Vol 52 No 17 | MOZAMBIQUE Renamo threatens a return to violence 26th August 2011 As it regroups to take on Frelimo in 2014, the former armed opposition talks of a return to the military option In a chilling echo of history, Afonso Dhlakama, the leader of the biggest opposition party, the Resistência Nacional Moçambicana, has been threatening armed resistance against the ...
Vol 52 No 17 | MALAWI Protests postponed 26th August 2011 Protestors plan to take to the streets again next month if their 20-point list of demands to end economic hardship and democratic restrictions are not met. They postponed demonstra...
Vol 52 No 17 | ZIMBABWE It’s not cricket 26th August 2011 On 4 August, Zimbabwe announced its return from the cricketing wilderness, playing – and winning – its first international for over five years, a test match against Bangladesh. Zi...
Vol 52 No 16 | ZIMBABWE Hard winter in Harare 5th August 2011 ZANU-PF outpoint their opponents by taking over the diamond revenue and latching on to a popular national cause As senior allies of President Robert Gabriel Mugabe concede through gritted teeth that there can be no national elections this year, they have moved the battleground to economic po...
Vol 52 No 16 | ZAMBIA A vote about money 5th August 2011 Largesse from the copper boom rather than good policies boosts the President’s chances in next month’s polls The main challenger to President Rupiah Bwezani Banda in the elections he has called for 20 September is his arch-rival Michael Chilufya Sata: both agree that money will prove crit...
Vol 52 No 16 | ZAMBIA Some Banda backers exit 5th August 2011 In the last two months, some high-profile Movement for Multiparty Democracy personalities, including close friends of President Rupiah Banda’s, have crossed over to Michael Sata’s ...
Vol 52 No 16 | MALAWI The President lashes out 5th August 2011 After killings and detentions by security forces, oppositionists plan another demonstration to press their demands for reform President Bingu wa Mutharika’s shift from egotistical technocrat to violent despot was not entirely surprising, given his style of government over the past six years. Few people be...
Vol 52 No 16 | SOUTH AFRICA Foreign policy flip-flops 5th August 2011 President Zuma’s foreign policies await definition and are under fierce attack from his former allies President Jacob Zuma’s foreign policy, his critics at home say, is just like his domestic policy: he sits on the fence hoping to please everyone and in the end, paralysis follows. ...
Vol 52 No 16 | SOUTH AFRICA Zuma's front-line diplomats 5th August 2011 The President's foreign policy team Kgalema Motlanthe, Deputy President: focuses on the United States, Canada, Britain and the European Union. Privately critical of South Africa’s embrace of China, Motlanthe wants to...