Blue Lines
If he's looking for evocative literature as well as a break from Nigerian politics during his ten-day visit to London, President Muhammadu Buhari should read 'The General in His Labyrinth' by Gabriel Garcia Márquez. One of the late Colombianwriter's most ...
Patrick Smith
This week, the political developments start in Kenya, with mounting protests for electoral reform, then to the story of why some senior Nigerians are spending the week in London and the private reactions to the appointment of the president's daughter to h...
Blue Lines
Taking over the presidency of the African Development Bank from Rwanda's Donald Kaberuka, whose combination of political savvy and straight talking on economics put the Bank back on the global map, was always going to be tough. The tenure of new President...
Patrick Smith
This week starts with talks on Libya's crisis in Vienna and negotiations in Nigeria over the fuel price increase. Kenya's government makes further moves to close down the world's biggest refugee camp and Uganda's most prominent opposition leader is held o...
Blue Lines
The big problem with the Anti-Corruption Summit organised by British Prime Minister David Cameron on 12 May was that no one could agree on what it was for. It invited Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari, Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos Calderón and Afghanistan's Ash...
Patrick Smith
This week there are some sobering warnings from the IMF and some rambunctious election-campaign launches in South Africa. Pressure continues to increase on Nigeria's President Buhari to devalue the naira or set up a new exchange rate for specified transac...
Blue Lines
Unencumbered by the African Union's need to reach a consensus among its 54 member states, the Tana Security Forum, which also meets each year in Ethiopia, is expanding its influence as it confronts some of the more unpalatable realities of political stabi...
Blue Lines
This year’s flurry of ostensibly competitive elections is prompting some activists to rethink their assessment of the forward march of democratic politics in Africa. After the unprecedented victory of the opposition presidential candidate in Nigeria, Afri...
Patrick Smith
This week, there is some better economic news for Nigeria after President Buhari's trip to Beijing but more worries about pressure on banks in Kenya. Although Chadian President Déby looks confident of victory after general elections on 10 April, another l...
Patrick Smith
This week the leak of the details of over 10 million account documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca dominates the news and African activists start to probe the list to track their politicians and business people. Then there is the drama of con...
