Vol 38 No 15 | SOUTH AFRICA Heading south 18th July 1997 Chief Buthelezi is making common cause with the ANC's Modise to keep out illegals Deputy President Thabo Mbeki speaks animatedly of an 'African Renaissance' – an updated version of Kwame Nkrumah's Pan-Africanism but with South Africa rather than Ghana steering the way....
Vol 38 No 15 | BOTSWANA Good news 18th July 1997 The country remains a favoured African democracy – but only after international protests and a dignified climb-down by government. With elections due in 1999, the government proposed a...
Vol 38 No 12 | NAMIBIA Technical wizardry 6th June 1997 The President may have at last found a loophole allowing him to prolong his rule Namibia's constitution, widely regarded as a model for countries emerging from despotism, limits a president to two terms. President Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma has served two five-year terms –...
Vol 38 No 12 | ANGOLA Congo guns 6th June 1997 In the heaviest fighting since November 1994's ceasefire, the Forças Armadas de Angola have pounded positions of Jonas Savimbi's União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola in...
Vol 38 No 12 | LIBYASOUTH AFRICA Gesture politics 6th June 1997 Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi may plan to fly to South Africa in breach of United Nations Security Council (Lockerbie) sanctions on Libya flights. Britain and the United States...
Vol 38 No 11 | ANGOLA Regional rebound 23rd May 1997 After Mobutu Sese Seko, UNITA is the biggest loser from changes in Central Africa Jonas Savimbi must feel that the earth has moved but not because he is any closer to quenching his passion to become president of Angola. The tremors running...
Vol 38 No 11 | LESOTHO Hanging on 23rd May 1997 By the grace of the courts, and for a few weeks only, Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle (78) is hanging on as leader of the Basutoland Congress Party, a...
Vol 38 No 9 | SOUTH AFRICA Keep trekking 25th April 1997 Afrikaner farmers move north, funded by the EU and some mysterious benefactors One hundred and sixty years after the 'Great Trek' of Afrikaners from the Western Cape into the interior, a smaller, more bizarre trek is under way. Under government...
Vol 38 No 9 | MOZAMBIQUE Blanchard's beach 25th April 1997 The once-socialist government of Mozambique has made what may be the world's most extreme privatisation agreement. It is handing over the development of a region as large as...
Vol 38 No 8 | ANGOLA Trouble next door 11th April 1997 Luanda hopes to benefit from the demise of its old enemy Mobutu Zaïre's slow-burning revolution has made a quick impact on Angola. President José Eduardo dos Santos is cheering on Laurent-Désiré Kabila's forces and has helped by facilitating the airlift...