The campaign to demand constitutional reform has turned into a full-frontal assault on an increasingly desperate President Moi
This is a bad year for authoritarian governments. The dean of despots,
Mobutu Sese Seko, was chased out in May, Sudan's
Hassan el Turabi faces coordinated military opposition from north and south, Presidents Pascal Lissouba and Ange-Félix Patassé are grimly holding on against armed uprisings, and even Nigeria's coup veteran General
Sani Abacha has to think twice about plans to win his own presidential election next year. The anti-authoritarian mood is taking hold: demonstrations, strident press criticism of corruption, denunciations of mismanagement and perhaps most significantly, the public ridicule of authoritarian leaders. All this is a delicate subject at State House in Nairobi, where President
Daniel arap Moi has been incensed by watching footage of jubilating students marching a few miles away chanting 'Moi-butu, Moi-butu out!'
Taylor threatened war if he lost the poll - now it's reconciliation with no questions asked
The surprise was not Charles Taylor's victory in the 18 July elections but the scale of it: he won over three-quarters of the votes; his nearest rival, Ellen...
Sweeping changes in the region have not ended the rebellions against Kampala
After helping to bring major changes to neighbouring Congo-Kinshasa and Southern Sudan, the Ugandan armed forces have now escalated their attempts to stamp out Uganda's own rebel movements....