CONGO-KINSHASA A rocky electoral road 23rd September 2011 Nyabibwe, South Kivu, DRC. A miner holds samples of minerals in Nyabibwe where many tons of coltan are being excavated. Sven Torfinn / Panos Image courtesy of Panos Pictures Polling looks almost certain to be postponed but President Kabila’s opponents may try to test their support on the street The 25 November presidential and parliamentary elections were always going to be difficult but the violence has already begun. On 5 September, a crowd of supporters of President Joseph Kabila’s Parti du peuple pour la reconstruction et le développement pelted about 1,000 supporters of Etienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba, outside their party headquarters. Veteran oppositionist Tshisekedi is presidential candidate for his Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social. UDPS militants retaliated by setting fire to the PPRD building and burning seven cars.
CABO VERDE Party postpones post-mortem 23rd September 2011 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site The governing party is papering over the divisions that appeared during the presidential election The schism in the Partido Africano de Independência de Cabo Verde (PAICV) resulting from the presidential election remains unresolved. It probably won’t be addressed until local elections next...
ALGERIA No springtime in Algiers 23rd September 2011 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site The ageing elite which supported Gadaffi to keep revolutions at bay now faces much bigger challenges at home There is no prospect of Algeria’s rulers voluntarily ceding power to a new generation. The Libyan crisis has galvanised them. Much as Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi has been...
Will the BRICS bail out the PIGS? That is the geopolitical question of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington on 23-25 September. Translated, it asks whether the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (which now generate more than 50% of global growth) will be able to counter-balance Europe’s sickest economies: Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain. A rescue mission was mooted when BRICS finance ministers gathered in DC t... Will the BRICS bail out the PIGS? That is the geopolitical question of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington on 23-25 September. Translated, it asks whether the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (which now generate more than 50% of global growth) will be able to counter-balance Europe’s sickest economies: Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain. A rescue mission was mooted when BRICS finance ministers gathered in DC to discuss a common approach to the West’s economic storms. Other hot topics were Nigeria’s decision to invest at least 10% of its US$35 billion foreign reserves in China’s renimbi and reduce its dollar and euro holdings, and Mozambique’s and Tanzania’s multi-billion dollar investments in gas export facilities along the Indian Ocean, targeted at Asian markets. The BRICS’ share of global growth will rise, as some European economies teeter on default. Among developing country finance ministers used to lectures about ‘irresponsible fiscal policies’ from Western economists, there is understandable schadenfreude. Yet African governments have to speed efforts to diversify their economies and markets, insists Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, adding that weakening Western demand is a disaster in the short term. She says that Nigeria sells 38% of its oil to the United States, 23% to Europe and just 10% to India. Those trade patterns will take many more years to change. Read more
CÔTE D'IVOIRE Economy recovers, security wobbles 23rd September 2011 A post-war boom has started but there is big concern about the forthcoming parliamentary elections President Alassane Dramane Ouattara is earning international praise and strong flows of cash for reconstruction. Yet as he enters the second half of his first year in office,...
ZAMBIAUNITED STATES Too little, too late 23rd September 2011 The President’s promise to fight corruption after the elections seems to have convinced neither diplomats nor voters While publicly condemning corruption, President Rupiah Bwezani Banda gave United States diplomats various explanations of why he could do little about it, according to US State Department cables...
MADAGASCAR Rajoelina agrees a deal 23rd September 2011 Andry ‘TGV’ Rajoelina was prepared to compromise once he thought Ravalomanana no longer represented an electoral threat No sooner had interim leader Andry Rajoelina agreed to terms that included the return of the exiled Marc Ravalomanana, than senior figures in the governing Haute Autorité de...
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Baba Laddé: Robber or Robin Hood? 23rd September 2011 While the armed groups in the Central African Republic boast grandiose titles including words such as ‘front’ and ‘people’, extortion is usually their raison d’être. Most are led...
SOUTH AFRICA The fight of the century 23rd September 2011 Zuma and Malema are marshalling their forces for a showdown. Even a probe into ‘the arms deal’ is involved President Jacob Zuma’s mid-September decision to form a commission of inquiry into the controversial arms deal of the late 1990s is being widely seen as an attempt to...
ZIMBABWEUNITED STATES US sources run for cover 23rd September 2011 The unredacted WikiLeaks release of US cables from Harare exposes senior politicians and soldiers to witch-hunts The Zimbabwean media gave blanket coverage to the WikiLeaks cables from the United States Embassy in Harare, released last month. Nearly 3,000 dispatches cover the last decade and...
MADAGASCAR International concerns 23rd September 2011 The new settlement, unratified, uncertain and flawed though it is, will find strong support from international organisations anxious to deal with a worsening humanitarian situation and to reverse...
GHANAUNITED STATES Are the politicians high? 23rd September 2011 Gossip in Accra produced entertaining US diplomatic cables but raises serious questions about rising political tensions Politicians in Accra have been exploiting sensational material in the latest batch of leaked United States diplomatic cables. The gossip, insights and purportedly inside information seem to damage...
ZIMBABWE General alarm 23rd September 2011 Two of those most exposed to any possible Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front retribution for sharing their opinions and information with United States diplomats are army generals: Brigadier...
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLICCHAD Mastering the militias 23rd September 2011 Under pressure from Chad, the President is neutralising the militias in the north, amid questions about whether the peace can last Chad’s President Idriss Déby Itno has had a crucial influence on the regime of President François Bozizé Yangouvonda and he has let him know that the armed Chadian...
LIBYA Recognised but risky 23rd September 2011 Transitional National Council leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil had a hero’s welcome at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 20 September but Africa was deeply divided...
SUDANUNITED STATES Terrorist listing 23rd September 2011 One leaked United States cable must have pleased a Khartoum regime eager toescape the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list. A ‘confidential’ note from the Khartoum Embassy of...
MOZAMBIQUE By-election business 23rd September 2011 The resignation of three Frente de Libertação de Moçambique mayors is raising strong political interest, as well as the hopes of opposition parties, in the by-elections set for...
UNITED STATESBRITAIN No EITI for UK 23rd September 2011 Britain is refusing to follow United States President Barack Obama in joining the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Asked why Britain would not take part, even though EITI was...