The Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) is pouring millions into a lavish campaign to ensure overwhelming victory in the general elections on 31 August. The team behind President...

After 2008’s electoral drubbing, the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) is now far better organised, winning respect for its sustained pressure on the electoral commission, and surprising...

Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) were pleased with the outcome of the Southern African Development Community summit in Maputo on 17-18 August. It had just begun...

On 17 August, the Southern African Development Community failed in its third attempt to reconcile feuding Presidents Marc Ravalomanana and Andry Rajoelina. Rajoelina overthrew Ravalomanana in March 2009 and is now...

Ex-President Thabo Mbeki has taken issue with South Africa’s push to get Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma elected Chairwoman of the African Union. She defeated the incumbent, Gabon’s Jean Ping, prompting criticism that South...

The Supreme Court has finally forced President Robert Mugabe to hold long-outstanding bye-elections in three Matebeleland parliamentary seats. He had argued that the polls would be too expensive....

So far, Matebeleland's special concerns have not been fully addressed by the political reform process. The Human Rights Commission will deal only with matters since 2008, leaving the...

In spite of the serious split in the Botswana Democratic Party in 2010, opposition parties cannot form a broad electoral alliance, the only way to end the BDP’s...

Russian-Israeli billionaire Arkady Gaydamak failed to convince the London High Court he had a case against diamond-dealer Lev Leviev in mid-June. Ever since, analysts have been poring over...

Lev Leviev's interests in neighbouring Namibia could suffer as a result of the British High Court proceedings in June, especially from the judge's critical remarks about his credibility...