Vol 53 No 20 | MALI Mali a l’Amisom 5th October 2012 Momentum is building for international backing for the proposed military intervention in Mali to expel the jihadists.
Vol 53 No 20 | SIERRA LEONE Sam stays on the ticket 5th October 2012 As the official election campaign gets under way, the President decides to keep his beleaguered deputy on the ticket President Ernest Bai Koroma has decided to keep his Vice-President, Samuel Sam-Sumana, on the governing All People’s Congress ticket in the 17 November general elections. Koroma sp...
Vol 53 No 20 | SIERRA LEONE Election tax axed 5th October 2012 A major electoral controversy came to an end in mid-September when President Ernest Bai Koroma reversed the decision of the National Electoral Commission Chairwoman, Christiana Tho...
Vol 53 No 20 | GUINEA BISSAU Un-persons 5th October 2012 Guinea-Bissau’s appearance at the United Nations normally attracts no fanfare but this year there was much anticipation when its interim President, Raimundo Pereira, overthrown in...
Vol 5 (AAC) No 12 | SIERRA LEONECHINA The President’s new partners 2nd October 2012 Just before elections, President Koroma has signed several multimillion-dollar secret contracts with a troubled Hong Kong conglomerate China International Fund, a Hong Kong-based outfit which works closely with Beijing’s state corporations, will become one of the Freetown government’s most privileged business part...
Vol 5 (AAC) No 12 | GUINEACHINA CIF goes private for profit in Guinea 2nd October 2012 They were left out in the cold by President Alpha Condé in 2011 (AAC Vol 4 No 11), but the businessmen behind the China International Fund are making a comeback in Guinea’s private...
Vol 5 (AAC) No 12 | MALICHINABRIEFING Beijing backs Bamako’s army 2nd October 2012 China will continue to support the Bamako government’s position and ‘will bring our aid to the extent that it is possible, in particular to the army, where we already have cooperat...
Vol 53 No 19 | GAMBIA Jammeh’s execution spree 21st September 2012 What prompted President Yahya Jammeh to start eliminating all the residents of death row in Banjul’s infamous Mile Two Jail? Some attribute it to his heavy dependence on ‘spiritual...
Vol 53 No 19 | MALIMAURITANIA Dead preachers poser 21st September 2012 The handling of the killing by Malian troops of 16 Islamic preachers, nine of them Mauritanian, threatens the delicate balance between the interim regime and the army, say Bamako s...
Vol 53 No 19 | SIERRA LEONE Profits derailed 21st September 2012 Frank Timis’s Tonkolili iron-ore project has problems running its trains on time – and even on the line, Africa Confidential has learned. In early September, his firm, African Mine...