Vol 48 No 4 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Toxic traffic 16th February 2007 As oil trader Trafigura pledges to pay the Ivorian government CFA 100 billion (US$198 million) in compensation for a deadly toxic spill last August, Africa Confidential has uncover...
Vol 48 No 4 | GUINEA Conté goes another round 16th February 2007 The appointment of a presidential ally as new prime minister has worsened the confrontation on the streets More than 60 deaths during the January general strike failed to soften President Lansana Conté who is embroiled in another - perhaps terminal - round of confrontation with h...
Vol 48 No 4 | GHANA Anniversary boycott 16th February 2007 Too many Ghanaians suspect that their judges administer the law in favour of the New Patriotic Party government. Their mistrust was increased by the gaoling for ten years of Daniel...
Vol 48 No 4 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Buying time 16th February 2007 Irregular war-time army recruits mutinied in five towns in early February in a protest over pay. President Laurent Gbagbo has bought some time, but may not have enough cash to reso...
Vol 48 No 4 | SENEGAL Senegal Elections 2007 16th February 2007 Turnout was high across Senegal, with early results giving the President a lead and indicating a strong showing by the formerly governing Parti Socialiste Voting was colourful in the city of Thies, 70 km to the east of Dakar and Senegal's second most populous city. Men and women, young and old, turned out after mosque prayers in thei...
Vol 48 No 3 | NIGERIA Party pieces 2nd February 2007 Feuding factions in the governing PDP jostle for jobs, and no prosecutions, before the elections Voters are less worried about the upcoming elections than the would-be candidates, now battling for territory before the campaign proper starts later this month. On 29 January, the...
Vol 48 No 3 | NIGERIA What future for the reform team? 2nd February 2007 At the heart of policy-making for much of President Olusegun Obasanjo's two terms, the reform team of Nigerian technocrats is breaking up, raising doubts about the continuity of ec...
Vol 48 No 3 | NIGERIA Buhari's election headlines 2nd February 2007 Another former military ruler dons a baba riga to run for the presidency and campaign for more accountability As he elegantly stretches out in a rented Mayfair apartment and insists on discussing 'policy issues not personalities', it is easy to forget that General Muhamadu Buhari headed th...
Vol 48 No 3 | GUINEA The strike that shook Conté 2nd February 2007 As tensions rise, both the President and his civilian opponents will lose if the military launches a coup d'état Union strikers and opposition demonstrators have secured a tactical victory against President Lansana Conté's regime after three weeks of protests, during which, in January,...
Vol 48 No 3 | GUINEA Two peas in a pod 2nd February 2007 El Hadj Mamadou Sylla, a businessman, and Fodé Soumah, formerly Deputy Governor of Guinea's Central Bank, vigorously protest their innocence of the corruption charges pendin...