Vol 49 No 6 | KENYA Trans-Century and transcendental 14th March 2008 Formed a decade ago, Trans-Century Limited has grown over the past five years to become the biggest private equity firm in East Africa, with a multimillion dollar portfolio....
Vol 49 No 6 | KENYA Life after a game of golf 14th March 2008 President Mwai Kibaki and putative Prime Minister Raila Odinga spent the day together at the Karen Open, Nairobi's most prestigious golf tournament on 10 March. Spectacularly out of...
Vol 49 No 5 | KENYA The Harambee House deal 29th February 2008 A compromise deal has pulled the rival parties back from the brink but much detail still has to be resolved The two-page agreement signed by President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga at Harambee House on 28 February could hardly have been simpler. Drafted by Attorney General...
Vol 49 No 5 | KENYA An outbreak of cordiality 29th February 2008 In the aftermath of the signing of the power-sharing agreement on 28 February, Raila Odinga turned to his adversary, addressing him as 'My countryman, President Mwai Kibaki'. Ever...
Vol 49 No 5 | SUDANCHINA Lifting the bamboo curtain 29th February 2008 Beijing is changing its policy on Khartoum but on its own terms China is worried about the 'deadlock' in Darfur and is looking for new ideas, its Special Representative for Africa and Darfur, Liu Guijin, told a leading Sudanese civic...
Vol 49 No 5 | SUDANCHINABRITAIN Selective divestment 29th February 2008 Britain’s Conservative Party, which has been campaigning against the Sudan government’s Darfur policy, faces charges of hypocrisy after it accepted more than US$800,000 in contributions from a United...
Vol 49 No 5 | RWANDABRITAIN Mission position 29th February 2008 Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair landed in Kigali on 23 February on his mission to give ‘unpaid’ advice to the Rwandan government and to his ‘long standing...
Vol 49 No 4 | KENYA The safari talks 15th February 2008 Signs of progress, however elusive, are boosting hopes for a deal but the militias are rearming - just in case The announcement of a political deal on 14 February at talks at a Kilaguni Game Lodge mediated by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan boosted morale but...
Vol 49 No 4 | KENYA Message from the wazungu 15th February 2008 Outsiders have been belatedly increasing pressure on Kenya's feuding politicians as former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan moved the negotiating teams to the secluded Kilaguni Safari Lodge...
Vol 49 No 4 | TANZANIA Cleaning the stables 15th February 2008 Parliament exposed the Prime Minister's wrongdoing and now the President has sacked nine ministers Kizengo Kayanza Peter Pinda, who served as Private Secretary to three Tanzanian presidents, Julius Nyerere, Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Benjamin Mkapa, is President Jakaya Kikwete's surprising choice as...