Vol 44 No 10 | GHANA Cotton tales 16th May 2003 The previous government's financial misdeeds are a boon to President John Kufuor Three former officials of ex-President Jerry Rawlings's National Democratic Congress (NDC) were gaoled on 28 April for their part in the Quality Grain scandal, involving a loan of ...
Vol 44 No 10 | GHANA Musical chairs 16th May 2003 President John Agyekum Kufuor's late March cabinet changes brought in some younger ministers and deputy ministers, but were dismissed by the opposition National Democratic Congress...
Vol 44 No 10 | LIBERIA Horse-trading, arms-trading 16th May 2003 The new UN resolution misses an opportunity to tackle the regional conflict from all sides The planned United Nations Security Council mission to West Africa will find President Charles Taylor in a tight corner. Two armed groups on two fronts supported by Guinea and C&oc...
Vol 44 No 10 | LIBERIA More guns, please 16th May 2003 President Charles Taylor in March 2003 told the press that Liberia had 'ordered arms'. Defence Minister Daniel Chea subsequently provided a 'comprehensive listing of military hardw...
Vol 44 No 10 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Tout sauf Gbagbo? 16th May 2003 Despite a new ceasefire signed by the government and rebels on 3 May, tension has scarcely abated. The latest flashpoint for violence is the students' union congress, where at leas...
Vol 44 No 9 | NIGERIA The naira republic wins again 2nd May 2003 Money-politics and vote-rigging will undermine President Obasanjo's second term without a full investigation of the poll 'Don't give me any more of those Florida results!' bellowed a Nigerian journalist at a computer screen in the Election Commission's media centre. The machine was spewing out result...
Vol 44 No 9 | NIGERIA Landslide in the Delta 2nd May 2003 The presidential and gubernatorial elections in the oil-rich Niger Delta set new standards of improbability. Just over twelve hours after voting ended in some parts of Rivers, the ...
Vol 44 No 9 | NIGERIA Generals on the hill 2nd May 2003 The Abuja-Minna axis still works for old comrades in arms Two former military leaders, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, look out from their hilltop mansions in Minna, central Nigeria, unperturbed by the furore over...
Vol 44 No 9 | LIBERIA Tackling Taylor 2nd May 2003 A battle is going on behind the scenes at the United Nations Security Council over whether to give sanctions on Liberia a wider regional focus. Key issues are whether Guinea should...
Vol 44 No 9 | TOGO Democratic doubts 2nd May 2003 The 1 June presidential election could be as big a travesty of democracy as 1998, when the electoral commission was replaced on polling day so that phony results could be rubber-st...