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23rd July 1999

Vol 40 N0 15

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

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ORGANISATION OF AFRICAN UNITY

Tougher talk

Africa's big three - Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa - focused the summit on peace talks and ending military rule

For once, the Organisation of African Unity caught the mood of the continent, balanced uneasily between hope and despair. Hope that, after shaky ceasefire agreements in Congo-Kinshasa and Sierra Leone, the Algiers OAU summit (12-16 July) might progress towards resolving the conflicts ripping through...

ALGERIA

Alger l'Africaine

President Bouteflika's hosting of the OAU summit revived his diplomatic networks

FRANCE | OIL

Totally elfin

The company which dominated many African economies may soon be transformed

BLUE LINES

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THE INSIDE VIEW

MALI

Power cuts

President Alpha Oumar Konaré wants to go down in history. Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta wants to succeed him as President. Both are in danger of being disappointed. Recent months have been grim for Konaré and his increasingly creaky government. Even political friends claim that he risks being overwhelmed by corruption and backstabbing in his ruling Alliance pour la Démocratie au Mali (Adema) - and by incompetence at the national power utility, Energie du Mali, which is inflicting unprecedented power cuts at the height of the hot season.

CAPE VERDE

Micro-state struggles

The contest to succeed Prime Minister Carlos Veiga is heating up. The ailing Veiga (he is said to have diabetes and regularly visits his doctors in Portugal) announced in April that he would retire as leader of the Movimento Para a Democracia (and therefore as Premier) at the party congress in February 2000. The favourite to succeed Veiga is António Gualberto do Rosário, who was appointed Vice-Prime Minister in the April-May 1998 reshuffle. Until then, he had been Minister of Economic Coordination, where he was well liked by foreign donors.

Pointers  

GOLD

Robbing Peter . . .

Britain's Labour government has been roundly abused by some African governments for announcing the sale of 250 tons of unwanted gold. Other governments, especially Russia's, have been quietly selling gold for years, driving its world price down from over ...

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  4. Paying – and fighting – for unity
  5. After Mali, Niger

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