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Published 31st January 1997

Vol 38 No 3


Sudan

The countdown begins

Northern and Southern oppositionists have seized territory from the government and look capable of staying on the offensive

The battle for Sudan has begun (AC Vol 37 No 8). The opposition strategy is to follow military successes with a civilian uprising; against this is the National Islamic Front government's formidable security apparatus and military hardware from Iran and China. On 12 January, National Democratic Alliance forces seized much of Blue Nile Province. Colonel John Garang de Mabior's Sudan People's Liberation Army-Mainstream took Kurmuk and Geissan and later Maban on the Ethiopian border, while Sudan Alliance Forces under Brigadier General Abdel Aziz Khalid Osman and SPLA fighters captured a triangle (Yagoro-Yabashir-Menza) some 80 kilometres south-east of Ed Damazine, and eight garrisons.


Shuttling to Arabia

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

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Arab governments'reactions to the Sudanese opposition's offensives have less to do with Sudan than with Israel and the United States. Many governments and newspapers echoed Khartoum's line: an...


Budget block

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Bold plans to privatise and liberalise seem to have been shelved until the military leave

The soldiers have blocked Finance Minister Anthony Ani’s bold plans to open up the economy. So is the argument over? Not yet, according to well-placed sources. They say...


Press harder

Global economics – and local politics – are transforming the country's media

The apartheid government hated the press and the African National Congress distrusts it. Some things have changed, though. Black groups now control a few newspapers – and foreign...


Old Nick's back

President Moi's old friend rejoins the cabinet to mastermind politics and the succession

Nicholas Kipyator Biwott is back. He has stayed close to power in the five years since Western donors successfully pressed for his dismissal as Minister of Energy. Now...


Still at the helm

Eyadéma celebrated 30 years in charge but few foreign guests came to the party

The 'Great Helmsman' celebrated his 30th year at the tiller on 13 January with a five-hour parade of troops and civilians costing, by local estimates, over US$2 million....



Pointers

Outside agents

Prime Minister Kengo wa Dondo's claims of military successes in the Forces Armées Zaïroises' 'massive counter-offensive' against rebels in Kivu Province seem overblown. Less than a week after...


Spiking Syria

Some compromise on South Africa's mooted arms sales to Syria may emerge from United States' Vice-President Al Gore's meeting with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki next month in Pretoria....


King size

Another battle between reformers and traditionalists looms (AC Vol 37 No 13), with trades unions threatening a general strike for 3 February. They are pushing 27 demands, mostimportantly...