Vol 54 No 17 | MOZAMBIQUE Renamo ramps up the pressure 15th August 2013 Disgruntled Renamo rebels are using force and threats of economic disruption to get their demands on the table The violent stand-off between President Armando Guebuza's government and the former Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo) rebels, now entering its sixth month, looks increasingly intractable. The latest round of...
Vol 54 No 17 | ZIMBABWE Inside ZANU-PF's electoral coup 13th August 2013 It was a tactical masterclass from Robert Mugabe and his high command. The MDC floundered, hit by trickery, bad planning and split votes Harare has been eerily quiet since the elections, in shock at the Movement for Democratic Change's disastrous electoral performance. Former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's triumphalist eve-of-poll rally had...
Vol 54 No 17 | MADAGASCAR Rajoelina fends off sanctions with new election law 9th August 2013 Announcing a restructuring of the electoral court and allowing newspapers to hint that he may opt out of the presidential race, Rajoelina has outwitted his rivals and international monitors The drums were rolling ahead of 31 July, the deadline set by international organisations for Andry Rajoelina, President of the Haute Autorité de la Transition, to organise credible...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 10 | MOZAMBIQUEASIA The attractions of coal and gas 5th August 2013 On her first state visit to Africa, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pledged an $8 billion investment in Mozambican port and rail projects Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra embarked on her maiden state visit to Africa in late July. Her first stop was Mozambique, where on 1 August she promised to...
Vol 54 No 16 | ZIMBABWE Fury follows calm elections 1st August 2013 Prime Minister Tsvangirai rejects reports of a ZANU-PF victory in the elections, claiming the party had engineered a ‘monumental fraud’ The stage is set for days, perhaps weeks, of confrontation following claims by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and local monitoring groups of extensive rigging in the 31 July...
Vol 54 No 16 | NAMIBIA Knowledge is power 1st August 2013 Canadian entrepreneur Duane Parnham has partnered with a well connected Namibian, Knowledge Katti, to make a bid for Navachab gold mine, which AngloGold Ashanti is selling as part...
Vol 54 No 16 | ZIMBABWE Gono on the spot over oil deals 30th July 2013 An investigation by Africa Confidential, The Telegraph and Global Witness has revealed suspicious payments to central bank governor Gideon Gono’s children The business affairs of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Gideon Gono, are back in the headlines since evidence emerged that three of his children...
Vol 54 No 16 | SOUTH AFRICA Tilting at the ANC 30th July 2013 The EFF seeks to appeal to leftists disappointed by the ANC. Its main impact for now will be on the ANC’s internal politics The deposed leader of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has staked a claim to political space well to the left of the governing party. Julius Malema...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 10 | SOUTH AFRICA Malusi Knowledge Nkanyezi Gigaba 25th July 2013 Minister of Public Enterprises, South Africa ‘We must not sell our souls in order to receive investments from anywhere in the world,’ Malusi Gigaba told an infrastructure conference in Johannesburg on 16 July. He...
Vol 54 No 16 | MADAGASCAR Crisis grows as presidential elections delayed again 25th July 2013 Coup leader Rajoelina's insistence that he must be a candidate has thrown preparations for the presidential elections into chaos Political tensions and street clashes have been increasing ahead of the 31 July deadline set by the Groupe internationale de contact sur Madagascar (GIC-M), which has set key...