade’s one-man band 23rd July 2010 Power is concentrated in the hands of President Abdoulaye Wade; development strategy is led by his son, Karim Wade. There are 41 ministers (plus a new Vice-Premier, a...
Vol 51 No 15 | SENEGAL Karim the successor 23rd July 2010 The presidential succession of Karim Wade is far from a fait accompli, not least because his father, Abdoulaye Wade, does not yet want to step down. One French...
Vol 51 No 15 | GAMBIA Coups and cocaine 23rd July 2010 The enforced celebration of 'Freedom Day' on 22 July, the 16th anniversary of President Yahya Jammeh's coup, prompted protests by exiles and human rights groups, who say the...