Blue Lines
As Americans and Europeans prepare for their holidays, tens of millions of Africans prepare for elections this month while hundreds of millions more watch closely. Without prejudging the outcomes, democrats and civil rights activists are coming under heav...
Patrick Smith
We start in election land – namely Kenya and
Rwanda, which are holding elections in the
coming week, and Senegal, which held parliamentary
elections on 30 July. Then to Ghana where the newish
government of President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo has been
chalking ...
Patrick Smith
This week we start in Abuja House – the one in London where President Muhammadu Buhari has been staying for the past two months. Then to Kinshasa where Congo's opposition is planning to step up protests against sit-tight President Joseph Kabila. And in Ca...
Blue Lines
The list of international companies getting snarled in battles about
fraud and politics in Africa has lengthened this year to include
hitherto more pristine names, such as McKinsey, KPMG and Germany's SAP
software company. They have all been named in the ...
Patrick Smith
Our tour this week starts in Houston, where an assets seizure case could invigorate Nigeria's anti-corruption investigations. Still on anti-corruption, the International Monetary Fund has arrived in Mozambique to assess the damage caused by the US$2 billi...
Patrick Smith
We start with another election ruling by Kenya's
High Court which is pitting the Chief Justice David Maraga against President Uhuru Kenyatta. Then we look at the
row in Zimbabwe over a US$120 million maize subsidy scheme and the
latest multinational compa...
Blue Lines
It was 'noises off' that dominated the first summit of the African
Union under its new Commission Chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on 3-4
July. As Chad's veteran
Foreign Minister, it was hoped that he would be
able to make progress on the continent's multip...
Patrick Smith
We start this week in Addis Ababa for an important but poorly attended
summit of the African Union, then take stock of a regional security
summit held over the weekend in Bamako. Looking at a big real estate
foreclosure linked to a Nigerian oil baron in M...
Patrick Smith
This week there is some important court reporting. First from Nairobi where the Appeal Court has backed an important ruling on vote counting, to the delight of civil society and the opposition. And then to South Africa's Constitutional Court which has mad...
Blue Lines
The storm in Congo-Kinshasa has been gathering for a year and the next six months are likely to prove
critical. Warning of grave danger, the former Secretary General of the
United Nations, Kofi Annan,
together with former presidents of South
Africa and Ni...
