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Published 5th March 2004

Vol 45 No 5


Uganda

Double war

Rebel massacres and party activists are shaking the National Resistance Movement's political dominance

As pressure mounts on President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to leave power by 2006 at the end of his second elected term, both the military war in the north and the political war in the south are going badly for the government (AC Vol 44 No 24). Museveni's political standing is based on the National Resistance Movement's restoration of order in much of Uganda after the horrendous conflicts of the 1980s and its willingness to reform the economy and establish an accountable form of government. All three are threatened by the current turn of events. With just two years to go, there seems little prospect of an orderly succession within the ruling NRM, let alone the possibility of free elections, which an opposition party or coalition might win. The volume is literally being turned up in the war of words between opposition parties and the NRM. To counter the popular, independent FM stations which regularly excoriate the government, two NRM loyalists, Local Government Minister Tasisi Kabwegere and member of parliament William Sienda Sebalu are setting up City FM to cover most of Uganda, including key rural areas, with a pro-government message. Ominously, the station will be run by Major Roland Kakooza Mutale, former head of the Kalangala Action Plan, a roughneck paramilitary group which tried to intimidate voters in the 2001 elections.


A ten-year test

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The government set itself an examination and, not surprisingly, it passed

With national elections just over a month away (AC Vol 45 No 3), the African National Congress government has formally assessed its first ten years. Not surprisingly, it...


Self-examination

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Authored by the government's Communications Director, Joel Netshitenze, the official 'ten-year review' of the African National Congress tenure claims great strides in providing housing, water and electricity but...


Peace dividend

President Mbeki's diplomatic forays into Congo have a sound commercial base

South Africa's dreams of harnessing Congo-Kinshasa's massive hydro-electric resources to power most of Southern Africa are moving towards reality. The first aim for Eskom, SA's state-owned power utility,...


Babagate or floodgate

Jammeh is busy boasting of oil riches and arresting old friends for corruption

Gambians in search of hope after a decade of impoverishment and repression under President Yahya Jammeh's regime might have had their spirits momentarily lifted after he announced the...


Rough diamonds

A company with a controversial past blazes a new trail across the continent

The South African heading the controversial DiamondWorks company, Antonio Carlos Teixeira, better known as 'Tony', is a man in a hurry. He is expanding DiamondWorks' mining operations and...


Anenih's irresistible rise

A mysterious murder affects the ruling PDP and probably the next poll

It is hotly disputed whether Aminasoari Kalu Dikibo, a chieftain of the governing People's Democratic Party in the oil-rich Niger Delta, died in a political assassination or an...



Pointers

Blowback

Investigations in France, Nigeria and the United States into claims that the US company Halliburton was party to a US$180 million slush fund to bribe Nigerian officials are...


Papa Wemba's big band

The King of Rumba Rock's troubles are rebounding on other Congolese musicians. Jeany Ibela-Ibel, President of the Congolese artists' union, complains that European immigration authorities are victimising...


Squeezing Le Para

The Algerian security services' relaxed approach to the growing United States' military presence in the Sahel reflects their concern at the number of arms in circulation, especially in...


Whose land?

The row over who owns the Western Sahara's mineral rights is reopening. British-based Wessex Exploration has applied to Morocco's Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines to explore...