It is universally accepted that a Malawian government's legitimacy is determined by the latest maize harvest. 'Chimango ndi moyo' (Maize is life) is an expression often heard and...

The formal processes that must precede next year's general elections get started on 24 April, at the national convention of Bakili Muluzi's United Democratic Front (UDF). The meeting...

Questions surround the resignation of President José Eduardo dos Santos's confidant, special consultant and billionaire Arkady Gaydamak, on 6 April, as well as the fate of Gaydamak's diplomatic...

Zimbabwe's elections on 29 March raise some hard questions for the region. Member governments and the Chairman of the Southern African Development Community, Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa, have...

When Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga referred to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe as 'a dinosaur' last year, his party received an angry phonecall from Futungo de Belas in...

Companies are watching the elections with a particular focus - the implementation of the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act. Announced by President Robert Mugabe on 7 March, the Act...

The sacked director of South Africa's National Intelligence Agency, Billy Masetlha, is at the centre of fresh claims about the agency's collusion with plotters against Equatorial Guinea's government....

There are four elections in Zimbabwe on 29 March and none of them are going according to plan for President Robert Gabriel Mugabe. The old mixture of coercion...

Tempers are fraying as Malawi approaches next year's parliamentary and presidential elections. The all-important Malawi Electoral Commission, which will supervise the polls, has at last been appointed by...

Angola's decision to set up its own sovereign wealth fund, as Africa Confidential recently reported (AC Vol 49 No 3), is only part of the picture. Fernando Ulrich,...