Gambia's leader pulls out of AU presidency race

yahya jammeh
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has pulled out of the race for the presidency of the African Union's Assembly. Gambia's foreign minister Momodou Tangara informed AU officials that president Yahya Jammeh has decided to with withdraw from the race for the AU presidency after a closed-door meeting of foreign minister from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).Read more…

Africa: 78% of elections in 2011 ended in dispute

Presidential ballot box
There were a record 17 presidential elections in Africa in 2011. There were face-offs in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Uganda, Zambia, DR Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Liberia, Nigeria, Niger, Madagascar, The Gambia, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Chad, Cameroon and Cape Verde.Read more…

OPINION: Beyond ICC and Kenya’s divisive politics

ICC
It seems that the last has not been heard about the implications of the recent confirmation of charges against four prominent Kenyan politicians at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. Two of those involved have just stepped aside from their roles in the Government of National Unity (GNU).Read more…

Why are former British colonies performing better?

africa map
I have read the articles "The Post-Colonial Hangover" and "Why Francophone Countries Are Lagging Behind Anglophones" with great interest. In the first article - of a more general nature - historian Niall Ferguson argues for the positive legacy of the British Empire pointing to the "spreading of liberal values in terms of free markets, the rule of law, and ultimately representative government."Read more…

Africa Union’s top posts tightly contested

jean ping
All eyes are on the 18th African Union (AU) Summit that is currently underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia until the 30th of January 2012. While the theme of the Summit is "Boosting Intra-African Trade", the election of the AU Commission Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson on 29 January will also take centre stage.Read more…

NIGERIA: Chadians among Kano attackers

Nigeria
Nigerian police said people speaking a Chadian language were among the attackers who waged bombing and shooting sprees in Kano last Friday, killing a total of 185 people according to the first official tally. "The extremists are said to be speaking accented Hausa language, Kanuri and Chad languages," the state police command said in its first account of the carnage.Read more…