ANGOLA Authoritarian alliances 2nd March 2007 Party stalwarts want a centralised dictatorship to develop the country. The government seems to be listening Angolans are waiting for a peace dividend five years after the Forças Armadas Angolanas (FAA) tracked down and killed Jonas Savimbi, leader of the rebel União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA). Social indicators such as child mortality remain among the world's worst, according to the UN, although Angola's oil riches make it one of the world's fastest growing economies. The promised crackdown on corruption has not happened; there is more secrecy about state oil revenues than during the war. Instead, there has been a crackdown on political dissent.
ANGOLA Global prisoner 2nd March 2007 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site The arrest and imprisonment on national security grounds of Sarah Wykes of Global Witness in Angola's Cabinda Province draws attention to the government's clampdown. Global Witness irritates the...
NIGERIA The grudge match goes on 2nd March 2007 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site Facing multiple corruption charges, Vice-President Abubakar accuses President Obasanjo of electoral sabotage Vice-President Atiku Abubakar insists that he remains a candidate in April's presidential elections despite what he describes as 'every effort to destroy' him. Behind that campaign is President...
The celebration on 6 March of the 50th anniversary of Ghana's Independence from Britain will be Africa's biggest party this year, but also a time of national introspection. Ghana's politics have reached an equilibrium under a multiparty system which organises some of the freest elections in Africa. After Independence, politics was dominated by the bitter battle between supporters of Kwame Nkrumah's state-led socialist model and J. B. Danquah's market economics. Nkrumah's vision of pan-African u... The celebration on 6 March of the 50th anniversary of Ghana's Independence from Britain will be Africa's biggest party this year, but also a time of national introspection. Ghana's politics have reached an equilibrium under a multiparty system which organises some of the freest elections in Africa. After Independence, politics was dominated by the bitter battle between supporters of Kwame Nkrumah's state-led socialist model and J. B. Danquah's market economics. Nkrumah's vision of pan-African unity and rapid industrialisation ended in a military junta. By the time of the 1966 coup, Nkrumah and the Convention People's Party were running a single party regime incorporating trades unions, youth and women's wings that set a pattern across post-Independence Africa. Ghana's economy was thrown into a parallel turmoil. From a national economy which in 1957 pegged level with Malaysia, Ghana's plans of diversifying from dependence on cocoa and gold exports into self-sustaining industrialisation were derailed by the political chaos. Ghana may now have grown out of its political straitjacket, but it is almost as economically restricted today as it was 50 years ago. Read more
NIGERIA Indictments, then elections 2nd March 2007 If Atiku Abubakar has been correctly indicted for embezzlement, he is not eligible to stand as a candidate in April's presidential elections. Section 137 (i) of the Nigerian...
ZAMBIA The bitter side of the boom 2nd March 2007 As the price of copper edges downwards, Zambia's trades unionists and opposition politicians are pressing to secure higher mining royalties and better working conditions. Many targeted companies are...
SOUTH AFRICA A highly political budget 2nd March 2007 Higher spending and a budget surplus smack a tasty pre-election mixtur The budget was full of handouts. On 21 February Finance Minister Trevor Manuel dished out tax cuts, paid off apartheid-era debt, and boosted public spending on almost everything...
MALAWI Pipe Dreams 2nd March 2007 In 1964 when the British colonialists left, Malawians ate mostly home-grown maize and earned foreign exchange from tobacco. Despite huge efforts and the doubling of the population, little...
SIERRA LEONE Hinga's death hits home 2nd March 2007 The loss of its main defendant further weakens the slow and costly Special Court The death of Chief Sam Hinga Norman, former Defence Minister and leader of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), is a hammer blow to the Special Court of Sierra...
FRANCEAFRICA Chirac's last Cannes-Cannes 2nd March 2007 Franco-African relations face far-reaching change. Within three months, France will have a new president with less time for Africa than any of the recent incumbents. Is the sun rising or setting? There was a teasing ambiguity about the posters, showing an orange sun over a calm sea, that cropped up all over the...
SOUTH AFRICA Mining revolt 2nd March 2007 The global stock market jitters on 27 February - prompted by 9% falls on the Shanghai and Hong Kong markets - hold two lessons for South Africa. Firstly,...
SIERRA LEONE A rare soldiering success 2nd March 2007 Security in Sierra Leone has been managed much better than the economy and politics. A British-led international training team has sharply improved the professionalism and dependability of the...
SENEGAL Wade gets his way 2nd March 2007 After the octogenarian President's electoral victory, the speculation about his successor will start Two days after the 25 February election, President Abdoulaye Wade's supporters were celebrating noisily in Dakar's Place d'Indépendence and claiming victory. By 28 February, with most votes counted...
ZAMBIA Zambia's big new investments 2nd March 2007 India's Vedanta Resources has pumped nearly US$1 billion into Konkola Copper Mines. KCM incorporates four mining companies: Nchanga Mine in Chingola, Konkola Mine in Chilabombwe, Nampundwe Mine in...
SUDAN First steps 2nd March 2007 The International Criminal Court has laid the main responsibility for war crimes in Darfur on the Khartoum regime. The ICC Prosecutor's Application says 'The majority of civilian deaths...
SUDAN Southern front 2nd March 2007 On 15 February, heavily armed People's Defence Forces massed in the Nuba capital, Kadugli, shouting slogans against the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. SPLM Governor Ismail Khamis Jalab accused...
GAMBIA Bad medicine 2nd March 2007 President Yahya Jammeh is unhappy when foreign journalists betray scepticism about his proclaImed cure for AIDS. Since he cannot reach into the studios of Sky Television, he turned...
GUINEA Trade union truce 2nd March 2007 The political truce which greeted President Lansana Conté's appointment of Lansana Kouyaté as Prime Minister will be short-lived unless there is a speedy transfer of power. The appointment...
LESOTHO Mosisili's snap victory 2nd March 2007 Calling snap parliamentary elections on 17 February has worked well for Lesotho's pragmatic Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili in his battle with former Communications Minister Motsoahae Thomas Thabane, founder...