Africa Confidential
Democracy Day, on 12 June in Nigeria, might be better named ‘two cheers for democracy’ day. It marks the election in 1993 that was supposed to end a decade of military rule. When it became clear that Moshood Abiola, a millionaire businessman, was about to...
Africa Confidential
The political stock of President Cyril Ramaphosa has risen since US President Donald Trump berated him in the Oval Office on 21 May. Ramaphosa had been hoping to reset relations between the two countries after months of critiques from Trump and his adviso...
Africa Confidential
A truce appeared to be holding at dusk on 14 May in Libya’s capital after the worst fighting in several years. Abdel Hamid Dubaiba, Prime Minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, has survived despite multiple reports that he had fled th...
Africa Confidential
The failure of the BRICS group of countries to agree a communiqué during a meeting in Rio de Janeiro this week supports the criticism that the bloc has little in common and lacks internal coherence.
The BRICS’ recent enlargement, with Ethiopia and Egypt t...
Africa Confidential
Facing the prospect of United States's tariffs that will hurt their exports, the European Union and African Union are under pressure to deepen and widen their trade relations. The European Commission wants to diversify its trade partnerships, setting a De...
Africa Confidential
The approval of South Africa’s budget in the National Assembly, by 194 votes to 182 after several false starts, may have inflicted terminal damage on the fledgling Government of National Unity, and particularly the partnership between the African National...
Africa Confidential
The United States' administration’s decision to slash government funding to media organisations such as Voice of America, like the shuttering of USAID, continues an established trend in the west. US and European media houses have beaten a retreat from Afr...
Africa Confidential
The abrupt end of development aid from the United States leaves governments across Africa facing funding shortfalls, particularly for healthcare. Washington spent US$8 billion in aid to Africa last year, most of which will be lost if the three-month freez...
Africa Confidential
With geopolitics in flux, alliances are shifting. United States President Donald Trump’s attacks on South Africa, including the suspension of government programmes, the boycott of its G20 presidency, and claims of ‘genocide’ against white farmers by Trump...
Africa Confidential
The unilateral ceasefire by the M23 announced days after laying siege to Goma in eastern Congo-Kinshasa did not mean an end to fighting in the Kivus. M23 and the Rwandan army are continuing to push towards Bukavu in Kivu-Sud. Shortly before Africa Confide...