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CONFIDENTIALLY SPEAKING

The Africa Confidential Blog

Displaying 401-410 out of 497 results.

  • 10th October 2014

Blunt warnings from the Bank

Blue Lines

There is a strong sense of apocalypse as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund hold their annual meetings in Washington DC on 10-12 October. Part of that comes from the blunt warnings from Bank President Jim Yong Kim that the future of Africa may...

  • 26th September 2014

Talking resources

Blue Lines

Both sides of the corporate coin were on parade this week. Dozens of bankers and chief executives attended the United Nations Climate Summit in New York on 23 September, which was a prelude to negotiations in Paris next year for a new climate treaty to re...

  • 12th September 2014

Ebola side-effects

Blue Lines

If there are any positive side-effects from the Ebola outbreak that has already cost more than 2,300 lives in West Africa, it may be to highlight the short-sightedness of funding cuts to international health agencies. Margaret Chan, the Director General o...

  • 29th August 2014

The clash of anti-corruption commissions

Blue Lines

Asked about the qualities needed by a journalist, the late, great Nicholas Tomalin replied: ‘Rat-like cunning, a plausible manner and a little literary ability.’ The same could be said of many anti-corruption lawyers, judges and officials, such as Spain’s...

  • 8th August 2014

The Mo Ibrahim effect

Blue Lines

Amid the gridlock and diplomatic glad-handing as over 50 high-level African delegations descended on a humid Washington for a week, it looked as if straight talking might lose out. Economics and business, it quickly emerged, was what had brought the deleg...

  • 25th July 2014

Africa-US summit – a look ahead

Blue Lines

Will the grand Africa-United States summit with more than 40 leaders in attendance in Washington D.C. on 4-6 August produce the results wanted by its protagonists? The expected high attendance is due both to President Barack Obama's charisma and the searc...

  • 11th July 2014

Crises stalk West African summit

Blue Lines

A sense of crisis loomed over the regional summit on 10-11 July as West African leaders gathered in Accra, with security, migration and the Ebola virus high on the agenda. Insurgencies, organised crime and political rivalries are intruding on grand plans ...

  • 27th June 2014

A summit about security

Blue Lines

The theme of the African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea on 26-27 June was 'Agriculture and Food Security' but the part that really resonated among leaders was the word 'security'. Egypt was readmitted to the AU after last month’s election and on 26 Jun...

  • 13th June 2014

Cyril to centre stage

Blue Lines

It’s official: it started with a pain in the neck at the National Executive Committee meeting of the African National Congress. That is Jacob Zuma’s neck and the pain was severe enough for his fellow NEC members to send him to hospital. ANC Secretary Gene...

  • 30th May 2014

Frank discourse in Kigali

Blue Lines

To see government leaders argue publicly about politics and security at the African Development Bank meeting in Kigali last week showed how much discourse, if not governance, has changed. When he was in office, South Africa's former President Thabo Mbeki ...

Displaying 401-410 out of 497 results.