Vol 40 No 3 | GUINEA BISSAUSENEGAL Treaty testing 5th February 1999 As regional diplomats struggled to negotiate a truce on 3 February, the French-backed peacekeeping initiative, Renforcement des Capacités Africaines en Maintien de la Paix (RECAMP), was at...
Vol 40 No 2 | SIERRA LEONE No surrender, no deal 22nd January 1999 President Kabbah has narrowly missed being overthrown again and still lacks a political strategy to deal with the 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...
Vol 40 No 2 | LIBERIASIERRA LEONE West Africa, according to Mr Taylor 22nd January 1999 Charles Taylor and his ally, Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaoré, are undermining peace in the region – and they have more plans 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...
Vol 40 No 2 | MALI Trial and error 22nd January 1999 Faction fighting and an embarassing ex-dictator pose problems for the President 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...
Vol 40 No 2 | MALI Many complaints, some satisfaction 22nd January 1999 Once a year, Malians are allowed to air their grievances in a public forum – and broadcast on national television 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,...
Vol 40 No 2 | ALGERIANIGER Hornet's nest 22nd January 1999 Algerian troops raided into north-west Niger in late November, with approval and support from the government in Niamey, Africa Confidential has learned.
Vol 40 No 2 | CÔTE D'IVOIREBRITAIN Abidjan's anglos 22nd January 1999 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...
Vol 40 No 1 | GHANA Medical advice 8th January 1999 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...
Vol 39 No 25 | NIGERIA The man who would be king 18th December 1998 Gen. Obasanjo's presidential hopes have taken a beating after the local government polls 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...
Vol 39 No 25 | NIGERIA As bad as it gets 18th December 1998 Political power in Nigeria grows out of a barrel of oil but the industry is in big trouble 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...