Baobab

FOREIGN leaders and commentators have been busy congratulating Joyce Banda, Malawi’s first female president, on the smooth transition of power in one of the world’s poorest countries following the sudden death of its late president, Bingu wa Mutharika, on April 5th. But for more than 48 hours after he died, Malawi teetered on the brink of a coup as members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) plotted to prevent Mrs Banda, the vice-president, from taking over and to thrust the late president’s elder brother, Peter, into power in her stead.

Despite his 78 years, Mr Mutharika had appeared in good health.

Continue reading "The Good Friday coup that wasn't" »

JAMES IBORI, shop worker turned governor of Nigeria's oil-rich Delta state, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in a court in London on April 17th. His conviction for corruption has delighted the west African country. Graft is common in Nigerian politics but few go down for the crime.

Mr Ibori was arrested on 25 counts of money laundering, forgery and fraud. He pleaded guilty to 10 charges and to embezzling $73m, making it one of the largest money-laundering cases in British history. Moderate estimates suggest that around $8 billion is stolen from Nigeria’s state coffers every year. Mr Ibori is said to have swiped $79m from Delta state.

Continue reading "Hard graft" »

A SAMOAN judge in The Hague made history today by declaring that Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, was guilty of aiding and abetting the multiple atrocities committed by a rebel force in neighbouring Sierra Leone. It was a rare example of a former head of state being convicted by an international court, and advocates of cross-border justice immediately hailed the verdict as a welcome precedent.

However, the verdict in the high-profile case fell short of the outcome sought by the prosecution, which had argued that Mr Taylor not only facilitated terrible crimes but was also directly to blame.

Continue reading "Guilty as charged" »

IN LATE February 2012, Alem Dechasa, an Ethiopian maid working in Lebanon, was video-taped being beaten and dragged into a car. On March 14th, she committed suicide. Her story has drawn attention once again to the plight of migrant workers in the Middle East. But Ms Alem’s fate has also highlighted a more unpleasant side of Ethiopia’s impressive growth story.

Ethiopia’s economy is based on small-scale agriculture. More than 85% of the country’s 80m people live in the countryside. Most have limited or no access to such basics as clean drinking water, health-care facilities and education.

Continue reading "Maid in Ethiopia" »

INTERNATIONAL experts like to tell developing countries they must focus on stuff they do well. If you have fertile soil and lots of rain, grow rice rather than strive for global high-tech leadership. Guinea-Bissau on the swampy west African coast is following that advice more closely than most. It has little chance of rivalling nearby Ivory Coast in cocoa production or beating Guinea at extracting minerals. Climate and geology conspire against it. But it has proven especially good at one thing: the nation of 2m people has seen at least four military coups in the last 14 years. They happen more regularly than elections in many neighbouring countries.

Continue reading "Besieged in Bissau" »

JOYCE BANDA, Malawi's former vice-president, surely never imagined that she would make it to the top of her impoverished southern African country of 16m inhabitants, or that it would happen so soon. Expelled from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in 2010 following her condemnation of President Bingu wa Mutharika's adoption of his brother, Peter, as his heir apparent, she found herself out in the political cold, with her newly formed Peoples Party seemingly making little headway.

Continue reading "The woman for the job" »