Blue Lines
A vote by the United States House of Representatives to end the legal requirement that compels oil and mining companies to disclose all payments to foreign governments is a tactical defeat for anti-corruption campaigners. That's partly because of highly e...
Patrick Smith
This week, we start with the fraying relations between Africa's two biggest economies, Nigeria and South Africa. Then to Matebeleland in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe has been celebrating his 93rd birthday. We have a series of tough economic rep...
Patrick Smith
This week we start in Cape Town with renewed speculation about a cabinet reshuffle as Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan prepares to read his budget and then to Somalia where the IMF has promised the new government it will back a debt relief scheme. In Gambi...
Blue Lines
A distinguished political analyst in Nigeria lamented last month that the country had probably invented the Fake News phenomenon, closely linked to Donald Trump's presidential election campaign in the United States and a lucrative business model. As if to...
Patrick Smith
This week we start in Nigeria, where anti-corruption investigators can finally claim some success. Then we go on to Washington where President Donald Trump's top advisor on African security issues has just been blocked by the Central Intelligence Agency. ...
Patrick Smith
This week we start in Cape Town, which has temporarily become the crucible for South Africa's political fights as well as host to an international mining conference. Then we look at the warnings about Africa's growing indebtedness, the jitters in Nigeria ...
Blue Lines
'C'est un grand jour pour le Maroc,' Rabat's Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar told journalists in Addis Ababa after his country was readmitted to the African Union on 31 January. He was speaking just minutes after Morocco's King Mohammed VI had made h...
Patrick Smith
Again, we start the week in the United States where the Donald Trump administration’s first week of frenetic activity has major implications for Africa and diplomatic deal-making. Then to Addis Ababa where delegates to the African Union summit are set to ...
Patrick Smith
All eyes are on Addis Ababa this week where the African Union summit elects a new chair for the AU Commission while there is some relief and mutual congratulation over the peaceful resolution of the post-election crisis in the Gambia. Ahead of national el...
Blue Lines
In the new edition of Africa Confidential, our correspondents complete their tour d'horizon of the developments and people who will shape 2017 on the continent. Throughout the edition, we trace the effects of the changing international backdrop, particula...
