Vol 47 No 25 | LIBERIA Testing Mittal's steel 15th December 2006 In its last days, Charles Gyude Bryant’s National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) signed a US$900 million, 25-year deal with the world’s largest steel company, British-re...
Vol 47 No 25 | GAMBIASENEGAL Crossing the river 15th December 2006 Since March, fighting has raged between rebels and troops in Senegal's southern Casamance province, driving more than 10,000 refugees across the border. Rebel fighters crossed too:...
Vol 47 No 24 | NIGERIA Atiku again 1st December 2006 Vice-President Atiku Abubakar launched his campaign for the presidency in Abuja on 25 November, insisting that he could win elections due next April, despite the open hostility of ...
Vol 47 No 23 | NIGERIA An outsider moves up the list 17th November 2006 Ruling party insiders suggest that Governor Umaru Musa Yar'Adua could win the presidential nomination Intrigue, speculation, betrayal and disappointment marked the run-up to the 17 November deadline for submission of nomination papers to compete to be the ruling People's Democratic...
Vol 47 No 23 | NIGERIA Sekibo and the drones 17th November 2006 With President Olusegun Obasanjo's sacking of Transport Minister Abiye Sekibo on 6 October, the row over the 215 million euro (US$275.5 mn.) contract to supply aerial drones for th...
Vol 47 No 23 | GUINEACONGO-KINSHASA Presidential chopper 17th November 2006 Congolese President Joseph Kabila's campaign helicopter is at the centre of a legal battle between Belgian businessman Philippe de Moerloose and Guinea's Paramount Airlines' Isma&e...
Vol 47 No 22 | NIGERIA The next election deadline 3rd November 2006 Presidential hopefuls are quietly launching campaigns but doubts surround the party congresses due in December Within two months, Nigeria's political parties are due to chose their presidential candidates and launch their campaigns for next May's elections. So far, there is an eerie surreal...
Vol 47 No 22 | NIGERIA Starstruck Starcrest 3rd November 2006 On 20 October, Swiss-based and Canadian-listed Addax Petroleum announced that it was buying a controlling interest in a lucrative Nigerian oil block - the award of which until that...
Vol 47 No 22 | NIGERIA Fear of flying 3rd November 2006 Africa, with less than four per cent of the world's air traffic, suffers about a third of its air disasters. The latest, on 29 October, killed the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad...
Vol 47 No 22 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Banny's bonus 3rd November 2006 The French-sponsored resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 1 Novmber, increasing the powers of Premier Charles Konan Banny at the expense of President Laurent...