The International Monetary Fund and World Bank's US$1.2 billion package is a massive gesture of political support for President Joseph Kabila. Technically it was made possible by a...

Congo-Brazzaville's hidden conflict and flawed parliamentary elections show how thin a veneer of democracy covers recycled dictator Denis Sassou Nguesso. The official results from the first round of...

Northerners control the army, many are ex-Cobras, President Denis Sassou Nguesso's militia of the mid-1990s civil war. Commanded by the respected General Gilbert Mokoki, the military is still...

Since 52 days of inter-Congolese talks at Sun City ended last month, a new partition is emerging. Some 70 per cent of the territory is covered by the...

The Inter-Congolese Dialogue, which began on 25 February in Sun City, South Africa, has missed its deadline. The government of Joseph Kabila, the rebels, the unarmed opposition and...

The death penalty hangs over the accused but the trial is alternately tedious and entertaining. At Kinshasa's central prison on 15 March, a military court began trying some...

Mass arrests, allegations of torture and public denunciations of dissidents mark President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's latest purge. For five years, he has told the world that his...

French troops may have withdrawn from Central African Republic but their barracks are now being taken over by Libyan and Sudanese troops. Even more bizarrely, some Paris officials...

Demoralised opposition leaders must now decide whether to bother contesting the forthcoming legislative elections. President Denis Sassou-Nguesso won a crushing, Cold War-like 89.41 per cent in the 10...

Peacemaking in the Congo has been a gamble so it's fitting that the next venue for talks is South Africa's casino capital, Sun City. First, though, the man...