Potential can be a heavy burden. That is the feeling in Conakry as President Alpha Condé and his advisors watch the prospects of economic development financed by minerals...

Almost every African country has its power crisis. Lack of electricity from Angola to Zimbabwe holds back economic growth, education and health services. In some states such as...

Leaders of the Tuareg armed groups fighting for the recognition of northern Mali as an autonomous or independent Azawad face the challenge of keeping supporters on board following...

Such is the febrile mood in national politics that President Goodluck Jonathan felt compelled to tell delegations from the European Union and the Economic Community of West African...

There is another way to influence election results, without tampering with the actual vote: to encourage or discourage turnout by using the security organisations. Opposition parties claim that...

The mass movement that toppled President Blaise Compaoré last October is at increasing odds with the Régiment de sécurité présidentielle (RSP, AC Vol 55 No 22). The elite...

Freetown's redoubtable Auditor General, Lara Taylor-Pearce, has struck again, publishing a damning report on the misuse of public funds between May, when the Ebola epidemic broke out, and...

The risk of violent clashes in the Niger Delta is increasing as the political contest heats up ahead of the presidential and governorship elections, scheduled for 14 and...

President Ernest Bai Koroma has called off the national housing and population census planned for April after criticism that members of his All Peoples' Congress (APC) were over-represented...

New doubts about the timing of the presidential and governorship elections, currently due on 14 and 28 February respectively, will complicate national security. Because some 30 million out...