Guest Blogger
D Deng Gach Pal, MPA Postgraduate student (Chevening Scholar), University of Exeter
I’m writing to usher in the independence of South Sudan on 9 July 2011, when it will formally be declared a nation-state. This follows a referendum on 9 January 2011, in ...
Patrick Smith
Lisbon, 13 June
Much of the chatter at the annual meeting of the African Development Bank in Lisbon last week focussed on the African role in another financial institution: the troubled International Monetary Fund. Specifically, whether there would be an...
Our Southern Africa Correspondent
Loyalists in the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party, especially its chief spin doctor and strategist Professor Jonathan Moyo, are looking desperate after aseries of political disasters in April. It's clear that many of the leader...
Guest Blogger
Ahead of Nigeria’s Presidential elections from 9 April, militants are auditioning for money from the government amnesty programme. President Jonathan has bought a short-term calm before the national vote. The long-term cost may be greater insecurity in W...
A Reader
Troubles in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and who knows where next. The wave of unrest and civil uprisings sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East is a clear message from the mass populace that it is time for change. In North Africa, in...
Patrick Smith
Côte d’Ivoire/South Africa/Nigeria: Zuma's warship in the Gulf of Guinea The South African government has been making reassuring noises about the presence of its warship, the SAS Drakensberg, in the Gulf of Guinea. According to the Nigerian government, ho...
Patrick Smith
SUDAN: Western deal over President Omer el Beshir's genocide charges A deal that would grant Sudan's president an annually renewable deferral of the genocide and war crimes charges against him was mooted at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa last wee...
Patrick Smith
AFRICAN UNION: The big tests for diplomacy and democracyIntensive rounds of negotiations and trade-offs start this week in Addis Ababa leading to the grand summit of the African Union on 30-31 January. The assorted ambassadors, foreign ministers and heads...
Patrick Smith
Two-way trade between Africa and China from January to November this year was worth US$114.8 billion, that is a 43.5% increase over the same period last year according to Beijing. These figures reinforce China's position as the single biggest trading part...
Patrick Smith
NIGERIA: PRIMARY PASSIONS For an accidental President, Goodluck Jonathan is taking to the national political contest with alacrity. After a mini-national tour, Jonathan's campaign team have announced that 20 out of the 26 state governors loyal to the Peo...
