Vol 45 No 8 | GHANA Registration rumpus 16th April 2004 Politicians blame bureaucrats, bureaucrats blame politicians. That's democracy Confusion and recriminations followed the voter registration process for December's presidential and parliamentary elections, which took place over two weeks last month. Many voters blame the...
Vol 45 No 8 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Between the wars 16th April 2004 The United Nations military mission got off to an inauspicious start on 4 April with no new troops, no functioning government to support and no sign of disarmament....
Vol 45 No 8 | CABO VERDE A small success 16th April 2004 In July the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is to re-categorise Cape Verde as a Medium Developed Country. While this reflects well on his economic management,...
Vol 45 No 7 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE After the phoney war 2nd April 2004 The Marcoussis peace accord is dead and a new opposition is born Opposition parties and rebel groups have formed a common front against President Laurent Gbagbo and his militias after scores of people were killed when police fired on demonstrators...
Vol 45 No 6 | GAMBIA Fraud and the Fund 19th March 2004 The International Monetary Fund is unconvinced by President Yahya Jammeh's anti-corruption campaign and the trial of five central bank officials on foreign exchange offences
Vol 45 No 5 | NIGERIA Anenih's irresistible rise 5th March 2004 A mysterious murder affects the ruling PDP and probably the next poll It is hotly disputed whether Aminasoari Kalu Dikibo, a chieftain of the governing People's Democratic Party in the oil-rich Niger Delta, died in a political assassination or an...
Vol 45 No 5 | GAMBIA Babagate or floodgate 5th March 2004 Jammeh is busy boasting of oil riches and arresting old friends for corruption Gambians in search of hope after a decade of impoverishment and repression under President Yahya Jammeh's regime might have had their spirits momentarily lifted after he announced the...
Vol 45 No 5 | NIGERIAUNITED STATES Blowback 5th March 2004 Investigations in France, Nigeria and the United States into claims that the US company Halliburton was party to a US$180 million slush fund to bribe Nigerian officials are...
Vol 45 No 4 | GHANA Judging Jerry 20th February 2004 In 1982, a few months after Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings successfully staged a coup, three High Court judges and an army officer were brutally murdered and their...
Vol 45 No 3 | LIBERIA Silencing the guns 4th February 2004 After the fund-raising conference in New York, the focus shifts to disarmament and political reconciliation The United Nations and the United States have a mutual interest in trumpeting the prospects for peace in Liberia. With 15,000 troops - the biggest peacekeeping force in...