Prospects for a political solution to Sierra Leone’s rebel war seem to have perished along with the more than 2,000 civilians officially reckoned to have been...

Among others, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Britain and the United States believe Liberian President Charles Taylor has trained and armed the brutally effective rebels of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary...

Backstabbing is getting more vicious among barons of the ruling Alliance pour la Démocratie au Mali (Adema). Few doubt that Adema will win the presidential election in...

The 144 employees of Timbuktu airport wrote to complain that their pay arrived late. They couldn’t afford to travel across the desert and mountains to the capital, Bamako,...

Algerian troops raided into north-west Niger in late November, with approval and support from the government in Niamey, Africa Confidential has learned.

Any diplomatic damage caused by the postponement of President Henri Konan Bédié’s official visit to Britain (AC Vol 39 No 24) seems to have been repaired fast. Whitehall’s...

Suffering from one of his recurrent bouts of malaria and against medical advice, President Jerry John Rawlings insisted on personally addressing, inter alia, the armed forces, the security...

The local government elections on 5 December were good news for Nigeria and bad news for the presidential frontrunner and former military leader, General Olusegun Obasanjo. There was...

If General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s government cannot sort out the oil business, its brokering of a political transition may not amount to much. Six months ago,when Gen. Sani Abacha...

The Revolutionary United Front rebels and the remnants of the deposed military junta are bringing their terror campaign towards Freetown again. They are now striking along a 200...