ANGOLA Elections at last 5th September 2008 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site The MPLA will retain its dominance in the first elections since the end of the civil war but a new generation of politicians will enter parliament The 5 September elections will help to determine whether Angola attains its potential as one of Africa’s leading powers. Eight million voters will pick 220 members of parliament as their representatives in the National Assembly, from among 5,198 candidates, ten parties and four coalitions 16 years after the last open election. Then, the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola lost and relaunched its civil war, which ended in 2002 with the killing of its veteran leader, Jonas Savimbi. Now, outside a few districts in UNITA’s Planalto heartland, the country is at peace and demanding prosperity.
ANGOLA Campaign coffers 5th September 2008 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site The election funds of the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola dwarf those of its rivals. Some say the campaign has been so peaceful partly because the sm...
ANGOLA Muzzling the media 5th September 2008 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site A blot on the generally calm parliamentary election campaign was the six-month ban on Rádio Despertar, the voice of the main opposition party, the União para a Indepe...
Any deal made between the Mediterranean’s two most disingenuous leaders – Libya’s Moammar el Gadaffi and Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi – requires careful analysis – even more so when it involves a US$5 billion payment in compensation for Italy’s colonial crimes. Sadly for Africa’s reparations campaigners, the Italy- Libya deal does not signal a new lease of life for their cause after the death a decade ago of its financier, Nigeria’s Mosh... Any deal made between the Mediterranean’s two most disingenuous leaders – Libya’s Moammar el Gadaffi and Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi – requires careful analysis – even more so when it involves a US$5 billion payment in compensation for Italy’s colonial crimes. Sadly for Africa’s reparations campaigners, the Italy- Libya deal does not signal a new lease of life for their cause after the death a decade ago of its financier, Nigeria’s Moshood Abiola. Berlusconi told Libyan journalists at Benghazi Airport that the $5 bn. compensation was a ‘material and emotional recognition of the mistakes’ that Italy had made during colonialism, but the deal has much more to do with Italy’s concern about oil and immigrants. El Gadaffi entertained Berlusconi to lunch in a tent in Benghazi where they discussed the agreement on 30 August. Berlusconi said he would pay $200 million for infrastructure projects over the next 25 years, including a coastal highway across Libya from Tunisia to Egypt to be built by Italian contractors. At the prompting of Paolo Scaroni, the head of Italy’s ENI energy company, Berlusconi is wooing both Russia, which is running two gas pipelines from North Africa through southern Europe, and Libya, which also drives a hard bargain for its oil and gas. Berlusconi wants Gadaffi to crack down on African migrants and Italy is to pay for $500 mn. of electronic monitors along Libya’s coast as part of the compensation package. Read more
KENYA The evidence unfolds 5th September 2008 Public inquiries into Kenya's electoral troubles offer a safety valve, not a solution Two official commissions of inquiry completed their public hearings last week. The Kriegler Commission’s subject is electoral fraud in the disputed presidential election of D...
ZIMBABWE It's go-go with Gono 5th September 2008 Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono’s first five-year term expires in November 2008. The Movement for Democratic Change insists that his replacement take a more conventio...
RWANDAFRANCE The dead bite back 5th September 2008 Rwanda accuses France of involvement in the 1994 genocide; France blames Rwanda; expect more accusations soon France had hoped to repair the breach but Rwandan President Paul Kagame rejected the olive branch. On 5 August, his government published the report of an ‘independent’ ...
NIGERIAECONOMYBRITAIN Two virgins 5th September 2008 Britain’s Virgin Atlantic has lost the first round in its battle with Nigeria’s government and is expected to sell all but 7% of its 49% stake in the lossmaking Virgin ...
KENYA Commissions galore 5th September 2008 Commissions of inquiry are the Houdini act of the Kenyan state, getting the government out of tight spots by a public display of evidence, later shelved and producing little more t...
ZAMBIAANALYSIS A hard act to follow 5th September 2008 The death of Zambia’s president means that, not even two years since the last polls, there will be a presidential election before the end of the year. This has revealed deep splits in the governing party and disorganisation in the opposition. At stake is Levy Mwanawasa’s legacy of economic growth, fighting corruption and speaking out on regional issues. After his death last month, President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa continued to dominate Zambian politics as his coffin toured the country for a week. The extended countrywide funeral pr...
SENEGAL The son also rises 5th September 2008 The aged President is promoting a hereditary succession; the people would prefer affordable food President Abdoulaye Wade took office in 2000, claiming democratic and economic credentials. Times have changed. After scandalous revelations about budgetary excess, his government&...
ZIMBABWE Mnangagwa's second coming 5th September 2008 The man whose closeness to Mugabe earned him the title of ‘Son of God’ is back at the helm of the ruling party As the power-sharing talks falter, the star of Emmerson Mnangagwa, Chairman of the Joint Operations Command and Rural Housing Minister, continues to rise. Whatever happens in the n...
GUINEA BISSAU A cocaine coup fails 5th September 2008 Things turned nasty in late July, when the Minister of Justice, Carmelita Pires, and the Public Prosecutor, Luis Manuel Cabral, received death threats. This was due to their persis...
SUDANIRAN The drones club 5th September 2008 Iran is supplying Khartoum with military equipment for its attacks in Darfur, in clear breach of the United Nations arms embargo, Africa Confidential has learned. On 28 August, the...
NIGERIA Adenuga's back 5th September 2008 Telecoms impresario Mike Adenuga has bounced back, despite the longrunning investigation into his company by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
NIGERIA Unhealthy talk 5th September 2008 The rumours of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s demise reverberating around Nigeria’s mobile phone networks over the past week were assuredly exaggerated, a combin...
GHANA Voting violence 5th September 2008 Concern about the conduct of December’s elections is growing in the wake of violent clashes during the primary elections, electoral registration and political rallies.
