Blue Lines
It was Kenya's
graft-buster-in-chief in 2002, John
Githongo, who
observed that anti-corruption was good politics. And so it proved until
he stumbled on the wrong political skeletons in the closet. President
Mwai Kibaki did nothing to
defend Githongo, who ...
Patrick Smith
We have commercial and political diplomacy in Nigeria and South
Africa, a crowded field of presidential hopefuls in Benin,
and a last and very ambitious bid at conflict resolution by UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
SOUTH AFRICA: Finance Minister Gordha...
Blue Lines
Zimbabwe's political scene
has opened up this week as former
Vice-President Joice Mujuru
launched her new party, Zimbabwe People
First. ZANU-PF is riven by factionalism as the race to succeed
President Mugabe intensifies.
Mujuru's new party is the most im...
Blue Lines
As the campaign for the next Secretary General of the United Nations
heats up, the career of Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, who died on 16 February,
should prove instructive. The Egyptian
who held the UN’s top job in
1992-96 was one of the most experienced diplom...
Blue Lines
A strong group within the African Union, including AU Commission
Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,
backed the sending of an armed force
to Burundi to confront
President Pierre Nkurunziza's
government. This
followed a succession of alarming reports from A...
Patrick Smith
This week diplomats and soldiers mull the decisions and lack of
decisions at the African Union summit as political tensions rise in Uganda ahead of this month’s
presidential elections. Mozambicans
want to know what is behind the shooting of a top Renamo o...
Blue Lines
Even in the annals of Nigerian
corruption scandals, the latest revelations about the diversion of
state funds under the presidencies of Goodluck
Jonathan and Umaru Musa
Yar'Adua are breaking records. On 18 January, Information
Minister Lai
Mohammed ann...
Blue Lines
We start 2016 with our annual forecast of political, economic and
security developments over the coming year, to complement our usual
look in the rear view mirror. We concur with the view of the American
baseball star Yogi Berra, who
died in September, th...
Patrick Smith
In a final splurge of news before the new year, Nigeria's President
Muhammadu Buhari presents
a mega-budget and Burkina Faso's
new government issues
an arrest warrant for ousted President Blaise
Compaoré. And there is electoral
competition in Uganda and D...
Blue Lines
Wobbly governments, imploding companies and crashing commodities
mark
out a coda to the past decade of high growth and political
self-confidence. Economists argue about how much rising national
incomes could be attributed to better macro-economic manageme...
