While the end of President Joseph Kabila's two terms of office on 19 December is set to spark mass opposition protests, less notice has been paid to the...

Although Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo Mapon resigned on 14 November and announced the dissolution of his government, President Joseph Kabila Kabange surprised everyone three days later by...

After months of preparation, the Central African Republic donor conference of 17 November was a resounding success – seemingly. Jointly chaired in Brussels by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra and...

Since President Paul Biya will be 85 at the time of the presidential election scheduled for 2018 and he has named no successor, the opposition believes it has...

A raft of corruption claims is undermining President Joseph Kabila's campaign to extend his stay in office for at least two more years. Already the United States and...

About 30 people were killed in and around a refugee camp in Kaga Bandoro, 320 kilometres north of Bangui, according to news agencies, as deteriorating security threatens to...

Violent clashes in Kinshasa between protestors and police last month show how the row over President Joseph Kabila's plans to delay elections could trigger a crisis across the...

After Gabon's shambolic presidential vote in August and the swearing in of Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba on 27 September for a new seven-year term, both government and opposition...

Fraud played a major part in President Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba's narrow victory in the presidential election of 27 August, independent observers widely believe. The controversy is so...

Two oppositionists may have rallied to presidential candidate Jean Ping at the last minute on 16 August but that won't be enough to stop President Ali Ben Bongo...

General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko's appeal for bail over a charge of 'endangering the internal security of the state' was rejected by a Brazzaville court on 18 August. Mokoko...

There have long been heavyweights in the ranks of Congo-Kinshasa's opposition, most enduringly Etienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba and more recently Moïse Katumbi Chapwe. Yet relations between the...

The much-loved rotisserie restaurants and cafés of Yaoundé stand dark and deserted in the otherwise bustling streets of the Cameroon capital, after the government recently declared that it...

The new CAR President, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, had an encouraging start to his term of office in March. The crowd at his investiture cheered him as heartily as they...

Following the landmark trial in Dakar of Chadian former dictator Hissène Habré, President Macky Sall has played down suggestions that Senegal should now become the permanent home of...

When Arizona mining company Freeport-McMoRan announced a gigantic sale on 9 May, it triggered a furore over the trade in Congo-Kinshasa's mining assets and its natural resource governance....

The veteran President, long the strongman of local politics even before he seized power in a 1979 coup, was sworn in for a new seven-year term on 20...

Aspiring presidential candidate Moïse Katumbi flew to South Africa amid growing fears for his safety on 20 May. After coming under increased pressure to step down at...

No less predictable than Moïse Katumbi's long-expected announcement on 4 May that he will run for president was the government's response. That same morning, Justice Minister Alexis...

The fast-approaching presidential elections in France and the United States have given President Paul Biya's close circle cause for concern. Biya, 83, who has ruled for 32 years,...

Known to the world as Papa Wemba, Jules Shungu Wembiado Pene Kikumba was buried in Kinshasa on 4 May in the city cemetery, the Nécropole at Nsele....

With President Idriss Déby Itno dominating the political scene and tightly controlling an election process to prevent effective monitoring by civil society, his outright victory in the 10...

It's been a difficult three months for Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo Mapon. Since his appointment three years ago, he has sought to build a reputation as a...

As he edges towards announcing that he'll run for president, Moïse Katumbi Chapwe has been sounding out opposition groups about a joint strategy with himself at the head...

President Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba's re-election campaign looks less of a cosmetic exercise now that National Assembly President Guy Nzouba Ndama has declared he will stand in the...

Widespread anger was a feature of public reaction to President Denis Sassou-Nguesso's widely discredited re-election last month but few expected it to turn into armed violence. On 4...

President Denis Sassou-Nguesso arranged for his re-election with considerably less self-confidence than he had shown in previous electoral contests. The campaign was marked by security forces killing 18...

The temperature of the presidential election campaign, which is due in August, has risen by several degrees this month after squabbles erupted in the ruling Parti démocratique gabonais....

President Denis Sassou-Nguesso's decision to bring forward the presidential election date by three months to 20 March prompted General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko to declare himself a candidate. Less...

Faustin Archange Touadéra's victory in the presidential election is a small step towards national reconstruction after a year of intercommunal warfare and two more of chaotic and corrupt...

Most of the two Kivu provinces in Congo-Kinshasa's troubled east are more peaceful than they were, thanks to neither President Paul Kagame of Rwanda nor President Yoweri Museveni...

Delays to the compilation of the electoral register have now ensured that President Joseph Kabila stays in office beyond when the next elections should take place. The electoral...

The questions over the conduct and legitimacy of the presidential and legislative elections were well known (AC Vol 56 No 18). The electoral register was not worth its...