Vol 54 No 12 | TANZANIA Protests fuel political crisis 7th June 2013 Clashes over the lack of local benefits from the booming gas industry challenge President Kikwete’s government Two days of clashes in Mtwara following the general strike on 22 May have turned into one of the most serious political crises since Independence in 1961. At...
Vol 54 No 12 | TANZANIA The licensing run-around 7th June 2013 Despite the lack of the long-awaited natural gas policy, the licensing round will now start in late October Tanzania has announced that the continually postponed Fourth Offshore Licensing Round will finally start on 25 October. It will also include one onshore block, North Lake Tanganyika. The...
Vol 54 No 12 | TANZANIA CCM circles the wagons 7th June 2013 The governing party worries about the next elections and some old hands, once out in the cold, are back on the scene Once shunned for their association with notorious corruption episodes, two of Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s wealthiest grandees are making their way back into the political spotlight. One is former...
Vol 54 No 12 | EGYPTETHIOPIA Gaffes on the Nile 7th June 2013 Such is the level of distrust around President Mohamed Mursi’s beleaguered government that some insiders are convinced his officials deliberately misled opposition politicians about the ‘secrecy’ of...
Vol 54 No 12 | RWANDATANZANIA Kagame flames Kikwete 7th June 2013 May’s African Union summit in Addis Ababa saw Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete ask if the Kigali-supported Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebels should negotiate with Kinshasa, why shouldn’t...
Vol 54 No 12 | KENYAAFRICAN UNION Bringing it all back home 30th May 2013 The International Criminal Court’s offer to hold the trial of William Ruto in East Africa could be an astute compromise The announcement by the International Criminal Court on 3 June that it could try William Ruto, Kenya’s Deputy President, in East Africa rather than at the Hague appears...
Vol 54 No 11 | UGANDA Talking Tinyefuza 24th May 2013 Senior army officers are falling out over a succession plan which favours President Museveni’s son, Brigadier Kainerugaba Muhoozi The raid by armed police on the Daily Monitor offices in Kampala on 20 May has deepened the political crisis. The newspaper had published a private letter from...
Vol 54 No 11 | UGANDA Enter the Muhoozi generation 24th May 2013 Museveni acts to placate the troops and to disarm critics It is no coincidence that the armed forces announced their most sweeping round of promotions in over a generation just as the political furore around General David Sejusa...
Vol 54 No 11 | SOMALIA Regions test Hassan Sheikh 24th May 2013 The President is still finding his feet. Accepting his – or any – government’s authority is a challenge for the many interests at work On 15 May and by a resounding margin, elders meeting at the Jubaland conference in the southern port of Kismayo elected Ahmed Mohamed Islaam ‘Madobe’ as President of...
Vol 54 No 11 | ETHIOPIA Cutting taxmen 24th May 2013 Amid an anti-corruption drive, on 10 May police arrested the Director General of the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority, Melaku Fenta, his deputy, Gebrewahid Woldegiorgis, and 30 others,...