Vol 48 No 19 | CONGO-KINSHASA Kasongo v CAMEC 21st September 2007 Former England cricketer Phil Edmonds’s roller-coaster ride in Africa is going up again after a 19 September court ruling in Kinshasa recognising the legality of his Central African...
Vol 48 No 18 | CONGO-KINSHASA More fighting, more aid 7th September 2007 Renewed fighting in the eastern provinces could help the government to qualify more quickly for aid Theories abound about who is funding and arming the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) in the eastern provinces of Congo-Kinshasa. General Laurent Nkunda, the Congolese Tutsi...
Vol 48 No 16 | CAMEROON No contest 3rd August 2007 Everyone thinks the government fixed the elections but that wasn't really necessary After its landslide win in fraudulent parliamentary and local elections on 22 July, President Paul Biya promised that his ruling Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounais (RDPC) would 'modernise'...
Vol 48 No 15 | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE Can't pay, won't pay 20th July 2007 Bad old debts reveal the gap between what Congo owes and what its leaders hide The pursuit of repayments from the poorest economies has made the debt-collection agencies known as 'vulture funds' a target for antipoverty campaigners. These firms buy up debts at...
Vol 48 No 15 | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE Election failure 20th July 2007 The first round of Congo-Brazzaville's legislative elections, on 22 June, displayed haste, corruption and ineptitude. There was a stark lack of voting materials and at some polling stations...
Vol 48 No 15 | GABONTAIWAN Clipping Taiwan 20th July 2007 President Omar Bongo Ondimba, a close ally of Beijing, appears to have literally clipped the wings of Taiwan's African diplomacy.
Vol 48 No 14 | CONGO-KINSHASA Nkunda in the hills 6th July 2007 From a farmhouse in the Masisi Hills, dissident General Laurent Nkunda has told Africa Confidential that he is ready to fight to the bitter end to prevent what...
Vol 48 No 14 | GABONFRANCE Long arms 6th July 2007 On 22 June, a judge in Bordeaux, France, found Gabon's President Omar Bongo guilty of accepting a bribe to free French citizen René Cardona from gaol in 1996.
Vol 48 No 13 | CONGO-KINSHASA Kivu clashes ahead 22nd June 2007 Fears are growing of a confrontation between the forces of General Laurent Nkunda and the government's Forces Armées Congolaises in North Kivu Province next month. We hear that...
Vol 48 No 12 | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE A strange alliance 8th June 2007 The President has cut a deal with his long-time foe and may now control parliament Back-room dealing is habitual in Congo-Brazzaville, where President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and his Parti Congolais du Travail lead a coalition of 30 parties, the Forces Démocratiques Unies. The latest...