October has been good for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. He has appointed a new President, reshuffled his cabinet, won gushing tributes from Western diplomats and donors, and turned...

We are on the verge of reaching a breakthrough which will bring permanent peace and stability', said Nelson Mandela, former South African President and Burundi's peace mediator, on...

The Kinshasa government's abandonment of the Inter-Congolese dialogue on 19 October raises new doubts about its commitment to the Lusaka peace accord. Foreign Minister Léonard She Okitundu and...

Sudan's government is walking a tightrope. Since the United States' and British bombing of Afghanistan began on 7 October, the threat to the National Islamic Front (aka National...

As war-hero-turned-dissident Mesfin Hagos prepares to return home to near certain imprisonment for criticising President Issayas Afewerki, international pressure is mounting on the government to reverse its recent...

The caseload from the 1994 genocide has left 115,000 suspects in gaol, detained but not convicted, in conditions which human rights advocates call inhuman. A few alleged leaders...

Critics of President Issayas Afeworki complain about his autocratic style. On 18 September, he proved their point, when six of his critics in the ruling People's Front for...

There is growing concern in Kigali and Bujumbura about the consequences of efforts by Congo-Kinshasa's President Joseph Kabila to expel the 'negative forces', the hardline militias involved in...

President Daniel arap Moi has run out of promises. The Board of the International Monetary Fund refuses to unblock further loans - in particular, a hoped for quick...

The wedding of the Kenya African National Union and the National Democratic Party was consummated in a carnival atmosphere at the Moi International Sports Complex outside Nairobi on...