Blue Lines
A defence agreement between the New Patriotic Party government and the United States has outraged some nationalists and boosted the opposition National Democratic Congress.The deal gives the US rights to a camp for 200 temporary personnel, free use of rad...
Patrick Smith
This week we start in Soweto where mourners are assembling after the death of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela yesterday (2 April). And then to Addis Ababa, where there are hopes that the new Prime Minister will be able to lead serious talks with the opposition ...
Blue Lines
The build-up was as impressive as the goal is ambitious. After three years of talks, Africa is to form a Free Trade area for 54 countries and over 1.2 billion people. All signatory countries are to cut tariffs and import quotas. That is to be followed by ...
Patrick Smith
This week we start with the prospects for President Cyril Ramaphosa's reforms in South Africa and then the chances of a deal between Mozambique and its commercial creditors. Still in Southern Africa, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's financial amnesty is pro...
Patrick Smith
As the week opens United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's diplomatic career seems to have ended after a brief swing through Africa. Partisans on both sides of the divide in Kenya are asking who got what at last week's summit at State House. Niger...
Blue Lines
Rex Tillerson, Washington's Secretary of State, started his swing on 6 March through Africa – Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Nigeria and Chad – with a bellicose warning to China over its regional policy. Despite the billions of dollars from China that has bee...
Patrick Smith
This week it's the Sierra Leone elections, the Tillerson tour, choosing Ethiopia's new prime minister and progress in fixing Ghana's spat with the International Monetary Fund.SIERRA LEONE: Will Candidate Yumkella break the duopoly in the elections on 7 Ma...
Patrick Smith
This week we reflect on an apparent replay of the 2014 tragedy in which armed militants abducted dozens of girl students in northern Nigeria. Then to South Africa, where speculation intensifies about the shape of President Cyril Ramaphosa's new cabinet. T...
Blue Lines
Public debt is spiralling and the International Monetary Fund is back in business in Africa. That figures. But it's not a straight rerun of the testy relationship of the 1980s and 1990s.Now, countries such as Ghanaand Zambia are lower-middle-income countr...
Patrick Smith
We start in South Africa as the country comes to terms with last week's upheavals and looks forward to a new cabinet and a budget on Wednesday (21 February). Its northern neighbour, Zimbabwe, has been in mourning after the death of opposition leader Morga...
