Vol 53 No 24 | SUDANANALYSIS The new gold rush 30th November 2012 Khartoum’s new gold mining operations may alleviate its worsening foreign exchange crisis but they will increase financial instability in the medium term. As the world gold price moves steadily upward, old workings are coming back to life. In Sudan, gold has been mined since the time of the Pharaohs, who shifted from silver and set the first international gold standard Sudan’s economy is in a bad way since it lost 75% of its oil revenue in its quarrel with South Sudan. This week, it refused to implement September’s agreement to get oil flowing ag...
Vol 53 No 24 | EGYPTSUDAN Egyptians return in search of gold 30th November 2012 Last August, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Onsi Sawiris, 58, bought La Mancha Resources, owner of 40% of Sudan’s Ariab Mining Company. Naguib is a Coptic Christian and telecommunicat...
Vol 53 No 24 | TANZANIA New strains on the Union 30th November 2012 Islamist-inspired violence is accelerating, alongside growing separatist sentiment as a crucial deal on oil exploration is reached Riots, killings and crackdowns have shaken Zanzibar for most of 2012, as Islamist forces mobilise growing support. At the same time, an agreement for Zanzibar to manage its own oil...
Vol 53 No 24 | TANZANIA Licence to secede 30th November 2012 Zanzibar’s President Ali Mohamed Shein and national President Jakaya Kikwete reached ‘agreement in principle’ on 25 October that Zanzibar could manage its own oil and gas industry,...
Vol 53 No 24 | SOMALIA Floating arsenals in legal fog 30th November 2012 Indian Ocean piracy is down, thanks to naval patrols, armed guards and ‘panic rooms’, but the law governing ship protection is murky The hijacking of merchant ships off the coast of Somalia has decreased dramatically in the last year. Yet the private military security companies whose armed guards are largely cre...
Vol 53 No 24 | SUDAN The plot thickens 30th November 2012 The former security boss, Lieutenant General Salah Abdullah Mohamed ‘Gosh’, a regular interlocutor with British and United States’ spies, was the best known person arrested for cou...
Vol 53 No 23 | SOUTH SUDAN Juba runs out of patience 16th November 2012 The governing party cracks down on critics at home as its negotiations with Khartoum continue to frustrate The prospect of oil exports resuming in the next few weeks and the economic boost that brings should have cheered President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s government. However, long-term imp...
Vol 53 No 23 | SOMALIAANALYSIS Hassan Sheikh keeps it in the family 16th November 2012 After a long delay the new President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, finally appointed a prime minister and a cabinet, all of them drawn from a tight circle of family, friends and his most trusted political allies. He risked appearing elitist and non-inclusive because he wanted to be sure of his team. He is signalling that this government is here to stay and in no mood for compromise on sovereignty. Kenya and its allies in Kismayo are providing him with an early test of his resolve and credibility In the two months that it took President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to appoint the Premier and other ministers, he has attracted growing criticism for his aloof style. The diplomats and...
Vol 53 No 23 | SOMALIA Breaking ranks in Kismayo 16th November 2012 Kenya’s defiance of the Somali government on the ban on charcoal exports from Kismayo threatens the cohesion of the African Union Mission in Somalia. It will also test the mettle o...
Vol 53 No 23 | MALAWITANZANIA Oil and gas prospects fuel lake row 16th November 2012 The two sides will return to the table to settle an old dispute Malawi and Tanzania will return to the negotiating table on 15-17 November to seek a diplomatic resolution to their dispute over the border in the lake that divides their two count...