Vol 59 No 11 | SOMALIA Shabaab takes to the air 1st June 2018 Far from being on the brink of defeat, Al Shabaab is improving its propaganda and still holding its own on the military front Al Shabaab's leader, Abu Ubaydah, made a major speech on jihadist broadcast media on 18 May marking the beginning of Ramadan and setting out his political stall, scotching...
Vol 59 No 11 | ETHIOPIA All things to all factions 1st June 2018 The new premier plays a clever game of balancing competing interests – but bringing the corrupt to book is not on the agenda Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been boosting his reputation as a crowd-pleaser with government actions which have delighted a Saudi tycoon, youthful demonstrators, opposition leaders, jailed executives and...
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...