Vol 55 No 4 | SOUTH SUDAN The battle for Malakal 21st February 2014 Foreign Minister Barnaba talks reconciliation as government and rebels fight for control of oil-rich Upper Nile In the most serious breach of the 23 January cessation of hostilities agreement, fierce fighting is raging as government and rebel forces clash in Malakal, capital of Upper...
Vol 55 No 4 | UGANDASOUTH SUDAN Why Uganda refuses to withdraw 21st February 2014 Calls from the United States and Ethiopia, its regional ally, for Uganda to withdraw its forces from South Sudan are falling on deaf ears in Kampala. President Yoweri...
Vol 55 No 4 | KENYA No way to run a railway 21st February 2014 President Kenyatta is backing a US$4 billion no-bid contract with a state-owned Chinese company to rebuild the Nairobi-Mombasa railway Kenya's flagship transport plan, the Standard Gauge Railway Project (SGRP), is attracting growing controversy over its enormous cost and the uncontested contract award for the first phase. The...
Vol 55 No 4 | BURUNDI Nkurunziza nobbles opposition 21st February 2014 The appointment of a new Vice-President failed to relieve the political crisis and the President is now trying to manipulate opposition leaders Burundi is facing its worst political crisis since the end of the civil war in 2000. When President Pierre Nkurunziza dismissed the First Vice-President, Bernard Busokoza, on 1...
Vol 55 No 4 | EGYPTETHIOPIA 'Torpedo the dam' 21st February 2014 Egypt is protesting to the United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It will also boycott a meeting in Khartoum...
Vol 55 No 4 | SOMALIA Hassan Sheikh loses friends 18th February 2014 Security is worsening, and governance too. The President is increasingly isolated and even his staunchest international friends are losing patience with him The African Union Mission in Somalia has announced plans for a new offensive against Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen, and troops are being positioned. Yet most Somalis...
Vol 55 No 3 | SOUTH SUDAN Seats for dissidents 7th February 2014 The four oppositionists still detained in Juba – Pa’gan Amum, Oyai Deng, Majak d’Agot, Ezekiel Lol – are unlikely to join the talks due in Addis Ababa on...
Vol 55 No 3 | SOMALIA New blood in old bottles 6th February 2014 There’s a new Premier but many feel that one greedy faction has simply replaced another. Momentum towards a functional state is slowing again The election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as President in September 2012 was meant to free politics of issues that had held it hostage for years: arguments between President...
Vol 55 No 3 | SOUTH SUDAN A deal under duress 24th January 2014 The combatants have signed up to a ceasefire more because they ran out of options than because they wanted peace The threat of targeted sanctions against the combatants and the concern of East Africa's leaders that they would lose face at next week's African Union summit were the...
Vol 55 No 2 | TANZANIA Parties jostle ahead of polls 24th January 2014 With national elections due in 2015, the decks are being cleared for action amidst fierce rivalries for the CCM nomination This is President Jakaya Kikwete’s last year in the presidency. It seems a very long time since he came to office in 2005 amid ringing pledges to fight...