Vol 57 No 20 | GAMBIA Jammeh tilts the playing field 7th October 2016 An increasingly isolated and paranoid President has become even more dictatorial in the lead-up to national elections The last time Gambia went to the polls, in November 2011, the incumbent President Yahya Jammeh won 72% of the vote, crushing two below-par opposition coalitions. The Commonwealth...
Vol 57 No 20 | SIERRA LEONE Iron Man 7th October 2016 Facing lacklustre demand in the global market, the country's iron-ore production is only slowly recovering from the disaster of the Ebola epidemic of 2014-2015. The leading company in...
Vol 57 No 19 | NIGERIA No oil, no money, no deal 23rd September 2016 Both sides are edging towards some sort of deal that will get the money flowing again – to the Treasury and to the Delta There is an inexorable logic to the tortuous negotiations between the government and the Niger Delta Avengers, the most determined of the militant groups launching attacks in the... READ FOR FREE
Vol 57 No 19 | MALI Instability goes national 23rd September 2016 A reshuffle has given the government a new strategy in the North but insecurity is spreading southwards As he struggles to cut a deal with armed groups over northern regional councils and faces persistent militant attacks in central areas, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta has...
Vol 57 No 19 | SIERRA LEONE Death of a front-runner 23rd September 2016 The weak opposition is unable to take advantage of deepening rifts in the increasingly unpopular ruling party The sudden death in a London hospital of businessman and politician Gibril Santigie Moseray Fadika on 7 August has cast some light on the intrigues surrounding the battle...
Vol 57 No 19 | NIGERIA Impatience 23rd September 2016 Patience Jonathan, wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has reacted with fury to Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) freezing more than US$14 million in accounts she controls.
Vol 57 No 18 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Ouattara shores up legacy 9th September 2016 The President seeks to entrench his party after his departure and improve the country's stability Keeping the gunmen at bay is one reason that President Alassane Dramane Ouattara has launched a constitutional review. The other is to secure the future of his governing...
Vol 57 No 18 | GHANA The debt merry-go-round 9th September 2016 The government's negotiations on debt and budgets with the IMF are politically contentious ahead of December's elections The politically charged deadline for the government's latest agreement with the International Monetary Fund is to be delayed again, following the report of a mission to Accra from...
Vol 57 No 17 | NIGERIA A dollar emergency 26th August 2016 Just as investment companies began advising clients to return to the Nigerian market to take advantage of the sharp depreciation of the naira currency over the past two...
Vol 57 No 17 | GUINEA Feds grab middleman 26th August 2016 The arrest of Samuel Mebiame by the US Department of Justice on 16 August is causing sleepless nights in Guinea, Chad and Niger. Son of the former Gabonese...