Africa

Ghana: Oil and Optimism

It appears as though Ghana will retain 38% of its domestic oil revenue, an advisor to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Joe Amoako-Tuffuor has stated, quoting a Daily Graphic report from March 6, 2010.
The newspaper cited a recent presentation Amoako-Tuffuor  made, wherein he noted that Ghana will earn from direct and indirect sources such [...]

Just What They Needed

It has been a difficult month for the Tories across the pond in Britain – talk of internal divisions and doubts over their economic policy make question time fun to watch again.  Now is the time for a positive PR campaign, some votes for the blue boys. The Guardian gets proper credit for reporting this one [...]

Kenya’s Politicians Scramble to Avoid Justice

Two years after the violence that devastated Kenya, the country shuffles forward on a razor’s edge. Very soon, the International Criminal Court will decide whether to allow prosecutors to open investigations in to those believed to be responsible for mass expulsions and killings following a controversial election.
This occurs parallel to the uncoordinated political agenda we [...]

Tackling Negligence Head-On

Marian Tupy is a policy analyst at the CATO Institute in Washington DC with a unique interest in Zimbabwean affairs. He, along with many of our readers and indeed writers, was horrified while watching images emanating from Zimbabwe covering the cholera outbreak, and was baffled as to why it wasn’t nipped in the bud at [...]

China to Robert Mugabe: Happy Birthday

Far be it for me to quash birthday fever, Mr. Mugabe.
I just find it alarming that we’re celebrating after a year of systematic destruction to your government’s infrastructure. I find it frightening that you are so jubilant this soon after knowingly passing an ‘indigenization‘ bill that would deter not only fresh investment to an already heavily-sanctioned [...]

Nigeria: Health and Political Risk = ‘Goodluck’ for Jonathan

Health and political risk are no stranger bedfellows in Nigeria than oil reserves and skiff-boat diplomacy. From the surrealism of‘missing president’ Umaru Yar’Adua, linked to the outside world via a ghostly voiced interview with the BBC, and with attendant disputes of legitimacy and sovereignty, Nigeria has seemingly chosen to solve the crisis in its own [...]

Cocoa and Chaos: Political Risk in the Ivory Coast

Opposition parties in Ivory Coast staged protests today as the west African country awaited the annoucement of a new government after President Laurent Gbagbo scrapped the previous one. The protests are growing in volatility as a nation awaits a government in flux.
The head of the former rebel New Forces (FN), Guillaume Soro, whom Gbagbo reappointed as [...]

Zimbabwe Sanctions ‘Must Go’: Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe today stated that he and his partners in Zimbabwe’s unity government agreed that “sanctions must go“, a day after the European Union extended its restrictions on the country.
“We are in agreement,” Mugabe told reporters after a tourism conference in Harare. “We are all agreed that the sanctions must go.”
Mugabe has long claimed [...]

A Line Drawn: Obama Condemns Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill

U.S. President Barack Obama has sharply criticized an anti-gay bill in Uganda that would impose the death penalty in some cases. Other western governments and gay rights activists also have criticized the legislation. Supporters on the ground in Kampala have in turn accuses the U.S. and other western nations of interfering in Uganda’s internal affairs.
The Ugandan [...]

CFP News Blast, February 9, 2010

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych yesterday called on his opponent and longtime rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to concede defeat in Sunday’s presidential runoff after he secured a slim victory at the polls. With more than 98 percent of the ballots counted as of Monday evening, Yanukovych had captured 48.5 percent of the vote, with Tymoshenko [...]