As Egyptian, Ethiopian and Sudanese ministers sat down to discuss the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on 9 December, one item was notably absent from the agenda. The role...

After a period of defiant independence, Addis Ababa has now, belatedly perhaps, built strong diplomatic support behind the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Before the joint meeting of the...

Egypt’s draft constitution has been handed to President Adly Mahmud Mansour for formal signing, after the 50-member drafting panel approved it on 1 December. A simple majority referendum...

Agrogate, an Egyptian private equity group, hopes to start work this month on a hard-top road in Sudan, the 362 kilometre Dongola-Toshke (Argeen) Highway, which will link the...

The recent failure of the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Justice and Construction Party (JCP) and its allies to remove Prime Minister Ali Zeidan – whether via a vote of the...

The smart-card fuel rationing system is about to be launched, says a Finance Ministry source. The government of ex-President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak conceived the scheme and ex-President Mohamed...

The economy is still struggling on many fronts but some indicators look healthier, thanks largely to over US$8 billion of aid from Gulf Arab governments since the army...

Left-wingers and other secularists are trying to remobilise the revolutionary spirit of January 2011 and on 24 September they formed an opposition alliance, the Jebhat Tariq el Thawra...

Enfeebled by an illness that hospitalised him in Paris between April and July, and limited public appearances to stage-managed photo-shoots, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika began the political rentrée as...

Egypt’s new rulers have set about stamping their authority on the country in the most brutal fashion, albeit with widespread domestic political and popular backing. The generals have...

The confrontation between General Abdel Fatah Khalil el Sisi’s regime and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood divides the region. Governments are juggling their ideological orientation and strategic interests...

The return of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to Algiers on 16 July after nearly three months of medical treatment in Paris resolved neither the questions about his health nor...

Finding the right term to describe what happened in Egypt between 30 June and 3 July is a politically-loaded challenge. The fact that the army decreed the end...

The military takeover in Egypt may eventually lead to fresh elections but it challenges the country's fledgling democracy. It will certainly strengthen the political roles of both the...

Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mohamed Kamel Amr, was trying to calm tension over the control of the River Nile, after a meeting his Ethiopian counterpart, Tewodros Adhanom, in Addis...

Some 85% of the Nile waters originate in the Ethiopian Highlands, flowing down the Blue Nile and two smaller tributaries. The remaining 15% comes down the White Nile...

President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz returned to Nouakchott in the second week in June, following yet another medical check-up in France after being wounded in the stomach in...

Such is the level of distrust around President Mohamed Mursi’s beleaguered government that some insiders are convinced his officials deliberately misled opposition politicians about the ‘secrecy’ of...

The second cabinet reshuffle since President Mohamed Mursi appointed Hisham Kandil Prime Minister last August further bolsters the position of the Muslim Brotherhood at the core of government....

Talks with the International Monetary Fund and other financiers over a US$15 billion package of assistance and structural reform continue but the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government keeps erecting obstacles....

In November, President Mohamed Mursi decided to give priority to consolidating his power base. The economic consequences are now becoming starkly apparent. Foreign exchange reserves excluding gold are...

An already serious political crisis was exacerbated when gunmen killed Chokri Belaïd on 6 February and Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, from the ruling Hizb Ennahda (Renaissance Party), resigned...

When opposition leader Chokri Belaïd was shot dead by three masked men in a black car on 6 February, the secular opposition, the mainstream Islamist Hizb Ennahda and...

A US$100 million investment in Mauritania is in the balance after the Nouakchott authorities suspended a contract with a Chinese fishery. Officials from the Ministry of Fishing and...

Under pressure from both the jihadists and France, President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is fast losing all semblance of neutrality. For now, his position seems secure but the...

Although the Libyan economy is returning to life – with the oil sector in the lead – planning is not. Despite the pressing need to rebuild, little is...

According to a leaked management report from September 2010, some 75% of the Libyan Investment Authority’s assets were in Europe, 14% in North America and the remaining 11%...

Elections for the lower house of parliament, the Maglis el Nuwab, are scheduled during the next two months but could be delayed if disputes over the constitution persist....

Mounting problems of security, economics and social development will hustle democratic Libya’s feeble central government and half-formed state institutions into action on several fronts in 2013. However, this...