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Published 3rd March 2006

Vol 47 No 5


Uganda

Museveni wins, at a price

Yoweri Museveni won the presidency and his party won parliament but the country is divided

There is no love lost between those political and personal foes, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his former friend, colleague and physician, Warren Kizza Besigye Kifefe, the President's only significant opponent in last week's elections. Besigye fought alongside Museveni in the bush war that brought the National Resistance Movement (NRM) to power in 1986, then married Museveni's girlfriend Winnie Byanyima and challenged him for the presidency in 2001.


Losing and winning

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

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The National Resistance Movement bigwigs whom voters rejected include 17 government ministers - one quarter of President Yoweri Museveni's cabinet. The most senior was First Deputy Prime Minister...


Looking into the abyss

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

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Another postponement of the vote and more disputes over security cloud election prospects

Fears about Congo's election timetable and security preparations are escalating, just as three heads of United Nations agencies arrived on an official visit. It's now clear that even...


Trouble in the east

The new electoral law angers the former rebels and could set the eastern provinces ablaze

More trouble looms in the run-up to the elections as the proposed electoral law obliterates the chances of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie in the parliamentary elections...


Man with a plan?

The would-be opposition leader must unite his own side before tackling Mugabe

The new leader of half of the Movement for Democratic Change, Arthur Mutambara, is a man with a plan. His short-term aim is to end the pointless split...


Nujoma won't go

President Pohamba's ambition to clean up the government may be blocked by his predecessor

Feuding rages on in the governing South West Africa People's Organisation. Ex-President Sam Nujoma clings to the SWAPO presidency, undermining the central policies of his successor. President Hifikepunye...


Swapover

Sam Nujoma no longer completely controls the party he has led for over 45 years. The 21-member Political Bureau is split between Nujomaists and backers of former Foreign...



Pointers

Names and blames

How did the United Nations Panel of Experts on Sudan pick its candidates for sanctions over Darfur war crimes? The confidential annex of 22 names, leaked last week,...


Bingu's gamble

Malawi's constitution does not empower presidents to sack vice-presidents, even those elected on the same ticket. Yet last month, President Bingu wa Mutharika told Vice-President Cassim Chilumpha to...


Rich pickings

Expectations of an imminent oil boom may dominate campaigning for the 26 March parliamentary elections. It is five years since São Tomé signed a deal with Nigeria to...