Vol 53 No 21 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Gbagbo’s Ghana connection 19th October 2012 Former President Laurent Gbagbo’s loyalists fled to Ghana in droves when he was finally deposed in April 2011. They did so hoping for political support from Jerry Rawlings,...
Vol 53 No 21 | TOGO Faure fading fast 19th October 2012 The President’s attempts to maintain a consensus collides with a disaffected civil society more interested in genuine democracy President Faure Gnassingbé’s prospects of staying in office in the long-term are diminishing. Ever since he succeeded his late father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma, in February 2005, opposition to dynastic...
Vol 53 No 21 | TOGO Fraternal rivalry 19th October 2012 There was an inevitability about the clash between President Faure Gnassingbé and his elder brother, Kpatcha Gnassingbé ever since the time when they accompanied their dying father on...
Vol 53 No 20 | NIGERIA Financial faultlines 5th October 2012 Rising oil theft, the insurgency in the North and fuel subsidy fraud make it hard for the government to survive unless it agrees to hard-hitting reforms So far, those blocking reform are winning hands down in the running battles with reformers in the government. Yet their victory could prove to be a hollow one...
Vol 53 No 20 | GUINEA Miners get bad reviews 5th October 2012 Beny Steinmetz Resource Group and Rusal are in the government’s sights as it prepares to publish its review of the major mining contracts A review of Guinea’s biggest mining contracts due this month will raise new questions about the future of the US$10 billion Simandou iron-ore project. The report will also...
Vol 53 No 20 | MALI Come if you must 5th October 2012 There is next to no political consensus in Mali itself for military intervention, however much support the UN and Ecowas can muster President Dioncounda Traoré’s formal request to the United Nations was clear. On 18 September, he asked for a resolution for military intervention, under Chapter 7 of the UN...
Vol 53 No 20 | MALI Mali a l’Amisom 5th October 2012 Momentum is building for international backing for the proposed military intervention in Mali to expel the jihadists.
Vol 53 No 20 | SIERRA LEONE Sam stays on the ticket 5th October 2012 As the official election campaign gets under way, the President decides to keep his beleaguered deputy on the ticket President Ernest Bai Koroma has decided to keep his Vice-President, Samuel Sam-Sumana, on the governing All People’s Congress ticket in the 17 November general elections. Koroma spent most...
Vol 53 No 20 | SIERRA LEONE Election tax axed 5th October 2012 A major electoral controversy came to an end in mid-September when President Ernest Bai Koroma reversed the decision of the National Electoral Commission Chairwoman, Christiana Thorpe, to raise...
Vol 53 No 20 | GUINEA BISSAU Un-persons 5th October 2012 Guinea-Bissau’s appearance at the United Nations normally attracts no fanfare but this year there was much anticipation when its interim President, Raimundo Pereira, overthrown in the 12...