Blue Lines
Those criticising the Trump Administration for its lack of interest in Africa may find themselves being more careful what they wish for. About two years late, a form of United States policy towards Africa is taking shape sometimes with the overt connivanc...
Blue Lines
Developments in Nigeria and South Africa point to the danger when political and business interests converge. President Cyril Ramaphosa's directorship of Lonmin, the company operating in Marikana when the police massacred protesting mineworkers, nearly san...
Patrick Smith
We start on the election bandwagons in Abuja, Nigeria for the beginning of the campaigns and move on to Pretoria where President Cyril Ramaphosa is facing a heavy challenge to his leadership of the anti-corruption campaign. And then to the Horn of Africa:...
Patrick Smith
We start in Geneva but the real story is in Congo-Kinshasa as the opposition parties argue over who should represent them as presidential candidate in elections next month. It's an action-packed week in South Africa, with one minister resigning and two ot...
Blue Lines
Apart from the disputed casualty figures – the Nigerian army says six people were killed and Amnesty says more than 45 – the best measure of the seriousness of a security crisis is the deafening silence of mainstream politicians. Few seeking votes ahead o...
Patrick Smith
This week our correspondents have filed from Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Nigeria, and you will find their more detailed stories in the main newsletter on the website on Thursday 8 November.ZIMBABWE: As cash crisis deepens and budget cuts loom, government ...
Blue Lines
Few of the estimated 700,000 people who marched through central London last Saturday urging a 'People's Vote' – another referendum – on whether the United Kingdom should leave the European Union can have been aware of the potential impact on their cause o...
Blue Lines
Atiku Abubakar's emergence as Presidential candidate for the biggest party challenging President Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria's elections in February guarantees a lively contest for voters but little else. For Atiku, 71, and Buhari, 75, it is a final roll ...
Patrick Smith
Finance ministers and central bank governors are heading to Bali, Indonesia for the annual meetings of the Bretton Woods institutions, where they will consumed by the threats of the expanding trade war, rising public debt and ructions in the international...
Blue Lines
First came the shocking but not wholly surprising news on 24 September that José Filomeno dos Santos, better known as Zenú, son of the former President, José Eduardo dos Santos, was being held in preventive detention in connection with a US$1.5 billion co...
