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Published 14th February 1997

Vol 38 No 4

Algeria

The battle for power

The murder campaign during Ramadan shows that the Islamists remain undefeated and points to fierce in-fighting in the regime

Ramadan is over but the wave of terror during the holy month leaves a bitter legacy. Dozens of villagers died in attacks by Groupe Islamique Armé units – many had their throats cut; others died when car-bombs exploded in Algiers and Blida; the Algerian press put the death toll at around 300 people. Radical Islam is far from defeated, contrary to the claims of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and other senior officials at the start of the year. Moreover, there are signs that some attacks have been ordered by senior members of the military-security establishment.

It's not over yet

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The UN is gradually pulling out but key political and military issues are unresolved

The doubters have been proved wrong, says the ever optimistic Alioune Blondin Beye, the United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative in Angola. A government of nationa...

Oil the wheels

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Spectacular oil finds in the Congo basin off Angola's coastline are bringing in foreign investors and boosting the government's bargaining position. Industry sources reckon that wi...

Hard bargains

Buthelezi raises the stakes at a time when his ANC opponents need successful peace talks

The Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party is poised to extract far reaching concessions from its main opponents, the African National Congress. The ANC wants a peace agreement, ha...

Unresounding

The Red Admiral is no longer red or an admiral - or an ex-President, either

A month after the presidential election (AC Vol 37 No 25), the victory of Didier Ratsiraka has at last been announced. Returning to power on just over half of the votes cast (50.71...

Budget stress

The MMD is clamping down politically but can't afford to make tough economic changes

Having sauntered back into State House after bitter and flawed elections (AC Vol 37 No 24), President Frederick Chiluba must now live with his unenviable inheritance: a tottering p...

Play it again, Sam

SWAPO is soon to decide on the future of a President who understands politics

A sense of uncertainty about the future is growing as the time to resolve the succession issue draws near (AC Vol 37 No 19). Will Sam Nujoma try to change the constitution so that ...

Pointers

Mangope on trial

The trial of former Bophuthatswana President Lucas Mangope will raise more questions about his associates in South Africa and Europe (AC Vol 35 No 13). He faces 200 charges of frau...

Alliances

As Sudanese opposition attacks from Eritrea and Ethiopia have grown, Ethiopian and Eritrean dissident groups have made alliances. Sudan strongman Hassan el Turabi threatens to use ...

The green line

Italian shuttle diplomacy across the 'Green Line' dividing Mogadishu has persuaded Hussein Mohamed Farah 'Aydeed' and Ali Mahdi Mohamed to resurrect the October 1996 peace deal, br...

Route to the sea

The government is getting nervous about Afars: their territory covers its main route to the sea and Eritrea's port of Assab. Military action in 1996 failed to break the Afar Revolu...

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