Vol 46 No 12 | NIGERIA Brassed off: a contractor under fire 10th June 2005 In the badlands of the Niger Delta a dispute over an oil-loading contract shows the often corrosive relationship between multinational oil companies, government officials and local militia fighters....
Vol 46 No 12 | MALI Soccer, Islam and hard times 10th June 2005 Football riots and fears of terrorism are undermining ATT's reputation Bamako is worried about security, and awaiting a cabinet reshuffle by President Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT). Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi Maïga may not survive. Some call him 'Pinochet',...
Vol 46 No 11 | NIGERIA Battles of Boro's ghost 27th May 2005 The struggle in the Delta heats up again as foreign reserves top $21 billion Deep in the oil-rich Niger Delta, the Ijaw people are fighting over the ghost of nationalist hero Isaac Jasper Boro. At stake are the political allegiances of the...
Vol 46 No 11 | GUINEA Vultures gather 27th May 2005 Military officers and regional warlords jockey for power as the President's condition worsens The vultures are gathering as President Lansana Conté is reported to be slipping in and out of a diabetic coma. A mass prison breakout in Conakry on 15...
Vol 46 No 11 | GUINEA Through a glass very darkly 27th May 2005 Closely watching the succession in Conakry are West African presidents, warlords and diplomats. Their central calculation is that what's good for Liberia's exiled warlord Charles Taylor will be...
Vol 46 No 10 | TOGO Faure's French friends 13th May 2005 West African presidents and the Elysée Palace endorse Gnassingbé's election The army had crushed the opposition uprising and the Constitutional Court had rejected claims of electoral irregularities well before Faure Gnassingbé was sworn in on 4 May. Hospital...
Vol 46 No 10 | MALI Belgium's man in Africa 13th May 2005 Little did a royal Belgian foundation expect that by bestowing a prize on Mali's shy, soft-spoken former Territorial Administration Minister, it would reignite controversy over the 2002 elections....
Vol 46 No 9 | LIBERIA Double Wamco 29th April 2005 Six months before elections, ministers have signed a deal on a trade in banned diamonds A secret deal signed in February by government ministers in Monrovia would give a mysterious mining company a ten-year monopoly on Liberia's diamond production, according to contract documents...
Vol 46 No 9 | LIBERIA Warlord on the loose 29th April 2005 Charles Taylor, Liberia's exiled warlord, stands accused of crimes across the region. A 30-page confidential report to the internationally financed Special Court in Sierra Leone alleges that he...