Blue Lines
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's call on Nigeria to speed up consultations on joining the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) reminded officials of the complexity of economic integration, at a time when the United States has launched a tr...
Patrick Smith
We start in Kinshasa with the cancellation two high-level meetings and what this tells us about President Joseph Kabila's political plans. Then to Asmara for a breakthrough meeting between Eritrean President Issayas Aferwerki and Ethiopia's Prime Minister...
Patrick Smith
We start this week in the Mauritanian capital, which has been hosting an African Union summit tasked with a tough agenda on regional security. The meeting crafted a compromise on Morocco and Western Sahara. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the Ministry of Defence h...
Blue Lines
As the ruling All Progressives' Congress held an exuberant convention in Abuja's Eagle Square on 23-24 June plotting victory in next year's elections, a few hundred miles to the north-east some 200 people were being slaughtered in clashes between farmers ...
Patrick Smith
This week, we wanted to let you know about another exclusive Africa Confidential report – this time on a devastating report on corruption and fraud in Sierra Leone over the past eight years. We also want to flag up upcoming coverage of the two assassinati...
Patrick Smith
We start in South Africa where President Ramaphosa's motives in reforming the security sector are being questioned, and then to Uganda where a big budget increase laying the ground for oil infrastructure includes a controversial proposal to tax social med...
Blue Lines
How seriously to take the 12 June statement by Bruno Tshibala, Congo-Kinshasa's Prime Minister, that President Joseph Kabila will not seek a third term in elections due in December? Such announcements might deflect foreign pressure on Kabila to leave powe...
Patrick Smith
We start with the fast-moving developments in Zimbabwe's national elections due on 30 July, followed by a report on the non-elections in Congo-Kinshasa and mounting opposition frustration. In South Africa, ex-President Zuma has suffered reverses in his at...
Patrick Smith
This week we start with the critical governorship election in Ekiti State, Nigeria, and then to the United Nations which has published an important new report on migration trends within Africa. We also look at the claims of the power of the pro-Zuma clans...
Blue Lines
The one unsurprising thing about Zimbabwe's presidential and parliamentary elections is the date: they are now set for 30 July with a rerun on 8 September if no candidate clears 50% in the first round of the presidential poll. Few want to see a second rou...
