Vol 43 No 13 | SENEGALFOOTBALL Wage inflation 28th June 2002 Senegal's 1-0 quarter-final defeat by Turkey this week means that an African soccer team has not yet reached a World Cup semi-final (Cameroon lost a 1990 quarter-final to...
Vol 43 No 11 | SIERRA LEONE Kabbah's cabal 31st May 2002 After an easy election win, the President must tackle corruption and placate the north The elections on 14 May were justifiably hailed as a victory for peace. Veterans said they were the least violent in the country's post-independence history (AC Vol 43...
Vol 43 No 11 | SIERRA LEONE Cabinet making 31st May 2002 President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has kept his supporters close about him in a new 22-member cabinet that shuffles posts but makes no real changes. Past efforts to include...
Vol 43 No 11 | MALI He's back 31st May 2002 The interest groups that helped Touré into the presidency want their reward The man who once said 'only an idiot' would want to be Mali's head of state was confirmed as President on 23 May after two rounds of voting...
Vol 43 No 10 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Interregnum 17th May 2002 Politicians are quieter, the banks are friendlier, the security men are restless The political peace depends, shakily, on the opposition's trust that President Laurent Gbagbo will deliver on his promises. The turning point came in February, with the Yamoussoukro Agreement...
Vol 43 No 10 | GUINEA Unstable 17th May 2002 Explosions in Conakry's main army camp on 5 May were not because of a coup but they show how the army's dominant role is becoming a liability.
Vol 43 No 10 | SIERRA LEONE Polling in peace 17th May 2002 The 14 May presidential and parliamentary elections were lauded as the most peaceful in four decades but political problems loom.
Vol 43 No 9 | NIGERIA The Generals' election 3rd May 2002 The military has helped tear the country apart but civilians still defer to the soldiers and politicians It is a measure of Nigeria's political class that in next year's presidential election, the two most likely candidates - Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari - are retired...
Vol 43 No 9 | NIGERIA Khaki blues, business suits 3rd May 2002 Civilian rule, even by a retired general, does not suit the army The army is back at the centre of politics, three years after it handed over to an elected government whose head, President Olusegun Obasanjo, is himself a recycled...
Vol 43 No 9 | LIBERIA Rebels without a plan 3rd May 2002 Guinean-backed rebels threaten Taylor and the UN is set to renew sanctions against him A queue of enemies is closing in on President Charles Taylor, who is trying to see them off with fire-power and politics. As the veteran opposition leader Ellen...