Vol 50 No 12 | GABON Après Bongo 12th June 2009 Foreign leaders head to Libreville for the 16 June state funeral of President Omar Bongo Ondimba, 'le Grand Camerade', and the cabinet meets to discuss the succession The death of El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba gives French President Nicolas Sarkozy the clearest chance to break with the opaque Françafrique networks, although he has avoided previous...
Vol 50 No 11 | GABON A filial succession 29th May 2009 A crafty old spendthrift nears his end, seeming to have the succession as well as the budget well under control If President Omar Bongo Ondimba had a dollar for every time his demise was announced over the last 20 years, he would be even richer than he already...
Vol 50 No 11 | GABON Looking for a sense of security 29th May 2009 As Defence Minister, Ali Ben Bongo has brought in a new Chief of Army Staff, Colonel Major Jean-Claude Ella Ekogha, and a new head of the Conseil National...
Vol 50 No 11 | ANGOLACONGO-KINSHASAECONOMY The cement boom 29th May 2009 In both Angola and Congo-Kinshasa, public works produce surprising profits for well-connected cement producers, but an oil-fired building boom requires a lot of cement. Angola's Minister of Public...
Vol 50 No 11 | CONGO-KINSHASA The China choice 29th May 2009 Congo-Kinshasa's dilemma over how to finalise a US$9 billion minerals barter deal with China without jeopardising a debt-reduction deal with the International Monetary Fund will not be resolved...
Vol 50 No 10 | CONGO-KINSHASA A credit-crunch presidency 15th May 2009 In the midst of the recession, there is barely any investment in Congo, which bodes ill for President Kabila in the elections due in 2011 Two weeks after Evariste Boshab, a close ally of President Joseph Kabila, was elected Speaker of the National Assembly and the independent-minded Vital Kamerhe had been forced from...
Vol 50 No 10 | CHAD Tactical defeat 15th May 2009 The Chadian rebel offensive began straight after the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie had tried to break the stalemate in talks between President Idriss Déby and his civilian...
Vol 50 No 9 | CHADSUDAN Who shoots first? 1st May 2009 The regimes in N’djamena and Khartoum are preparing for another proxy war, this time with more guns and better technology On the Chad-Sudan border, everyone is asking who will fire first. As the mandate of the European Union Force (EUFOR) in eastern Chad ran out last month, Sudan's...
Vol 50 No 9 | ANGOLACONGO-KINSHASA An offshore imbroglio 1st May 2009 The two countries set up a joint commission to resolve long-standing border rows Grievances have arisen between Angola and Congo-Kinshasa about their borders - offshore and onshore. Kinshasa's Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito and ministers Célestin Mbuyu (Interior), Alexis Thambwe Mwamba ...
Vol 50 No 9 | CONGO-KINSHASA Speak easy 1st May 2009 A month after Vital Kamerhe was forced out of office, a weakened National Assembly has followed President Joseph Kabila's instructions and voted in a new Speaker, Evariste...