Madagascans expect a close race in the 16 December presidential election when the main challenger to long entrenched President Didier Ratsiraka is the rank outsider, media magnate and...

A cartoon in the state-owned daily Herald on 19 November showed the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, glad-handing his backers - the independent press, the European Union, Britain and...

A born-again Executive Outcomes operation is at the centre of allegations of a military contract between ex-South African Defence Force soldiers and the Sudanese army. A former director...

The New National Party, heir to the old Afrikaner-apartheid tradition, hitched up in June 2000 to the Democratic Party, whose members claim to inherit South Africa's liberal tradition....

The African National Congress often deals with its opponents by co-opting them, offering jobs and a hearing in exchange for an end to opposition. Co-option began with the...

The 'cult of Sam' is reaching new heights: you've seen the President, now watch the film. Local businesses have pledged 90,000 Namibian dollars(US$11,000) towards the N$20 million budget...

The arrest of three men last week on charges of stealing President Frederick Chiluba's salary over the past 16 months is instructive. Apparently Chiluba hadn't noticed that 82...

Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD): formed 1990, governing since 1991. Support: Copperbelt and Bemba people, trades unions; endorsed by Dean Mung'omba's Zambia Alliance for...

International eyes are off Zimbabwe and President Robert Mugabe is having a good anti-terror war. The Commonwealth summit scheduled to have opened in Australia on 6 October would...

The United States, calling for 'no talks with terrorists', still wants to prod President José Eduardo dos Santos towards talks with Jonas Savimbi's União Nacional para a Independência...