Patrick Smith
This week we start with a new government in Sudan, then one in Nigeria, and then to Zimbabwe's economic and political crises. The propaganda battle over China's Huawei intensifies, new warnings about the severity of Southern Africa's drought and a controv...
Patrick Smith
This week a Nigeria-South Africasummit is in prospect, a new power-sharing government in Sudan, and more mining rows. Also ahead, big protests loom in Zimbabwe, opposition complaints about the election come to court in Malawi, and yet more presidential co...
Blue Lines
The first reaction to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's plans to mount national protests next week against Zimbabwe's economic meltdown might be: what took them so long?It also follows the last wave of protests in January when the MDC lagged...
Patrick Smith
This week we have another step towards a political transition in Sudan, a surprise presidential contender in Kenya, a storm in Nigeria over the arrest of a protest leader and another in Tanzania over a journalist's detention. Zimbabwe's Finance Minister t...
Patrick Smith
We start in the Hague, where the International Court of Justice is to rule on a key East African maritime border dispute, and then to Washington for the election of a new IMF chief. Then our correspondents take in land reform in South Africa, the new gove...
Blue Lines
Boris Johnson took over as Britain's Prime Minister on 24 July after easily beating former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt for the leadership of the ruling Conservative party. A Johnson premiership raises the prospects of Britain leaving the European Union ...
Patrick Smith
We start with the dramatic charging of top finance ministry officials in Nairobi, and then head towards South Africa's politicised legal dramas pitting two presidents and their proxies against each other. A new mining deal in Tanzania could boost resource...
Patrick Smith
This week we start with an inquisition in Johannesburg and then fly up to Nairobi where Deputy President William Ruto's political plans are under fire. In Nigeria, the government might change or even drop its fuel subsidy which is coming under growing att...
Blue Lines
Disbelief was ostentatiously suspended when heads of state gathered at the African Union summit in Niamey to proclaim a new era of cooperation with the full launching of the African continental free trade area (ACFTA) on 8 July. After winning over Nigeria...
Patrick Smith
This week we start in Niamey with economic history in the making and then to Khartoum where activists are demanding a political breakthrough. Although the new government is yet to be announced in Nigeria, state regulators are taking a tougher line and in ...
