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Published 18th November 2016

Vol 57 No 23

Nigeria

Political schisms hit recovery and reform

President Muhammadu Buhari at the Anti-Corruption summit in London in May 2016. Pic: Dan Kitwood PA Archive/PA Images
President Muhammadu Buhari at the Anti-Corruption summit in London in May 2016. Pic: Dan Kitwood PA Archive/PA Images

Economic stagnation and rising prices are eroding the regional alliances at the heart of Buhari’s government

Arguments over the response to the country's worst recession for 25 years are threatening to split the governing All Progressives' Congress. The APC is a fragile alliance between the conservative political establishment in the north and big business interests in the south which unseated the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015. The party's chief electoral asset, President Muhammadu Buhari, who brought in a block of over twelve million votes from the north, faces growing criticism for the delayed response to the country's economic woes. Businessmen in Lagos who are close to Bola Tinubu, the redoubtable political godfather and the APC's Chairman in the south-west, complain that Buhari gives priority to fighting corruption and to economic nationalism over the need for urgent measures to revive the economy.

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Nairobi flaunts its credentials

The African Union instituted 'peer review' over a decade ago but the process stalled. Kenya is championing its return 

With Ghana, Mauritius and Rwanda, Kenya was one of the the first four countries to be subjected to 'peer review' by fellow African governments at the 2006 African...

The bulldozer's light tread

President Magufuli is sweeping out corruption but there are some corners the new broom cannot reach

Many heads have rolled since President John Pombe Magufuli came to office just over a year ago. Those who have felt the new intolerance of waste and corruption...

BLUE LINES
THE INSIDE VIEW

African treasuries, cash-strapped after the commodity price crash, are trying to recoup their losses by launching law suits against multinational companies. The most sensational is a court ruling in Chad on 5 October that a consortium led by Exxon Mobil should pay the government a fine of US$73.4 billion for non-payment of royalties.

According to the court, the royalties amounted to 44 trillion CFA francs ($808 million) but Exxon Mobil dis...
African treasuries, cash-strapped after the commodity price crash, are trying to recoup their losses by launching law suits against multinational companies. The most sensational is a court ruling in Chad on 5 October that a consortium led by Exxon Mobil should pay the government a fine of US$73.4 billion for non-payment of royalties.

According to the court, the royalties amounted to 44 trillion CFA francs ($808 million) but Exxon Mobil disputed the payments. Exxon Mobil and Malaysia's Petronas, also in the consortium, have appealed the judgement and are now negotiating with President Idriss Déby Itno's government.

The ambitions of Zambia's state-owned ZCCM Investments are more modest: it is suing Canada's First Quantum for $1.4 bn., claiming the company took an unauthorised loan of $2.3 bn. at below market rates from the Kansanshi copper mine and underpaid its tax bills. First Quantum, which started negotiating with the government after its share price started falling on the Toronto exchange, said the claims were 'inflammatory, vexatious and untrue'.

Uncharacteristically, Nigeria's legal claims are the most modest in the current round of law suits. It is suing Total and Chevron for undeclared oil shipments amounting to over $600 mn. in 2011-14. And it is seeking a further $400 mn. from ENI, Petrobras and Shell for undeclared shipments in the same period.
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A heartbeat away from Lungu

After the fevered election campaign Lusaka's politicking remains in overdrive as plotters seek to oust the Vice-President

President Edgar Lungu sacked the Information Minister and Chief Government Spokesperson, Chishimba Kambwili, a founding member of the Patriotic Front, on 8 November. Although no official reasons were...

Starting the post-Zuma race

Backing from the ANC's top policy-making committee means that President Zuma can hang on but his authority is shrinking

This has been one of Jacob Zuma's worst months since becoming President in 2009. On 25 November, the mounting list of corruption allegations against him are to be...

The burden of war and debt

We examine the unique conjunction of war, debt, corruption and impunity which characterise Mozambique today. This presentation answers criticisms that have been made of Africa Confidential's coverage of the issue and sets the record straight with a comprehensive survey of the crisis

Mozambique's two main political parties remain locked in a sinister war of attrition as the economy nears total collapse. The Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, which has held...

ISIS's Puntland stunt

The brief seizure of Qandala by Da'ish supporters was made possible by a rupture in the clan alliances governing Puntland

After long seeking a foothold in Somalia, ISIS's Somali followers finally pulled off a coup by seizing the port of Qandala on 26 October. Capturing the Puntland...

Comradely disunity

The party that once dominated Cape Verdean politics has had a disastrous year and faces a divisive power struggle

In a speech delivered in Cuba in 1966, the father of Guinea-Bissau's and Cape Verde's independence movement, Amilcar Cabral, offered delegates an African saying: 'When your house is...

Empty words on graft

The President pledged to end corruption but a series of scandals in the press and the courts have been embarrassing him

During the 2013 presidential election campaign, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his running-mate William Ruto promised Kenyans that they would end the corruption that had bedevilled previous governments. Despite...

Pointers

Shabaab fills Ethiopian vacuum

Ethiopia has been withdrawing forces from Somalia in order to help restore order at home, say military observers, and Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen has moved in...

Loosing the bonds

The International Monetary Fund removed its 'remedial measures' on Zimbabwe on 14 November, just as clarity emerged over the financing of Harare's controversial 'bond notes'. Harare had settled...

Post mortem

When the Lusaka High Court 'provisionally' closed independent newspaper and website The Post on 2 November, its Editor and owner, Fred M'membe, told his confidants, 'It's time to...

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