Vol 46 No 6 | TOGO Olympic heights 18th March 2005 It will be a struggle to introduce democracy after three decades of family rule The Gnassingbé clan will do all it can to win Togo's presidential election, scheduled for 24 April. Some think heir-apparent Faure Gnassingbé, son of the deceased dic...
Vol 46 No 6 | GAMBIA Cold murder trail 18th March 2005 Efforts to find out who murdered Deyda Hydara, Editor of The Point newspaper, on 16 December become more bizarre by the day. Gambian police arrested Wally Hakim Mahmoud, described ...
Vol 46 No 5 | TOGO Faure falters 4th March 2005 Round one to the African Union; the next battle will be presidential elections Faure Gnassingbé's resignation as acting Head of State on 26 February is a provisional victory for both Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chairman of the African Union,...
Vol 46 No 5 | NIGERIA Reform on the rack 4th March 2005 Time is running out for President Obasanjo's team to make a lasting difference President Olusegun Obasanjo and his team of economic reformers face a moment of truth this year. A long list of economic reforms on state accountability and the structure of the oi...
Vol 46 No 4 | TOGO Dynastic dictatorship 18th February 2005 Faure Gnassingbé, Togo's new leader, is not as wily as his late father Togo's succession was never going to be an easy matter. When he died on 5 February, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma had been in power for 38 years, resisting pressure fo...
Vol 46 No 4 | TOGO Not a good start 18th February 2005 After years of affording President Gnassingbé Eyadéma the respect due to Africa's longest serving head of state, the international community has come down hard on the...
Vol 46 No 3 | GUINEA Whodunit? 4th February 2005 The government blames the opposition for firing on the President's convoy: Guineans are sceptical Guinea's President Lansana Conté regularly claims to be the target of plots. This time, he was actually shot at. The regime has found a convenient opposition figure to blame...
Vol 46 No 3 | GAMBIA Jammeh rejection 4th February 2005 West African diplomats were very relieved that Niger's President Mamadou Tandja beat Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh to win the chair of the Economic Community of West African Stat...
Vol 46 No 3 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE High noon 4th February 2005 President Laurent Gbagbo is heading for another showdown with France. He is rebuilding his modest airforce, bombed to cinders by French jets on 6 November after loyalist forces had...
Vol 46 No 2 | NIGERIA Ogbeh walks out 21st January 2005 The ruling party Chairman's resignation is upsetting plans for the election in 2007 President Olusegun Obasanjo is due to step down when his term ends in 2007. The succession that he is planning has been upset by a public falling out with the Chairman of the gover...