Vol 49 No 7 | CONGO-KINSHASA The spirit moves them 28th March 2008 Kinshasa futilely and violently tries to quash the longstanding BDK separatist threat in the west, leaving scores of people dead Once again, the political-religious cult Bundu dia Kongo has set off a bloody conflict in the province of Bas-Congo, near the mouth of the Congo River. The United...
Vol 49 No 7 | EQUATORIAL GUINEASOUTH AFRICA Butcher Shop 28th March 2008 The sacked director of South Africa's National Intelligence Agency, Billy Masetlha, is at the centre of fresh claims about the agency's collusion with plotters against Equatorial Guinea's government....
Vol 49 No 6 | CAMEROON The people versus Biya 14th March 2008 The President wants to go on for ever but recent protests show the people may not let him Having ruled for 25 years, President Paul Biya wants to go on ruling until 2018, when he will be 85. The constitution decrees that he cannot stand for...
Vol 49 No 6 | CAMEROON The road to ruin 14th March 2008 President Paul Biya's 25 years in power have been disastrous for what was once a rather prosperous state. His critics blame its decline on the excessive powers he...
Vol 49 No 6 | CONGO-KINSHASA Down the mines 14th March 2008 The government wants to sort out its mining concessions and the investors are nervous At last, the bargaining can begin. The government has given the private mining companies details of the terms of the new and renewed contracts that they will be...
Vol 49 No 6 | CONGO-KINSHASA Goma's ghosts 14th March 2008 Peace has not broken out in the Kivus yet. In Goma diplomats are trying to organise follow-up meetings to the accord signed last month between the Congolese government,...
Vol 49 No 4 | CHAD Déby – caught between Paris and Khartoum 15th February 2008 President Déby's struggle for survival is not over and its outcome will have huge regional ramifications The 4 February attack on Ndjamena was carefully timed. The rebels and their sponsors in Sudan's National Congress (National Islamic Front) regime in Khartoum had spotted growing dissent...
Vol 49 No 4 | CHAD Beyond the borders 15th February 2008 Chad and Sudan have been meddling in each other's politics for 30 years, and the semi-nomadic peoples who straddle the border (including President Idriss Déby Itno's Zaghawa) complicate...
Vol 49 No 4 | EQUATORIAL GUINEAZIMBABWE From Chikurubi to Blackbeach 15th February 2008 Simon Mann, former Special Air Service officer and mercenary, was extradited on 1 February from Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea, where he is to face charges of coup plotting...
Vol 49 No 4 | CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLICCHADEUROPEAN UNION Delays in deployment 15th February 2008 As fighting in Chad worsens, Lieutenant General Nash promises all EUFOR troops will be on the ground by mid-May The European Force in Chad and Central African Republic (EUFOR Chad/CAR) is due to be deployed between March and May, to protect refugees from Sudan's Darfur region and...