Activists, businesses and politicians are driving a new economic
dynamic on the continent
The mood of 'hopeful realism' about Africa at the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on 24-25 September reflected a growing view that the current upturn in economic growth and political stability is sustainable. Chief proponents of a more positive appraisal are governments - African, Asian and Western - and international organisations. Private corporations, apart from the big oil and mining companies, still try to steer clear of Africa and it registers less foreign direct investment than any other region. Africa offers the highest returns on capital in the world but suffers from an appalling business image. Its dynamic new generation of private entrepreneurs, exporting flowers from Rwanda and Kenya and processing data on parking tickets from New York in Ghana, is hardly known.
Khartoum's Islamists are confident of dominating the Government
of National Unity
The list of appointments to the new Government of National Unity (GNU) confirms that it is not much concerned about national unity. The National Islamic Front/National Congress Party...
Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the National Congress Party (NCP) aka National Islamic Front (NIF) gets 52 per cent of ministers in the Government of National Unity, the...