Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
NIGERIA
The gas ghost keeps haunting
US investigators say they have new evidence of corruption by international companies working on Nigeria's gas export plant

Criminal investigators in the United States and Europe are widening their probe into claims that the USA's oil service giant Halliburton and three other multinationals working on a gas export project conspired to establish a US$180 million slush fund to bribe Nigerian officials and reward Western contractors from 1994-2002. The US investigation now covers Halliburton's operations in Nigeria during the past 20 years and its relations with other multinational companies, including Royal Dutch Shell.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
NIGERIA
Wojciech Chodan, Pepys and Shell

The discovery by Halliburton's lawyers Baker Botts of more than 500 pages of notes penned by Wojciech Chodan (a Halliburton consultant and the Samuel Pepys of the energy business) between 1993 and 1999 has helped investigators better understand the plans by the TSKJ consortium to pay off Nigerian officials and Western businessmen. Chodan's notes record TSKJ meetings and encounters with oil companies such as Shell, Elf and Agip.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
GHANA
The departed return
Familiar faces are lining up again as the parties get ready for election time

With elections ahead on 7 December - and the prospect of prolonged powerlessness for the losers - prodigal sons and daughters are rushing to rejoin Ghana's two main political parties. One conspicuous returnee is Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, a former Trade Minister, also known as Alan Cash for his lavish campaigning style (AC Vol 48 No 24): he was runner-up in last December's contest for presidential candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP). On 17 April, Kyerematen unexpectedly took 'absence without leave' in protest at what he said was harassment of his supporters. Two weeks later, President John Agyekum Kufuor persuaded him to walk back in again.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
ZAMBIA
Sick man, sick opposition
As corruption scandals rage on, politicians contest their parties' future leaderships

With his main rival, Michael Sata, in emergency care in South Africa, Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa is firmly in charge of his country. Sata suffered a heart attack on 25 April and Mwanawasa quickly evacuated him at government expense, thus probably saving his life. When Guy Scott, Vice-President of Sata's Patriotic Front (PF), said his party would refund all expenses incurred, the government demanded an apology from Scott for 'politicising' his leader's sickness - and reminded voters that he is Zambia's only white parliamentarian. Sata's wife, Christine Kaseba, made it clear that her husband had not sanctioned Scott's statement.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
ZAMBIA
The stand against Mugabe

Western dignitaries and intelligence operatives race in and out of Lusaka, pushing for a solution to the Zimbabwe stalemate. President Levy Mwanawasa chairs the 14-member Southern African Development Community, and on 26 April, the United States Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, urged him to work for a quick fix on Zimbabwe.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
SOUTH AFRICA
Brand new Zuma washes whiter
A dash through Europe has helped the new ANC leader establish his pragmatic credentials with diplomats and businesses

With one bound Jacob Zuma was free. No longer was the new President of the African National Congress a dangerous populist in a threatening alliance with communists and trades unionists. Instead, he was a considered diplomat given to statesmanlike utterances, a pragmatist whose willingness to listen to other viewpoints marks him apart from his political rival and President of the Republic, Thabo Mbeki. That at least was the view of Europe's business people and bien-pensants who spent time with Zuma on his whirlwind tour of Western Europe in the week ending 26 April.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
ZIMBABWE
Dealing with a wounded tiger
Led by its Legal Affairs Secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa, hardliners in the governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) cling to power in the face of internal dissent and the government's defeat at the 29 March polls. They insist that President Robert Mugabe will fight a presidential runoff vote against the Movement for Democratic Change's (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai, probably in June or July, and will win by all means necessary.

After almost a week of political paralysis in ZANU-PF following the 29 March elections, Emmerson Mnangagwa and his allies honed a fight-back strategy for the party that involves challenging the opposition parties, both politically and diplomatically. Here, ZANU-PF has suffered the most serious damage since Independence in 1980. Its myth of electoral invincibility has been shattered in both the parliamentary and presidential polls. Zimbabweans have seen that their votes can count and the electoral system can work - even if they suspect the second round might by fixed by ZANU-PF. An early sign of this was the targeting of teachers, who served as polling agents, in opposition-supporting areas by party thugs.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
ZIMBABWE
Mnangagwa's return to form

Legal Affairs Secretary and former Security Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has led the charge for Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) since he organised the party congress's decision last December to re-select Robert Mugabe as its presidential candidate. Last week, a smiling Mnangagwa turned out to hear the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announce that Mugabe has lost to Morgan Tsvangirai in the first round of the presidential elections.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
UGANDA | CONGO-KINSHASA (DRC)
Hidden depths
Tensions between Kinshasa and Kampala are heating up again and oil fortunes are at stake

Talks to resolve the intermittent border disputes between Kampala and Kinshasa have been called off after Congolese troops seized a tract of disputed territory between Arua district and Aru township on 4 May. Uganda's Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Kimbowa accuses Congolese troops of physically moving the border posts into Ugandan territory and the Foreign Ministry is sending officials to survey the area this week. This could worsen continuing tensions between Kinshasa and Kampala over ownership of the rich oil reserves of Lake Albert. Last year, Congolese troops shot up a Ugandan boat sailing across the lake carrying oil technicians. Emboiled in all this is Ireland's Tullow Oil which, along with Heritage Oil, signed an agreement with the Energy Ministry in Kinshasa in 2006, awarding it rights to drill beneath Congo's side of the lake. Tullow and Heritage have also signed deals with Uganda's Energy Ministry, thereby attracting criticism from Kinshasa.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
CONGO-KINSHASA (DRC) | BELGIUM
Drifting apart

The habitual politeness between Belgium and its former colony grew thinner still during a five-day visit to Kinshasa in late April by three ministers from Brussels, Karel De Gucht (Foreign Affairs), Charles Michel (Cooperation) and Pieter De Crem (Defence). In the Belgian Embassy on 21 April, De Gucht told a gathering of Congolese notables that the government should tackle 'certain people's fabulous privileges'. The Belgian delegates were discussing the recent purchase of 500 four-wheel-drive vehicles at US$40,000 each for members of Congo's National Assembly during a strike by the country's teachers in protest against their tiny salaries.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
BURUNDI
Peace deal in shreds
The rebel attacks on Bujumbura last month threaten to unravel the regime and the tottering economy

The flurry of summitry in response to a series of mortar attacks on Bujumbura by the Hutu rebels of the Forces Nationales de Libération (FNL) in late April has yielded a positive result: a pledge by the FNL leader that the rebels would return to Burundi and abide by the peace deal signed in 2006. This came in response to an ultimatum issued by regional leaders to the FNL, most of whose fighters are based in neighbouring Tanzania: return to Burundi or face expulsion. Feelings of positivity were short-lived as the government killed 50 rebels on 6 May.

Vol 49 Number 10, 9^th May 2008
AFRICA | ANALYSIS
It's the price that counts
It is easy to find culprits for the food crisis in Africa, from the West's push for biofuels to China's newly well-fed middle class. The fact is that food supplies are short and prices therefore high in the short term - and probably in the long term too.

The 75% increase in food prices reported by the World Bank is pushing down nutrition standards in poor countries and wreaking havoc across developing economies. The big question is whether current efforts to meet the crisis will be properly coordinated and go beyond a short-term fix.