Vol 49 No 17 | NIGERIA Wasteful wars, foreign friends 22nd August 2008 A long history of failure does not discourage Western leaders who believe their intervention can improve conditions in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Yet judging from recent history, the capacity of outside intervention to make things even worse in the Delta looks assured. After the United States' stalled efforts at training Nigeria's military and Royal Dutch Shell's attempts at corporate responsibility, Britain and France have offered military assistance to tackle continuing violence in the Delta. Offering military assistance to a country that did not request it is extremely bad manners, responded a seasoned Nigerian analyst after French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British...
Vol 49 No 17 | NIGERIA Delta forces 22nd August 2008 Nigerian suspicion of foreign military support creates opportunities for the security professionals, some of whom are looking for business openings since an agreement between the United States and...
Vol 49 No 17 | GHANA Right number, right time 22nd August 2008 Just as the government runs out of money before the elections, along comes an offer that is hard to refuse It is a rule of politics that any substantial sale of state assets agreed less than six months before national elections needs close scrutiny. The government's decision...
Vol 49 No 17 | GHANA The high price of political phones 22nd August 2008 Political controversy has dogged Ghana Telecom since the telecom sector was deregulated in the mid-1990s under the National Democratic Congress government. Its performance under the management of Telkom...
Vol 49 No 17 | GUINEA Iron ore, jaw-jaw 22nd August 2008 A tempting iron ore deposit on the Liberian border triggers fierce rivalries, national and international The shock must have been great when mining giant Rio Tinto was told on 4 August that it had just lost its greatest potential asset, the gigantic...
Vol 49 No 17 | NIGERIA Service shuffle 22nd August 2008 President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's appointment of new service chiefs and a new Chief of Defence Staff on 20 August will further reduce the political power of former President...
Vol 49 No 16 | NIGERIA Yar'Adua's judges on trial 1st August 2008 Justice and politics are uneasy bedfellows under the hesitant President's new regime Since President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua came to power after a widely-criticised election and started extolling the rule of law much has changed. Yar Adua's own electoral case will...
Vol 49 No 16 | GHANA Presidents and lawyers 1st August 2008 The tortuous prosecution of a former state oil company boss raises questions about the independence of the judiciary Even his opponents concede that Tsatsu Tsikata is a gifted lawyer, whose ties with ex-President Jerry John Rawlings have kept him at the centre of Ghana's bitter political...
Vol 49 No 16 | CAMEROONNIGERIA Bogged down 1st August 2008 Cameroonian security forces in the disputed oil-rich Bakassi peninsula are on maximum alert after fatal attacks by the Niger Delta Defence and Security Council. The NDDSC, a little-known,...
Vol 49 No 14 | SIERRA LEONE Slow turnaround 4th July 2008 Slow progress on the economy and against corruption is rubbing the sheen off last year's free elections On election, President Ernest Bai Koroma gave himself three years to turn Sierra Leone around, but the first year has been unimpressive, and the smart performance of President...