A scalding splash has landed on the next round of talks with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, due early next month. As he prepares to bid...

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's visit to Bamako on 20- 21 December was perceived as a show of support for President Alpha Oumar Konaré and his regime, which...

On the face it, the 21 December allegation that the Deputy Head of State, Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya, Major General Tunji Olanrewaju, Maj. Gen. Abdulkarim Adisa and eight...

Helped by a mini-economic boom and political strong-arm tactics, President Henri Konan Bédié is looking more comfortable in power four years after the death of Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Yet...

Whatever caused the death of gaoled Northern military politician Shehu Musa Yar'Adua'on 9 December, it has sent a powerful message that Northerners can expect no special favours from...

Who killed the former Deputy Speaker of Liberia's Transitional Assembly, Samuel Dokie, and his three travelling companions? The investigation into their murder and apparent torture (their bodies were...

The personality cult around General Sani Abacha is growing rapidly, ahead of his expected candidacy in next August's presidential elections. A new biography entitled – Sani Abacha –...

Mali's democratic credentials are being questioned by Amnesty International in its report Mali: basic liberties at risk. It lists allegations of police torture of arrested opposition activists, after...

The much-trumpeted Conakry peace accord of 23 October is already falling apart at the seams. Under the accord, Major Johnny Paul Koroma's Armed Forces Revolutionary Council undertook to...

Africa's strongmen are finding that disapproval from Western donors does not hurt them much. Denis Sassou-Nguesso is once more the ruler of Congo-Brazzaville by force of arms. In...