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Published 21st February 2014

Vol 55 No 4

Nigeria

Oil theft row escalates

Sanusi Lamido Aminu Sanusi
Sanusi Lamido Aminu Sanusi

President Jonathan risks panic among investors after he suspends Central Bank Governor Sanusi in a personal political battle

Plain speaking, combative and ubiquitous, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Sanusi Lamido Aminu Sanusi was never going to work well with the taciturn and cautious President Goodluck Jonathan. After months of cold war between the two men over reports of billions of missing oil revenue, President Jonathan suspended Sanusi from the CBN on 20 February. That will escalate the political battle and rattle investors a year before general elections. Jonathan acted against Sanusi after the outspoken Governor had warned the Senate on 13 February of the dangers of deepening corruption in the oil and gas industry and submitted a report detailing the failure of the state oil company to transfer some US$20 billion to the federation (national) accounts.

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Data battles in Abuja

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Nigeria's most sensational political row for a decade began with a dispute over arithmetic. The figure in question was US$49.8 billion: that was the oil sales revenue between Janua...

Trophy-hunters after Kikwete

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The President comes in for a storm of criticism over elephant and rhino poaching but the true picture is more complicated

Embattled President Jakaya Kikwete has tried to fight back after coming under intense fire from the British Mail on Sunday newspaper and politicians at home and abroad over the sla...

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THE INSIDE VIEW

It’s official – 2014 is the Year of the Africa Summit. Africa now has more summits than the Himalayas. This is perhaps a consequence of the ‘Africa Rising’ phenomenon. The mandarins and business boosters of Africa and beyond have decided that that which is rising must surely lead to a summit.

The European Union meets Africa in April, under the slogan ‘Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace’. Other summits lead up to it. Brussels hosts the EU-Africa Youth Summit and th...

It’s official – 2014 is the Year of the Africa Summit. Africa now has more summits than the Himalayas. This is perhaps a consequence of the ‘Africa Rising’ phenomenon. The mandarins and business boosters of Africa and beyond have decided that that which is rising must surely lead to a summit.

The European Union meets Africa in April, under the slogan ‘Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace’. Other summits lead up to it. Brussels hosts the EU-Africa Youth Summit and the African-European Parliamentary Summit, the last in a veritable mountain range of conferences in the days before the big event.

Those who have formed a taste for summitry can then repair to the West Africa Mining Summit a few days later in London. The third India-Africa Forum Summit follows in July. Next comes the first ever United States-Africa Leaders’ Summit on 5 and 6 August in Washington, which will be hosted by President Barack Obama, the first US President of African descent.

France is a veteran in the summit stakes, inviting private jet loads of African leaders to meetings in locations such as Cannes, Nice and La Baule. But France raised its game with last December’s security summit in Paris, at which it announced a troop deployment to Central African Republic and held an avowedly commercial rendez-vous alongside the diplomatic discussions. The rest of the world is waking up to Africa and its potential, one of whose undeniable benefits is a big boom in the conference trade.

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The battle for Malakal

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In the most serious breach of the 23 January cessation of hostilities agreement, fierce fighting is raging as government and rebel forces clash in Malakal, capital of Upper Nile St...

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The El Sisi enigma

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Kabila wants cash for polls

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The price of peace

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Isolation threatens Issoufou

A big rally to back President Issoufou has done little to dispel dissatisfaction with living conditions and corruption

He was feted as a reformer after winning the 2011 election that reversed the 2010 coup and seen as a beacon of stability during the Mali crisis (AC Vol 51 No 6, Confusion after the...

Poll systems under scrutiny

No one yet knows what systems will be used in the coming elections but the conduct of the last referendum raised some big questions

Election observers have yet to learn what kind of electoral system will be employed in the presidential election that will precede parliamentary polls. However, for those experts i...

Hassan Sheikh loses friends

Security is worsening, and governance too. The President is increasingly isolated and even his staunchest international friends are losing patience with him

The African Union Mission in Somalia has announced plans for a new offensive against Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen, and troops are being positioned. Yet most Somalis are seein...

Wasting assets

Recent forays in search of investment have failed but there is a lack of urgency in government efforts to revive the economy

January has been more depressing than usual for the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). President Robert Mugabe had to cut short his annual leave and return ...

Pointers

'Torpedo the dam'

Egypt is protesting to the United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It will also boycott a meeting in Khartou...

The race opens up

The governing party's next Central Committee meeting promises to be an unusually lively affair. On 27 February the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique has to de...

Ping's pop at Ali

The former Chairman of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, has broken his studied silence on Gabon’s domestic politics. He has disavowed any relationship with the govern...

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