SUDAN Calling the shots at Machakos 26th July 2002 Arch manipulation of American and British peacemakers buys the NIF another six and a half years' time Breakthrough on peace!' shout the headlines. 'It's a sham, it won't work!' protest the National Islamic Front's opponents. Five weeks of closed-door discussions at Machakos, Kenya, between the NIF government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement, ended on 20 July. The talks, under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), produced a protocol of understanding and an agreement to reconvene at the Machakos Garden Hotel on 12 August. The enthusiasm came almost entirely from the government side. Its team, led by presidential Peace Advisor Ghazi Salah el Din el Atabani, a core NIF man, talked as if peace already reigned. The SPLA/M delegation, led by Colonel John Garang de Mabior's deputy, Commander Salva Kiir Mayardit, was far less effusive, with good reason. Chaired by Kenya, overseen by Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda and driven (in top gear) by Britain and the United States, the talks were heavily weighted in the Sudan government's favour. Southerners say this looks like the usual sell-out; the northern opposition says the process further entrenches the regime, giving it the international blessing which oil wealth had not quite managed to buy.
SUDAN Who is Sulaf? 26th July 2002 Hot on the heels of the Machakos Protocol signed in Kenya on 20 July, Relationships Foundation International held its own fifth round of peace talks from 22 July in Britain. This ...
ZIMBABWE After the phoney war 26th July 2002 Economic breakdown is exposing the spin and forcing political change Armed guards surrounded President Robert Mugabe as he opened parliament on 23 July. Zimbabweans, he explained, face two scourges Britain, the former colonial power, which was...
KENYA Uhuru now! 26th July 2002 KANU goes back to the future for its presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta is enjoying politics. Smiling broadly last week, he told his constituents in Gatundu South, Central Province, that he was willing to serve the nation in any capacity...
SOUTH AFRICA Buthelezi replays history 26th July 2002 The Zulu leader and some tough friends threaten to open Natal's wounds Relations between the African National Congress and Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party are at their lowest since the rivals signed a peace deal on the eve of the 1994 ele...
GHANA I'm Sam, fly me 26th July 2002 Many African airlines have boomed since Air Afrique collapsed, but not Ghana Airways Sam Jonah resigned as Chairman of Ghana Airways on 2 July after the cabinet failed to approve his preferred rescue plan for the airline and the removal of the Chairman of the Manag...
MOROCCOSPAIN Everyone likes parsley 26th July 2002 The Parsley Island affair underlined the glacial nature of Rabat-Madrid relations. Spain's continuing occupation of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, within Morocco, is highly sen...
UGANDA Henry's parachute 26th July 2002 Was Brigadier Henry Tumukunde pushed out as director of the Internal Security Organisation or did he jump? Sources close to President Yoweri Museveni insist that Tumukunde, an aloo...
ZAMBIA No immunity 26th July 2002 Zambia's parliament voted unanimously on 16 July to lift ex-President Frederick Chiluba's immunity from prosecution. A criminal investigation will now open into those said to have ...