NIGERIA The $2.7 billion hole in the bank 16th April 1999 The military regime is leaving its civilian successor a mountain of dubious debts and undermining prospects for economic recovery General Olusegun Obasanjo's newly elected government starts work on 29 May. But the bright hope is dimmed by an unexpectedly grim financial legacy from the outgoing military regime of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. Finance Minister Ismaila Usman has announced that Nigeria's foreign reserves were drawn down by US$2.7 billion, to $4 bn., between the end of December 1998 and the end of March 1999. Senior officials in the People's Democratic Party, which will hold the majority under Obasanjo, have been asking sharp questions about the pace at which foreign reserves have fallen, and the volume of unbudgeted government expenditure.
CONGO-KINSHASA Fantasy rules 16th April 1999 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site International and regional peacekeeping efforts fail to impress the belligerents Surrealism is taking over in Congo-Kinshasa. Both President Laurent-Désiré Kabila and his armed opponents insist almost daily that there must be a peaceful resolution of their dif...
CONGO-KINSHASA The military imbalance 16th April 1999 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site In most regions the rebel forces are driving back Laurent Kabila's soldiers and their foreign allies. In southern Congo, though, neither side is advancing: on 12 April the rebels ...
SOUTH AFRICA The fiscal fight 16th April 1999 The ANC is winning an unsung victory in the battle to collect the people's taxes The ruling African National Congress wants South Africa's tax system to do two apparently contradictory things - both to correct social and economic discriminations inherited from ...
ANGOLA Shell-shocked 16th April 1999 Caught off guard by UNITA, Luanda is trying to replay its previous military comebacks No one in Luanda wants to take the blame for the government's string of military defeats by Jonas Savimbi's rebels over the past five months. It has been particularly embarrassing...
ANGOLA Deadly diamonds 16th April 1999 UNITA's new armoury is financed by a web of deals from Luzamba to Antwerp Its coffers full of diamond money, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola went on an arms-buying spree to mount, first its defence of the central highland...
GABONUNITED STATES Bongo for Bill 16th April 1999 Frenetic efforts are being made by Washington lobbyists to secure a meeting for President El Hadj Omar Bongo with President Bill Clinton, with a White House encounter slated for 21...
NIGER Accidental coup 16th April 1999 The murder of President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara on 9 April was a genuine coup d'etat. After a couple of days' confusion, the dead man's supposed ally, Commandant Daou...
CÔTE D'IVOIRE Fighting the Fund 16th April 1999 President Henri Konan Bédié's attempts to make political capital out of his government's problems with the International Monetary Fund have badly misfired.
