Vol 48 No 6 | LIBERIA Referee in a tug-of-war 16th March 2007 The technocratic President is battling to keep her reforms on track and to outplay the kleptocrats and nationalists Monrovia's political tug-of-war is getting tougher and President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is in the middle as reluctant arbiter and sole referee. At one end of the rope, Liberia's political...
Vol 48 No 6 | LIBERIA The neighbours are unstable 16th March 2007 Liberia's troubles affect its whole region. During the civil war, Liberian mercenaries joined the fight in Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is now warning ex-fighters...
Vol 48 No 6 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE All their own work 16th March 2007 Government and rebels proposed their own deal, so goodbye to the international peacekeepers President Laurent Gbagbo likes the 4 March peace accord signed with rebel leader Guillaume Soro, under the auspices of Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaoré. Under the deal, Gbagbo...
Vol 48 No 5 | NIGERIA The grudge match goes on 2nd March 2007 Facing multiple corruption charges, Vice-President Abubakar accuses President Obasanjo of electoral sabotage Vice-President Atiku Abubakar insists that he remains a candidate in April's presidential elections despite what he describes as 'every effort to destroy' him. Behind that campaign is President...
Vol 48 No 5 | NIGERIA Indictments, then elections 2nd March 2007 If Atiku Abubakar has been correctly indicted for embezzlement, he is not eligible to stand as a candidate in April's presidential elections. Section 137 (i) of the Nigerian...
Vol 48 No 5 | SIERRA LEONE Hinga's death hits home 2nd March 2007 The loss of its main defendant further weakens the slow and costly Special Court The death of Chief Sam Hinga Norman, former Defence Minister and leader of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), is a hammer blow to the Special Court of Sierra...
Vol 48 No 5 | SIERRA LEONE A rare soldiering success 2nd March 2007 Security in Sierra Leone has been managed much better than the economy and politics. A British-led international training team has sharply improved the professionalism and dependability of the...
Vol 48 No 5 | SENEGAL Wade gets his way 2nd March 2007 After the octogenarian President's electoral victory, the speculation about his successor will start Two days after the 25 February election, President Abdoulaye Wade's supporters were celebrating noisily in Dakar's Place d'Indépendence and claiming victory. By 28 February, with most votes counted...
Vol 48 No 5 | GAMBIA Bad medicine 2nd March 2007 President Yahya Jammeh is unhappy when foreign journalists betray scepticism about his proclaImed cure for AIDS. Since he cannot reach into the studios of Sky Television, he turned...
Vol 48 No 5 | GUINEA Trade union truce 2nd March 2007 The political truce which greeted President Lansana Conté's appointment of Lansana Kouyaté as Prime Minister will be short-lived unless there is a speedy transfer of power. The appointment...