GHANAUNITED STATES Storm in an oil barrel 23rd July 2010 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site A commercial dispute between the government and a US oil company has become diplomatically damaging – so President Mills is looking for a way out The grand launch of Ghana’s commercial oil production this year has begun inauspiciously with a bruising battle between the government and the state oil company on one hand and American oil company Kosmos Energy on the other. Kosmos had announced last September that it wanted to sell its stake in the country’s Jubilee oil field to the giant ExxonMobil corporation in an exclusive deal for US$4.2 billion.
GHANA The 3.8 billion dollar question 23rd July 2010 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site Aside from the party political rivalries, geopolitics and diplomatic jousting involved in the Kosmos Energy debacle in Ghana, there is a central concern: that the government stands...
KENYA More gluttony 23rd July 2010 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site An attempt by MPs to vote themselves a fat pay rise comes unstuck – the Treasury is running out of money Last month’s vote by Kenyan members of parliament to augment their already handsome salaries is hitting political and financial roadblocks. Treasury officials say it is not afforda...
In Africa, respect for the elders lives on. This week the African airwaves buzzed with accolades to two sons of Africa, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and with homages to an adopted son, Basil Davidson. The celebration of Madiba’s 92nd birthday on 18 July was especially poignant in the wake of his granddaughter’s death in a car crash a month ago and the spectacular success of South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup, for which Mandela had campaigned. To widesp... In Africa, respect for the elders lives on. This week the African airwaves buzzed with accolades to two sons of Africa, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and with homages to an adopted son, Basil Davidson. The celebration of Madiba’s 92nd birthday on 18 July was especially poignant in the wake of his granddaughter’s death in a car crash a month ago and the spectacular success of South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup, for which Mandela had campaigned. To widespread regret, Archbishop Tutu, 79, has announced that he is to retire from public engagements. He was a leading public critic of apartheid in South Africa while Mandela was serving a 27-year gaol sentence. The link between the two men will continue as Tutu will work one day a week with The Elders, a group established by Mandela to help address international crises. The 10 July death of British historian and journalist Basil Davidson at the age of 95 has prompted a flurry of tributes from readers of his pioneering contributions to African history. After leaving school at 16, Davidson was a journalist in Paris before joining the British secret service to work with anti-fascists in Eastern Europe during the Second World War. His critique of apartheid made him a ‘prohibited immigrant’ to South Africa; he was best-known for his prolific documentation – in some 30 books – of pre-colonial African history. Read more
SOUTH AFRICA Zuma’s first-term casualties 23rd July 2010 With dissenting ministers and departing civil servants, President Jacob Zuma faces a tough return to workaday politics Someone in President Jacob Zuma’s office has read a management textbook and reproduced chunks of it as government policy. Ahead of his post-World Cup cabinet ‘lekgotla’ (big meetin...
SOMALIAUGANDA Secretive Shabaab 23rd July 2010 Al Shabaab’s political tactics and internal dynamics are deliberately, systematically opaque, on the classic Islamist model. It is both nationalist and avowedly part of the global ...
SENEGAL Wade’s one-man band 23rd July 2010 Power is concentrated in the hands of President Abdoulaye Wade; development strategy is led by his son, Karim Wade. There are 41 ministers (plus a new Vice-Premier, a job suddenly ...
ZIMBABWE Restless spirits 23rd July 2010 The Ndebele can't agree on a living leader and many still take their inspiration from the late Joshua Nkomo Sibangilizwe Nkomo, the sole surviving son of Joshua Nkomo (1917-99), is campaigning to exhume his father's remains from the 'foreign' soil of Heroes' Acre in Harare and transfer t...
FRANCEAFRICA Forgotten promises 23rd July 2010 In 2007, a just-elected President Sarkozy promised to remake France’s Africa policies but strategic political and economic interests still prevail On 14 July, troops from 13 African countries marched down the Champs-Elysées in the annual Bastille Day parade, while elderly sub- Saharan veterans of the French colonial army saw ...
CONGO-KINSHASA Katanga makes a comeback 23rd July 2010 The secessionist movement that almost split the country 50 years ago is again on the march In the main square of Lubumbashi on 11 July, more than 20 people were arrested while demonstrating for the independence of Katanga. A month earlier, the Place de la Poste had been ...
SENEGAL Karim the successor 23rd July 2010 The presidential succession of Karim Wade is far from a fait accompli, not least because his father, Abdoulaye Wade, does not yet want to step down. One French diplomat, who knows ...
SOMALIAUGANDA Fighting on a new front 23rd July 2010 The United States’ containment policy has failed and, with its regional ambitions strengthened, Al Shabaab is back on the front foot President Yoweri Museveni welcomes African Union leaders to Kampala on 25 July playing a role he has made his own: military leader and regional policeman. Ugandan opposition politi...
SENEGAL He’s old but he’s running 23rd July 2010 President Wade is set to take the presidency again but his favourite son is not sure to follow At 84 and still looking chipper, President Abdoulaye Wade plans to run for the presidency again in 2012. His advisors insist he is full of ideas and enthusiasm and he has begun to ...
ZIMBABWE What mattered was the football 23rd July 2010 World Cup fever overshadowed both a spectacular political row and preparations for a new constitution Robert Mugabe has earned a reputation as one of the globe's leading gatecrashers but his poise, self-confidence and chutzpah have not rubbed off on his travelling entourage. Offici...
SUDANBRITAIN Khartoum's most wanted 23rd July 2010 The first test for the International Criminal Court's 12 July arrest warrant for genocide against President Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir is his visit to Ndjamena this week. Chad rat...
EGYPTSUDAN Secret talks 23rd July 2010 Egypt has quietly accepted that Southern Sudanese may choose independence in January's referendum in return for assurances that the Juba government will not abandon the 1959 Nile W...
GAMBIA Coups and cocaine 23rd July 2010 The enforced celebration of 'Freedom Day' on 22 July, the 16th anniversary of President Yahya Jammeh's coup, prompted protests by exiles and human rights groups, who say the regime...
MALI A formidable new party 23rd July 2010 Party leaders face a new challenger for the 2012 succession to retiring President Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT). The Parti pour le développement économique et sol...
