Vol 50 No 5 | KENYA Pushing Wako 6th March 2009 Kenya’s long-serving Attorney General, Amos Shitswila Wako, has been targeted for special censure by United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston, who has...
Vol 50 No 4 | KENYA A mutual security pact 20th February 2009 Tales of corruption deepen and the coalition partners seem to be protecting each other from the fallout The disgraced former Finance Minister, Amos Kimunya, is back in the cabinet, reinstated by President Mwai Kibaki in mid-January during a mini-reshuffle. His return went almost unnoticed amid...
Vol 50 No 4 | KENYA The briefcase tycoon is back 20th February 2009 The Triton saga highlights the resurfacing of the Daniel arap Moi-era briefcase tycoon - young, brash and politically protected. Kenyan politicians prefer to work with Asian-origin businessmen: the...
Vol 50 No 4 | SOMALIA The Sheik Sharif show 20th February 2009 Goodwill accompanies the new President but few people look at the small print The outsiders who drive Somalia's uncertain peace process do not always see things as Somalis see them. This became apparent with the election on 31 January of Sheikh...
Vol 50 No 4 | SOMALIA Where is Al Shabaab now? 20th February 2009 Al Shabaab looks weak and divided as the new regime takes hold in Mogadishu. This is only half true, though. The departure of Ethiopian troops is a strategic...
Vol 50 No 4 | SUDAN Nice enough 20th February 2009 Instead of going down in history as the man who prosecuted Slobodan Milosevic for genocide, Sir Geoffrey Nice may be remembered as the man who tried to save...
Vol 50 No 3 | ETHIOPIASOMALIA Good-bye, maybe 6th February 2009 Ethiopia's troops are gone and another transitional government is installed but the new order is tenuous On 25 January, the last Ethiopian troops withdrew, only three weeks later than planned, from Somalia. They had originally intervened in Somalia in December 2006, at the request...
Vol 50 No 3 | RWANDACONGO-KINSHASA Shotgun wedding 6th February 2009 President Kabila's improbable deal with Rwanda could unravel and further weaken his authority in Kinshasa Kinshasa's sudden embrace of Kigali may cause as many problems as it solves. President Paul Kagame's troops have been spearheading joint operations against the Hutu militiamen of the...
Vol 50 No 3 | KENYABRITAIN Serious fraud hunt 6th February 2009 Britain's Serious Fraud Office announced on 4 February that it is closing its 'investigation into contracts secured with the Kenyan government by Anglo-Leasing finance and related business'. This...
Vol 50 No 2 | SUDAN New politics, new threats 23rd January 2009 Three new developments will shape Sudan's politics this year: the International Criminal Court's (ICC) issue of an arrest warrant for President Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir; the planned elections under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement; and the inauguration of President Barack Obama's government in the United States with a clear commitment to act against Khartoum's mass murder in Darfur. New politics, new threats The ruling National Congress (NC, aka National Islamic Front) is struggling to adapt to new realities. A dozen years of meticulous planning and patient...