Vol 47 No 21 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Toxic trials 20th October 2006 International oil traders Trafigura's Chief Executive, Claude Dauphin, and his West Africa Manager Jean-Pierre Valentini remain in Abidjan's high-security Maison d'Arrêt et de Correction gaol. Trafigura denies wrong-doing...
Vol 47 No 20 | NIGERIA Leaving it late 6th October 2006 Six months ahead of the next presidential election, no one knows which candidates are standing and which are heading for gaol In a system that typically leaves the key decisions until the last moment, Nigeria's politicians are leaving things very late. Nominations for candidates for next April's state and...
Vol 47 No 20 | NIGERIA No consensus on the census 6th October 2006 No Nigerian official has been able to explain convincingly the reasons for the delays in publishing the results of the national census held in March. That is no...
Vol 47 No 20 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE The toxic trade 6th October 2006 How lethal waste came to Abidjan and who brought it there The poisonous waste was carried on a Greek-owned tanker , the Probo Koala, flying a Panamanian flag, leased by the London branch of a Swiss oil-trading company whose...
Vol 47 No 20 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Toxic timeline 6th October 2006 2 July: Probo Koala docked at Amsterdam after unloading at Algesiras, Spain. It asked Amsterdam Port Services (APS) to empty its slops tank. More than 500 cubic metres...
Vol 47 No 20 | GAMBIA Jammeh tomorrow 6th October 2006 The President's boast that he will hold power for the next 40 years no longer looks so idle Opposition posturing and weak election monitoring handed President Alhaji Col. (Rtd.) Dr. Yahya AJJ Jammeh another easy win in the presidential election on 22 September. But it was...
Vol 47 No 19 | NIGERIA Pots, kettles and corruption 22nd September 2006 Allegations about President Obasanjo and his deputy mean a livelier if not cleaner election While President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar sling mud at each other, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an official anti-corruption body led by Nuhu Ribadu,...
Vol 47 No 19 | NIGERIA Ambitions in the north 22nd September 2006 The President has not said who he wants to succeed him but he knows who he wants to stop The northern Nigerian elite is in the unfamiliar position of trying to side-step the manoeuvrings of a southern President determined to block the political ambitions of at least...
Vol 47 No 19 | TOGO Back in the fold 22nd September 2006 The choice of leading oppositionist Yaovi Agboyigbo as Prime Minister on 16 September and offers of aid and investment from Brussels and Paris point to a changing climate....
Vol 47 No 18 | GAMBIA Easy for Jammeh 8th September 2006 The opposition has dashed its hopes of victory by failing to field a single candidate. The two rival alliances stand almost no chance against President Yahya Jammeh in...