Africa

After two months of courageous campaigning by determined young Africans, the region’s autocrats are preparing their counter-offensive

European policy-makers are anxious to safeguard the supply of raw materials to their industries and the European Union has just presented guidelines for a ‘raw materials diplomacy’ to...

UK businesses lobbying against the new Bribery Act seem to be having some success (see Confidential Agenda, week ending 28 January). The government has postponed implementation of the Act, already...

President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, who worked closely with successive South African Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma on diplomatic issues, also presided over a sharp boost...

Brazil’s political involvement in Portuguese-speaking Africa goes back to the independence struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. In July 1974, the military junta which then ruled Brazil recognised...

At the start of one of Africa’s busiest political seasons – more than 17 elections are due this year – the deepening crisis in Côte d’Ivoire sends a...

The latest attempt by a Chinese company to secure African mining assets from Australian companies has hit the skids over concerns about insider trading by Hanlong Mining. Several suspicious deals...

Transparency has not been a major feature of China Sonangol’s and China International Fund’s activities in Africa, but one of the investment vehicles is now embarking on a human-resources drive...

Uganda may miss the East African Community’s deadline of December 2012 for all member states to switch from analogue to digital television. In early August, Uganda’s communications regulator sounded the...

Cracks are appearing in China’s solidarity with its African allies at the United Nations’ arms trade treaty (ATT) talks. At a UN Preparatory Committee in New York City on 11-15 July,...