Patrick Smith
The news agenda this week starts with President Muhammadu
Buhari's announcement that he will seek a second term in Nigeria's
elections next year but the outlook remains extremely uncertain. Ethiopia's
feted new Prime Minister is on the road in the Ogaden ...
Blue Lines
A defence agreement between the New Patriotic Party government and the United States has outraged some nationalists and boosted the opposition National Democratic Congress.
The deal gives the US rights to a camp for 200 temporary personnel, free use of r...
Patrick Smith
This week we start in Soweto where mourners are assembling
after the death of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela yesterday (2 April). And then to Addis Ababa, where there are hopes
that the new Prime Minister will be able to lead serious talks with the
opposition ...
Blue Lines
The build-up was as impressive as the goal is ambitious. After three
years of talks, Africa is to form a Free Trade area for 54 countries
and over 1.2 billion people. All signatory countries are to cut tariffs
and import quotas. That is to be followed by ...
Patrick Smith
This week we start with the prospects for President Cyril Ramaphosa's reforms in South Africa and then the chances of a deal between Mozambique and
its commercial creditors. Still in Southern Africa, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's financial amnesty is pro...
Patrick Smith
As the week opens United States Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson's diplomatic career seems to have
ended after a brief swing through Africa. Partisans on both sides of
the divide in Kenya are asking who got what at last
week's summit at State House. Niger...
Blue Lines
Rex Tillerson, Washington's
Secretary of State, started his swing on 6
March through Africa – Ethiopia,
Djibouti, Kenya, Nigeria and Chad –
with a bellicose warning to China over its regional policy. Despite the
billions of dollars from China that has bee...
Patrick Smith
This week it's the Sierra Leone elections, the Tillerson tour, choosing Ethiopia's new prime minister and progress in fixing Ghana's spat with the International Monetary Fund.
SIERRA LEONE: Will Candidate Yumkella break the duopoly in the elections on 7 ...
Patrick Smith
This week we reflect on an apparent replay of the 2014 tragedy in which armed militants abducted dozens of girl students in northern Nigeria. Then to South Africa, where speculation intensifies about the shape of President Cyril Ramaphosa's new cabinet. T...
Blue Lines
Public debt is spiralling and the International Monetary Fund is
back in business in Africa.
That figures. But it's not a straight rerun of the testy relationship
of the 1980s and 1990s.
Now, countries such as Ghana
and Zambia are
lower-middle-income
cou...