Vol 47 No 20 | EGYPTAFRICA Pride and prejudice 6th October 2006 A row over a pan-African trade bank threatens Cairo's diplomatic and commercial standing Mild-mannered Ivorian banker Jean-Louis Ekra is an improbable figure to be in the eye of a continental storm. But a diplomatic storm is indeed brewing as the dispute...
Vol 47 No 20 | EGYPTAFRICA Cairo's costly hubris 6th October 2006 The dispute over Afreximbank could prove expensive diplomatically and commercially for Egypt. This week Afreximbank began considering legal action against at least one of two state-owned Egyptian banks,...
Vol 47 No 16 | AFRICABRITAIN Flirting with the enemy 4th August 2006 Britain's Foreign Office is divided over relations with Islamists in Africa and the Middle East Secret documents from Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) reveal an established policy of engaging with Islamists and suggest that regimes in Africa should not expect much help...
Vol 47 No 15 | AFRICAG8 Pause in St Petersburg 21st July 2006 After last year's big push, the G8 risks treading water on Africa policy until the 2007 summit in Germany African expectations of the Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg on 15-17 July were scaled down well in advance and were not unduly disappointed. Neither the host,...
Vol 47 No 14 | CHINAAFRICA Beijing's touring team 7th July 2006 Trade and investment not ideology dominate the Beijing axis these days Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's Africa tour last month was the latest of an unprecedented series of diplomatic trips to the region by the most senior officials of the...
Vol 47 No 8 | UNITED STATESAFRICA Shutting up shop 14th April 2006 The decision by US-based risk consultants Kroll to shut down their Africa practice on 3 April appears to have been taken, oddly enough, because the US$1.9 billion company...
Vol 47 No 7 | AFRICAAIRLINES Lackadaisical list 31st March 2006 As worries grow about air safety in Africa, the European Union has released a new list of 91 (mostly African) airlines banned from entering its airspace. It claims...
Vol 47 No 6 | FRANCEAFRICA Professional risks 17th March 2006 The murder of Robert Feliciaggi in the car park of Corsica's Ajaccio airport on 10 March raises embarrassing questions in Africa and France. Feliciaggi owned casinos, lotteries and...
Vol 47 No 3 | CHINAAFRICA Confucius, he say 3rd February 2006 On 12 January, China issued a paper on its African policy. This raises more questions than it answers, as it reads less like a policy paper than a...
Vol 47 No 3 | FOOTBALLAFRICA Booted out 3rd February 2006 Shock spread when South Africa, host of the 2010 World Cup, was knocked out in the first round after an ignominious 3-0 defeat by Zambia on 30 January....