As Zaïre's conflict spreads, Kampala is now fighting or backing rebels on three borders
The chaos in Zaïre was bound to spill across Uganda's dangerous western border and reignite some old rebellions. The latest flash-point is in Uganda's south-western corner, where it...
The tensions between the government' s offensive and its hardline reality are epitomised by the release of three International Committee of the Red Cross hostages on 8 December....
Hopes of a reconciliation conference have risen with faction leaders' 8 December announcement that they will set up a 'national coordinating council' as the first stage of a...
A tough leader indispensable to outside interests. You're in Nairobi not Kinshasa
After the World Food summit in Rome, where he met fellow East African Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Benjamin Mkapa, President Daniel arap Moi stopped off unexpectedly in London....
Though the government appears to be on the offensive, it's really trying to save its life. The US is counter-attacking
Washington is to send military aid to the Sudanese regime's opponents in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda, officials have confirmed to Africa Confidential. The aid is worth nearly US$20...
The National Islamic Front government is negotiating for a private army to help guard Southern oilfields. They appear to favour Executive Outcomes, based in South Africa with offices...
A peace deal of sorts has been struck as some of the old grudges are buried
Things had to change with the death of General Mohamed Farah Hassan 'Aydeed' on 1 August. The three main faction leaders – all Hawiye – may have begun...
Anti-corruption crusader Mrema is testing the government's democratic credentials
After a good and popular start, President Benjamin Mkapa's anti- corruption campaign is running into trouble. His Finance Minister and friend, Professor Simon Mbilinyi, has been accused of...
On the night of 27 September, 15 officers died testing explosives at El Mirkhayat military camp near Omdurman, we hear from military sources in Khartoum. The soldiers, scientists...
A border war and a budget deficit are the burdens on Uganda's 'no-party' democracy
The honeymoon is over. The bills are now coming in for President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni' s election campaign and the promises made in the heat of it. And...
Bombs, plots and opposition squabbles may get Moi and his government reelected in 1997
The bomb which exploded off Harambee Avenue, central Nairobi, on 15 September killed one person. It also pulverised the southern part of the Central Bureau of Statistics and...
President Issayas Aferworki has decided 'that the time isn't right' for Eritrea to take over Ethiopia's redundant navy. This would be seen as too provocative while Eritrea and...
Ethiopia is stepping up pressure on its opponents. Attacks early in August on Somalia-based Al Itahad Islamists (AC Vol 37 No 17) were followed by cross-border incursions west...
With a narrowing support base, Buyoya has to make progress before the embargo bites
The embargo imposed by Burundi's neighbours on 31 July, six days after the coup which put Major Pierre Buyoya back in power (AC Vol 37 Nos 15 &...
America's arch-enemy is succeeded by his American son while his rivals plot
The death on 1 August of General Mohamed Farah Hassan 'Aydeed' has created opportunities but not many for peace. Within a week of the self-proclaimed President's death, his...
Yoweri Museveni is lauded for his success at home; his foreign policy is not so popular
Kampala is caught in two regional conflicts. To the west, President Yoweri Museveni is a key supporter of the Front Patriotique Rwandais government in Kigali and shares its...
The fate of Sudan's National Islamic Front government is of critical importance to President Yoweri Museveni. Backing Colonel John Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army and, especially, fighting off...
Anyaoku's Commonwealth visit offers a solution for Zanzibar's warring parties
Zanzibar's politicians have moved a few inches nearer to resolving their quarrel. After meeting both sides on 5-6 August, Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku left proposals with them...
Vol 37 No 17 |
- ETHIOPIA
- SOMALIA
Ethiopian forces used tanks and helicopter gunships to attack Islamist militias in three towns in Somalia – Belet-Hawa, Dolo and Lugh – on 8-9 August in an attempt...
Despite the decision by regional leaders meeting in Arusha on 31 July to impose sanctions on Burundi's new military government until it returns to constitutional rule, international opinion...
Plans to bring in a foreign military force will have to take account of growing political ambitions in the government army
Hysteria has spread in Burundi with the prospect of an intervention force of Ethiopian, Tanzanian and Ugandan troops. Nevertheless, this force was requested by President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya and...
Hutu militias are confusing. They often split and often share members. The most significant is the Parti pour la Libération du Peuple Hutu founded, eight years after the...
Eldoret gets so much largesse that the President's home-boys call it 'Moi town'
Revelations that the government has been discreetly building an ammunition factory in Eldoret have again focused attention on the rapid growth of this Rift-Valley town. President Daniel arap...
Two men casually ate breakfast in an Addis Ababa café on 8 July as they waited for the highest ranking Muslim in the federal government, Transport and Communications...
Paul Kagamé has to watch the monarchists – now they are turning against him
Support for the government is shrinking as regional instability grows. After a wave of Hutu defections in the past year, there are signs of growing Tutsi disaffection. Tutsi...
Hassan Gouled's nephew is leading the succession race but is yet to convince Paris
Ismael Omar Guelleh, chef de cabinet to President Hassan Gouled Aptidon, has won another round in the struggle to succeed his uncle as President (AC Vol 37 No...
Amid heavy fighting and the rise of Islamist militias, General Mohamed Farah 'Aydeed' has changed his mind about Sharia courts. He had previously opposed them, considering them a...
Vol 37 No 14 |
- SUDAN
- UGANDA
Thousands of refugees from Southern Sudan have fled their camps in north-west Uganda, amid deepening insecurity. The exodus began on 18 June, emptying Wajo and Adana refugee camps...
Addis Ababa is becoming Washington's key ally against an expansionist Khartoum
The Addis Ababa-Washington axis is in better shape than for more than 25 years, probably since the hey-days of Emperor Haile Selassie in the 1960s. For the United...
Eight major-generals, 22 brigadiers and 3 full colonels were appointed by President Isayas Aferworki. The Defence Minister, Sibhat Ephrem, gave the rank of lieutenant-colonel to several officers in...
Museveni now has a mandate to tackle the economy – as long as the army is kept happy
Kaguta has won and the man better known as Yoweri Museveni is Uganda's first elected President, with 72.4 per cent of the vote. Museveni chose to run with...
Museveni swept to victory everywhere except in the north, where fighting continues
President Yoweri Museveni's victory may have given him over 74.2 per cent of the vote but it has not given him what many thought he needed most: a...
The powerful women's movement is busy with the same agenda as male politicians
'KANU is out to protect women and children', declared President Daniel arap Moi at a 19 May rally at Molo. From whom or what the ruling Kenyan African...
A bizarre deal involving China, Israel and Sudanese oil is being put together two weeks after the United Nations imposed diplomatic sanctions on Khartoum for its involvement in...
The spectres of past elections and battles haunted the Presidential poll to be held on 9 May. Parliamentary elections are due in June. President Yoweri Museveni was relying...
Separatist-minded Zanzibar has declared independence from the mainland over oil procurement. Ending purchases from the state- owned Tanzania Development Company, Zanzibar President Salmin Amour's government has issued its...
Khartoum has fought a rearguard action against UN sanctions but cannot escape a military confrontation with the opposition
The United Nations Security Council's long-awaited vote on sanctions against the Sudan government will disappoint an opposition which had hoped for a decisive moral and practical stand from...
President Ben Mkapa is doing well on the mainland but struggling with Zanzibar
The President insists that he does not want to be called Mtukufu (Your Excellency) or have his picture on banknotes and does not want to hear his name...
KANU has outplayed foreign attempts to censure corruption and political repression
When donors meeting in Paris on 22 March decided to disburse US$730 million to Kenya, it marked the end of any serious effort to get President Daniel arap...
General Mohamed Farah 'Aydeed', one of Somalia's self-proclaimed Presidents, is trying to bolster his legitimacy with banknotes. His son, Hussein Farah, has arrived in London to persuade security...
President Moi expects an easy election win as the opposition alliance breaks apart
A chronically divided opposition, more acquiescent donors and some economic growth help explain President Daniel arap Moi's cheeriness. After a cataract operation in Israel in mid-February he told...
A new report explaining why aid agencies fail in emergencies may still not help Burundi
Reluctance to act on clear warning signs of a catastrophe in Rwanda and a lack of political will by United Nations members are to blame for international donors'...
In its bid to resuscitate its Sudan oil project Canadian-based Arakis Energy is to be drip-fed US$56.9 million by little known British finance group Venture Guarantee Limited in...
Veteran candidate Ssemogerere may make the presidential election a close-run affair
There is a growing feeling in Kampala that Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda and of the ruling National Resistance Movement, will win this year's election only by an...
Washington's Voice of America is to broadcast in three languages – Oromo and Tigrinya as well as Amharic – to Ethiopia in response to growing criticism from Addis...
President Salmin Amour is living up to his opponents' expectations and they are living up to his. Immediately after the announcement of the (rigged) results of the last...
With the biggest funds and armouries, Aydeed is back on the offensive
By capturing Hoddur town in mid-January, General Mohamed Farah Hassan 'Aydeed' put himself back in the game. His forces now threaten Beled Weyne, which they lost in October...
The Djibouti government has still not signed the letter of intent that it should have sent to the International Monetary Fund in early January. Nobody really expected the...
The regionalisation strategy is facing its biggest test this year - can it reduce poverty?
Winning elections has proved easy for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his colleagues. Unsurprising, say his critics, given that the opposition is too divided to put up a...
KANU has responded to demands for political pluralism by buying up the media
Once among Africa's liveliest, Kenya's newspapers are increasingly in the thrall of the ruling Kenya African National Union. Although President Daniel arap Moi won multi-party elections in 1992,...
Tutsi opposition groups allied to the military are trying to oust beleaguered Hutu President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya. The coalition led by Ntibantunganya has so far staved off the creeping...