Vol 38 No 1 | CONGO-KINSHASA Digging in 3rd January 1997 Kinshasa's talk of a counter-offensive means little as the rebels score strategic victories The strategic town of Bunia, on the north-eastern border with Sudan and Uganda, fell to rebel forces on 26 December. This was a stinging blow to President Mobutu...
Vol 37 No 25 | CONGO-KINSHASA Mining for trouble 13th December 1996 As Zaïre's rebels capture mineral-rich lands, mining companies may have to pay up The rebels keep advancing. One of their techniques is to announce the capture of a town before they attack it, causing panic and disorder among their enemies, as...
Vol 37 No 24 | CONGO-KINSHASA A hard homecoming 29th November 1996 Without foreign help Mobutu will not be able to quell the eastern rebellion or rein in his quarrelling generals President Mobutu Sese Seko's heralded return home will do little to turn the tide of defeat and demoralisation. While he retains some authority over the government - he...
Vol 37 No 24 | CONGO-KINSHASA Dissonant voices 29th November 1996 Faced with the Kivu crisis, foreign powers are as divided as Kinshasa's politicians Events in eastern Zaïre continue to outpace the West's diplomatic response. There is relief in several Western capitals that some 600,000 refugees have returned to Rwanda without the...
Vol 37 No 24 | CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Echoes of Zaïre 29th November 1996 Bangui's latest mutiny sends a worrying message to its southern neighbour Bearing little comfort from his Paris trip, President Ange-Félix Patassé flew home on 25 November to an army mutiny in its eleventh day, with French troops holding a...
Vol 37 No 23 | CONGO-KINSHASA Kinshasa questions 15th November 1996 France, the only country to have had a coherent policy on Zaïre, has like everyone else been thrown into confusion by the Kivu rebellion (AC Vol 37 No...
Vol 37 No 22 | CAMEROON Election enterprise 1st November 1996 Biya faces two strong opponents but is confident he can outplay them Later this month, Paul Biya will stand for nomination as presidential candidate at the congress of the ruling Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camérounais. No one seriously doubts that...
Vol 37 No 20 | CONGO-KINSHASA Follow the Guide 4th October 1996 Whether or not Mobutu returns to the helm, politicians are now fighting to succeed him In Zaïre, facts are scarce and often unreliable. The Prime Minister, Léon Lobitsch Kengo wa Dondo, said last month that President Mobutu Sese Seko would come home...
Vol 37 No 20 | GABON Have petrol, will travel 4th October 1996 Local elections are due this month after President Bongo's three-year delay The elections due on 20 October are more politically significant than municipal polls usually manage to be. This is because they are seen as completing the process of...
Vol 37 No 19 | CONGO-KINSHASA Military operation 20th September 1996 Desperately thin and recovering uncertainly from his operation for cancer of the prostate on 22 August, President Mobutu Sese Seko is worrying his friends in Paris and Washington....