Vol 49 No 10 | ZIMBABWE Good COPS, bad COPS 9th May 2008 'We will get it done,' Daniel H. Overmyer assured Africa Confidential, leaning in conspiratorially. Overmyer is the President of Castle, Overmyer, Poole & Schubert (COPS), a me...
Vol 49 No 9 | ZIMBABWE Can the opposition fight and can it rule? 25th April 2008 New questions are raised about the leadership opposition's leadership This week as the opposition Movement for Democratic Change’s diplomatic efforts appeared to be paying off with growing condemnation in Africa of President Robert Mugabe and the dis...
Vol 49 No 9 | ZIMBABWE The opposition line-up 25th April 2008 The division of the opposition into three rival components hampers its response to the government’s crackdown and its ability to mobilise against electoral fraud. Activists believe...
Vol 49 No 9 | ZIMBABWECHINAARMS Oceanic turnaround 25th April 2008 The thwarted voyage of the An Yue Jiang – a Chinese freighter with a cargo of ammunition, mortars, mines and artillery bound for President Robert Mugabe’s government – marks a turn...
Vol 49 No 8 | ZIMBABWE The ugly endgame 11th April 2008 President Mugabe has been wounded by his party's parliamentary defeat but his loyalists plan a final orgy of repression War veterans, 'green bombers' and other irregular armed military units are being despatched across Zimbabwe to crush the opposition Movement for Democratic Change following its win...
Vol 49 No 8 | ZIMBABWE Tsvangirai's transient victory 11th April 2008 The parliamentary victory of Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change - winning 99 seats in the House of Assembly to 97 for the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic ...
Vol 49 No 8 | ZIMBABWE The hyperinflation club 11th April 2008 On the fringes of an opposition rally just before the election stood a solitary figure holding a placard, his jacket pasted with Z$10 million bearer cheques. With the gallows humou...
Vol 49 No 8 | BOTSWANA New man, new discipline 11th April 2008 Ian Khama calmly takes over the presidency as bigger neighbours struggle with successions and elections Southern Africa's model democracy shamed its neighbours with the dignified inauguration of its new president on 1 April. Lieutenant General Ian Khama Seretse Khama quickly stamped ...
Vol 49 No 8 | BOTSWANADIAMONDS Diamond power 11th April 2008 Economic diversification is the centrepiece of President Ian Khama's strategy and its first test will be in the diamond business. Botswana, the world's biggest producer of diamonds...
Vol 49 No 8 | MALAWIECONOMY Treading on the corn 11th April 2008 It is universally accepted that a Malawian government's legitimacy is determined by the latest maize harvest. 'Chimango ndi moyo' (Maize is life) is an expression often heard and c...