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...
Patrick Smith
This week we have two presidential inaugurations to follow, both idiosyncratic in their own way: that of Adama Barrow in Banjul and of Donald J. Trump in Washington DC. United States policy is also under scrutiny on relations with Sudan, as is Nigeria's p...
Patrick Smith
We start in Accra, where regional leaders attending the inauguration of Ghana's new President, Nana Akufo-Addo, also found time to discuss ways to make the Gambia's defiant Yahya Jammeh leave the stage. Starting work with an inspection of the presidential...
Blue Lines
Good, bad, ugly or interminable political transitions will loom large
in 2017. The theme of transition will dominate the first two editions
of Africa Confidential, which
carry a set of economic and political forecasts for countries facing
major changes th...
Patrick Smith
People across the world, bar journalists, seem to want to live
in less interesting times after the political conflagrations and
shifting geopolitics of last year. There is no sign that this wish will
be granted, even in Africa.
The preoccupations of the ...
Patrick Smith
This week we start in Israel with the news that police have put mining magnate Beny Steinmetz under house arrest in connection with a probe into contracts for Guinea's gargantuan Simandou iron ore deposit. In Kinshasa tensions rise with the deadline for P...
Blue Lines
After a year of credible elections in Ghana and South Africa but rigged
ones in Uganda, Gabon and Zambia, together with a raft of
political and
corporate corruption scandals, there will be a new focus on judicial
systems. It was the independence of court ...
Patrick Smith
We start in Ghana where last week's well-run elections brought Nana Akufo-Addo the presidency and an orderly transition is under way. Much less orderly is Gambia where Yahya Jammeh has changed his mind about accepting electoral defeat and has triggered a ...
Patrick Smith
This week we hit the election trail: first to Ghana where over 15 million citizens are due to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday (7 December), and then to Gambia for the aftermath of the shock election defeat of President Yahya ...
