$50 Oil – Better Governance and the Crisis That Wasn’t
High oil prices look set to stay, but Africa is coping far better than during the 1970s oil shocks
Is Nigeria’s Anti-Corruption Crusade for Real?
AFTER years of inaction on graft, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has recently sacked or charged six top officials with corruption, including two ministers, the senate president and the inspector-general of the police.
EDITORIAL: The Aid Industry Needs Reform
THE New Partnership for Africa’s Development is built on one crucial but unexamined assumption: that more aid will lead to more development.
Comment: Taxing Africa to Death
High taxes on drugs drive up health costs and block access to treatment for Africa’s poor, says medical researcher Richard Tren
Battle for Control of African Development Bank
DEADLOCK over the election of a new president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) at last month’s annual meeting threatens the bank’s bid to become a major channel for the fresh aid to Africa as proposed by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
EDITORIAL: Pressuring Banks to Do the Impossible
A VARIETY of surveys and studies – by the World Bank, UN Conference on Trade and Development and by eAfrica last year – have noted that lack of credit blocks business growth in Africa. But conventional wisdom said little could be done.
Putting Faith in Child Care
Governments, donors must recognise the role of religious groups in caring for vulnerable children.
Comment – Saga Down South: What Political Culture Are We Building?
In June, a court found that South Africa’s deputy president, Jacob Zuma, had engaged in a “generally corrupt relationship” with his financial advisor, a briefcase entrepreneur found guilty of corruption and fraud who had given millions of rands to Zuma and won a slice of a controversial arms deal without any technical capacity.
Comment – Zuma: Measuring the Impact
An explosive mix of corruption and politics has unleashed political rebellion against South Africa’s president as corruption and factional fighting grip the ruling ANC.
Côte d’Ivoire: Warning Signs of Another Rwanda
PEACE is within Côte d’Ivoire’s grasp, if only the government and rebels honour their pledges, Pierre Schori of the UN mission in Abidjan said last month, after another delay to the preparations for elections in October.