Vol 38 No 9 | CONGO-KINSHASA Business at war 25th April 1997 As Laurent-Désiré Kabila's forces march towards Kinshasa, arguments about Zaïre's economic future are heating up However Mobutu Sese Seko is finally chased from the Presidency, Zaïre's new rulers will inherit a formal economy that barely exists. In 1996 gross domestic product was just...
Vol 38 No 9 | CONGO-KINSHASA Mining concessions, traders and investors 25th April 1997 KIVU• Empain-Schneider (France) sold goldmining concession of Société Minière du Kivu to Cluff Minerals (Britain) and Banro (Canada).
Vol 38 No 8 | CHAD Nimble in Ndjamena 11th April 1997 Déby is getting domestic politics under control and is giving his neighbours a hand Yet another of Africa's military leaders who has swapped khaki for boubou or danshiki, President Idriss Déby Itno has spent the last three months getting domestic politics under...
Vol 38 No 8 | CONGO-KINSHASA Kabila yaka! 11th April 1997 A bizarre coalition of money and Marxism lies behind the AFDL's phenomenal success Several 'companions of the road' have given their support to 59 year-old Laurent-Désiré Kabila's political struggle. They are an odd bunch, from Maoist guerrillas to Wall Street investors...
Vol 38 No 8 | CONGO-KINSHASAGREAT LAKES Across the lake 11th April 1997 Burundian rebels may have lost part of their Zaïrean safe-haven but they fight on and have even acquired a navy. On 25 March, the Hutu hardline Forces pour...
Vol 38 No 8 | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE Across the river 11th April 1997 Money is sloshing around Brazzaville. The Kinshasa bourgeoisie (new and old) has fled across the river and is making its presence (and its money) felt. So are the...
Vol 38 No 7 | CONGO-KINSHASA Kabila's long march 28th March 1997 Mobutu is going and Zaïreans are asking questions about his would-be successors As they go from victory to victory, Laurent-Désiré Kabila and his forces are having to face some tough political questions: firstly, about the composition of their Alliance des...
Vol 38 No 7 | CONGO-KINSHASA The new order 28th March 1997 The 'government' or Executive Committee of the Alliances des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre, which now administers about a quarter of the country, has ten members:...
Vol 38 No 6 | CONGO-KINSHASA A bend in the river 14th March 1997 The coming fall of Kisangani is concentrating minds on who and what comes after Mobutu Even government officials say it is only a matter of time before Zaïre's third city, Kisangani, and the military headquarters based there fall into rebel hands. Rebels have...
Vol 38 No 5 | CONGO-KINSHASA Cape town crisis 28th February 1997 President Mobutu Sese Seko and his government may believe that the negotiations in Cape Town with Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre officials are the...