The men who lead Laurent-Désiré Kabila's government were mostly in exile until he seized power in 1997 and owe their status to presidential favour rather than local power-base....

Almost all the participants claimed victory in the United Nations Security Council's special session on Congo-Kinshasa, convened by United States' Ambassador Richard Holbrooke on 24-26 January. US and...

A five-man Libyan 'business delegation' visited Kinshasa last month to express Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi's 'desire to invest in the diamond sector', said local press reports. The Libyans,...

The government goes on denying that the President is gravely ill but speculation continues. When President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo met his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo, on 4...

There is not much sign of peace. The Lusaka peace deal, signed in July and August, has survived, just. Implementation is moving painfully slowly, with only a handful...

Zimbabwe's war in the Congo gets costlier by the day. As the bill rises, the failure of President Robert Mugabe's government to budget accurately for its intervention has...

A massive hole in Gabon's public finances - some say of more than US$350 million - is at the heart of its growing financial and political crisis. By...

In their ekonga initiation dance, young warriors from northern Congo chant 'Boma !', meaning 'Kill!' The 'Cobra' militiamen who follow General Denis Sassou-Nguesso have often used the word...

As protests grow against the US$3.5 billion Chad-Cameroon pipeline (AC Vol 39 No 13), Africa Confidential has obtained two confidential memoranda showing the World Bank's efforts to orchestrate...

In Lusaka, African diplomats and army commanders have produced a fair and far-reaching plan to end the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (AC Vol 40 No...