Digging a trench is easier than establishing accountable institutions. Yet the World Bank is supposed to be financing the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project precisely to set up these k...

President Denis Sassou Nguesso chose a significant date to end the long transition that began with his forces' defeat of Pascal Lissouba in October 1997. The Fête Nationale o...

President Ange-Félix Patassé has become even more dependent on the protection of Libya and its Bangui garrison, as last month's arrest of Finance Minister Eric Sorong...

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank's US$1.2 billion package is a massive gesture of political support for President Joseph Kabila. Technically it was made possible by a...

Congo-Brazzaville's hidden conflict and flawed parliamentary elections show how thin a veneer of democracy covers recycled dictator Denis Sassou Nguesso. The official results from ...

Northerners control the army, many are ex-Cobras, President Denis Sassou Nguesso's militia of the mid-1990s civil war. Commanded by the respected General Gilbert Mokoki, the milita...

Since 52 days of inter-Congolese talks at Sun City ended last month, a new partition is emerging. Some 70 per cent of the territory is covered by the 'framework agreement' between ...

The Inter-Congolese Dialogue, which began on 25 February in Sun City, South Africa, has missed its deadline. The government of Joseph Kabila, the rebels, the unarmed opposition and...

The death penalty hangs over the accused but the trial is alternately tedious and entertaining. At Kinshasa's central prison on 15 March, a military court began trying some 125 sus...

Mass arrests, allegations of torture and public denunciations of dissidents mark President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's latest purge. For five years, he has told the world that ...