EQUATORIAL GUINEA After his release, Simon Mann seeks revenge and a book deal 6th November 2009 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site Some facts may now emerge about the sponsors and planners of the 2004 coup attempt - and about who was set to benefit An expensive round of score-settling and legal cases among the purported financiers and conspirators behind the 2004 coup plot in Equatorial Guinea is likely to be the immediate outcome of the release of convicted plotter Simon Mann, a dual British and South African national, in Malabo on 2 November. Less formally, Mann has some settling up to do with the soldiers imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea and Zimbawe. Mann was convicted in 2008 of leading a conspiracy to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (AC passim). He was sentenced to 35 years but had cooperated fully with the Equatorial Guinean regime, prompting speculation that he might benefit from clemency. Officials in Malabo add that Mann had been interviewed in prison since his trial by British anti-terrorist police officers. The main targets, according to Mann, will be the businessmen Sir Mark Thatcher and Ely Claude Alan Calil, an oil trader who has dual Lebanese and British nationality.
NIGERIA Abuja buys a Delta amnesty 6th November 2009 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site President Yar'Adua's government has a won a respite in the Delta, but without political reform it will remain only temporary With an eye on the 2011 elections and with oil production now well under half of the installed capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua signed an amne...
LIBERIA A killing in Kakata 6th November 2009 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site As the government struggles to stem corruption, the head of the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission is murdered Keith Jubah was shot dead, his body hacked and burned, in Kakata, 35 kilometres north of Monrovia, on 1 November. Nobody yet knows who killed him but he had plenty of enemies. He w...
A competition in the anti-corruption business is heating up between German-based Transparency lnternational and British-based Tax Justice Network. Backed by multinationals, TI prides itself on its diplomatic skills and political influence, but critics say TI fears offending its corporate and political pals. TJN sees state corruption as a facilitator for the illicit transfer of billions of dollars from the developing world to the rich West through transfer pricing, mispricing schemes and tax have... A competition in the anti-corruption business is heating up between German-based Transparency lnternational and British-based Tax Justice Network. Backed by multinationals, TI prides itself on its diplomatic skills and political influence, but critics say TI fears offending its corporate and political pals. TJN sees state corruption as a facilitator for the illicit transfer of billions of dollars from the developing world to the rich West through transfer pricing, mispricing schemes and tax havens. The differing approaches are shown by their recent research. TI rates 180 countries in order of perceived corruption: last year, Denmark was judged honest, and Switzerland ranked 5th, followed by the Netherlands (7), Austria (12), Ireland and Britain (joint 16) and the United States (18). Among the worst were Equatorial Guinea (171), Sudan (173) and Somalia (180). TJN argues such indexes are meaningless without identifying the destination of the corrupt funds, so this week it published an index of the worst secrecy jurisdictions – the best places to hide stolen money or avoid tax. Many countries feted by TI as low-corruption states were rated by TJN as among the worst for lack of transparency and accountability of their financial systems. Delaware in the USA ranked as the most opaque, then Switzerland (3), Britain and the City of London (5), Ireland (6), Austria (12), and the Netherlands (15). Perhaps TI and TJN should pool resources and produce a joined-up anti-corruption index. Read more
LIBERIA New faces in the justice system 6th November 2009 Christiana Tah, Justice Minister: Formerly a Professor in the Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice Department at Montgomery College, Maryland, United States, Tah is a membe...
GAMBIA Jammeh says what he thinks 6th November 2009 The President's threats against human rights activists should spoil his welcome at the Commonwealth summit and elsewhere President Yahya Jammeh is due at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago in the second half of November. However, a televised outburst in late S...
ECONOMYAFRICA Experts argue about Africa's prospects 6th November 2009 The IMF and the AfDB differ sharply on the severity of the global recession's effects on Africa and the measures needed to ameliorate them The world's financial experts and institutions disagree on how seriously the global financial crash has affected developing economies or how quickly they may recover. In Africa, th...
TUNISIA Party time for the first family 6th November 2009 Ben Ali wins a crushing victory and another five years in power President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali saved his allies from a little of the usual embarrassment at his 26 October re-election by polling only 89.62% of the vote, down from 94.4% in 200...
GUINEA Soldiers out of their depth 6th November 2009 In the aftermath of the 28 September massacre, the junta faces sanctions and seems to have lost its way International pressure is growing on Guinea's military junta, shut away with its weaponry in Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo in Conakry. France has cut off its military cooperation and canc...
DIAMONDS Blood on the stones 6th November 2009 Israel and Hezbollah are challenged: where did the blood diamonds go? They never went away The annual conference of the Kimberley Process this week in Swakopmund, Namibia, heard that Israel faces accusations that Ivorian rebel diamonds are being smuggled into the country...
MOZAMBIQUE A dominant party – not a one-party state 6th November 2009 Accusations of bias and irregularities tarnish the success of Frelimo in national elections and may prompt cuts in investment and aid The decisive re-election of President Armando Guebuza on 27 October delivered all that the governing Frente de Libertação de Moçambique wanted: victory with over 75% of the vote in...
BURKINA FASOGUINEA To catch a thief 6th November 2009 The choice of Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaoré as chief mediator in Guinea's worsening crisis is curious, given that the Burkinabé leader, in league with Liberian warlord C...
ANGOLACONGO-KINSHASA Throwing out the neighbours 6th November 2009 A spree of mutual expulsions disguises long-standing economic disputes The two big neighbours have been busily expelling each others' nationals and the resulting tension hides their disagreements about oil, diamonds and the hoped-for electric power fr...
MOZAMBIQUE Brand new MDM will challenge Frelimo 6th November 2009 Established just six months before the elections, the Movimento Democrático de Moçambique has come further than any other third party in Mozambique's history and will be well place...
FRANCEAFRICA Good judge, bad judge 6th November 2009 The lucrative commercial and political networks between France and Africa have survived a remarkable month in the French courts but more embarrassing cases are coming soon. On 27 O...
ZIMBABWE 'Too many enemies' 6th November 2009 When arms disappeared from Pomona Barracks, north of Harare, last month, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front barons again blamed the Movement for Democratic Change ...
BOTSWANA Khama control 6th November 2009 Delivery 'to the expectations of Batswana' is to be top priority of the new government, President Seretse Khama Ian Khama announced at his inauguration on 21 October following his ...
