Vol 50 No 24 | CONGO-KINSHASAUNITED NATIONS The Experts win support 4th December 2009 Resisting pressure to overlook those breaking the arms embargo, the UNSC’s reaction to a hard-hitting investigation is suprisingly robust The United Nations Security Council has resisted heavy pressure to reject the hard-hitting UN Panel of Experts' Report(i) on violations, by African and Western states, of the embargo...
Vol 50 No 24 | CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Many rivers to cross 4th December 2009 President Bozizé is tipped to win the coming election, but much of the territory is beyond the control of his army Cheered to the rafters at his Kwa Na Kwa (KNK) party congress at Mbaiki on 13 November, President François Bozizé, 63, declined to confirm that he would stand...
Vol 50 No 24 | CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC The rebels' disarming ambivalence 4th December 2009 Many armed groups exploit local grievances but none have national weight. Their submissions to the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme show they number hundreds, not thousands.
Vol 50 No 23 | GABON And throw away the key 20th November 2009 Viewed from the outside, new President Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba peacefully assumed the presidency on 16 October, after waiting more than a month for votes to be recounted...
Vol 50 No 22 | EQUATORIAL GUINEA After his release, Simon Mann seeks revenge and a book deal 6th November 2009 Some facts may now emerge about the sponsors and planners of the 2004 coup attempt - and about who was set to benefit An expensive round of score-settling and legal cases among the purported financiers and conspirators behind the 2004 coup plot in Equatorial Guinea is likely to be the immediate...
Vol 50 No 22 | ANGOLACONGO-KINSHASA Throwing out the neighbours 6th November 2009 A spree of mutual expulsions disguises long-standing economic disputes The two big neighbours have been busily expelling each others' nationals and the resulting tension hides their disagreements about oil, diamonds and the hoped-for electric power from a...
Vol 50 No 21 | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE Brazzaville counts on France and the IMF 23rd October 2009 Having stolen another election, President Sassou-Nguesso’s regime expects no foreign censure for its diversion of state funds Reports from auditors commissioned by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank reveal that Congo-Brazzaville is still not meeting its promises to introduce transparency into its oil accounts....
Vol 50 No 21 | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE France and the Fund apply pressure 23rd October 2009 Critics say that Congo has never taken seriously the requirements of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to improve governance, since France has been watching it more...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 12 | CAMEROONASIA Cameroon/Asia: New farmers from the East 19th October 2009 Asian companies have recently started negotiations to secure Cameroonian land to cultivate rice and other staples, but local civil society groups are already sounding warnings about the implications. At the end...
Vol 50 No 20 | CONGO-KINSHASA Mines, dollars and dams 8th October 2009 A decade after the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, the Kinshasa government is still plagued by grand corruption and its reform efforts look hollow Several inconvenient facts are undermining President Joseph Kabila's ambitious 'zero tolerance' anti-corruption campaign. Recent reports highlight the failure of efforts to reform Congo's state and the continuing pillage...