Vol 59 No 10 | SOUTH SUDAN Splits and special pleas 18th May 2018 An increasingly isolated Salva is under threat and making desperate moves as his former army chief defects In April, the unity of President Salva Kiir Mayardit's Dinka-dominated alliance fractured further when his former army chief Paul Malong Awan announced the formation of yet another opposition...
Vol 59 No 10 | ETHIOPIASAUDI ARABIA Gold fever 18th May 2018 The ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front's favourite billionaire, the Ethiopian-Saudi Mohammed Hussein al Amoudi, seems to have disappeared from favour in Addis Ababa as surely as he...
Vol 59 No 10 | SOMALIA Proxies, powers, and presidents 8th May 2018 Qatar and the UAE, along with a host of bit players, fought their latest battle in Somalia over whose man got to be the new Speaker of Parliament Months of vicious intrigue centring on the rivalry between the United Arab Emirates and its declared enemy, Qatar, ended on 30 April when Mohamed Mursal Abdirahman became the...
Vol 59 No 9 | SUDAN Diplomats down, spies up 4th May 2018 A veteran spy chief returns and the foreign minister is pushed out as President El Beshir tries to prolong his tenure The sacking of Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour on 18 April after he complained in parliament that diplomats hadn't been paid for seven months points to the depth of...
Vol 59 No 9 | ETHIOPIA Abiy tests the military 4th May 2018 The Prime Minister's first cabinet rewards allies and begins to take on the securocrats' power in politics and the economy Building on an assertive start, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has revealed more about his leadership style with an aggressive set of federal government appointments. Although hardly unexpected, the...
Vol 59 No 9 | TANZANIA Fear stalks the economy 4th May 2018 President Magufuli's crackdown is hampering economic development plans and intimidating civil servants and companies alike Tanzania is in the midst of its ambitious second Five-Year Development Plan, a programme to rebuild and improve infrastructure while jump-starting industrial manufacturing with special economic zones and...
Vol 59 No 9 | ETHIOPIAMOROCCO Who wants to see a billionaire? 4th May 2018 Viewed from the Casablanca commercial courtroom where the bankruptcy and mothballing of his Société Anonyme Marocaine de l'Industrie du Raffinage (Samir) refinery company has been disputed since...
Vol 59 No 8 | KENYA Believe the handshake 20th April 2018 President Uhuru Kenyatta was affable good humour personified on 17 April when he nipped across London's Mayfair from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to the Chatham House...
Vol 59 No 8 | ETHIOPIA Abiy goes goodwill hunting 20th April 2018 After two weeks in office, new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has produced little policy detail, let alone tangible achievements, but the choice of destinations to launch his premiership...
Vol 59 No 7 | SOUTH SUDAN Salva's bunker mentality 6th April 2018 A reshuffle has seen the President promote his kinsmen to shore up his position, but that narrows his base and could weaken him further President Salva Kiir Mayardit has tightened his control over key finance and security posts by appointing loyalists from his home region. In March, Salva sacked Stephen Dhieu Dau...