Recently in Africa Category

The power and reach of radio is felt throughout Africa. But what improvements need to be made?

By Patrick Smith, Editor Africa Confidential

Indian companies are routing tens of billions of dollars through Mauritius each year in a giant tax avoidance scheme

India is changing its tax laws in a bid to introduce greater transparency into its financial transactions with Mauritius. The aim is to stem 'round-tripping' of funds by politicians, businessmen and criminal syndicates, and assuage concerns about the unregulated and 'hot' money which transits through the Mauritian economy and into India. The licit and illicit financial flows from Mauritius account for as much as 90%, or tens of billions of dollars, of foreign direct investment in India each year.

A journalist investigating a top politician dies in gaol and the ensuing scandal damages President Biya's claims to be Monsieur Propre - Mr Clean By Africa Confidential The death of journalist Germain Cyrille 'Bibi' Ngota Ngota in the notorious Kondengui maximum security prison has caused outrage in Cameroon and abroad and could prompt political change in President Paul Biya's ailing regime. Ngota's demise has again undermined Biya's claims that he is determined to address the systemic corruption in Cameroonian politics and business.

By Patrick Smith, Editor Africa Confidential

There is a worsening crackdown on journalists in many regions of the world, especially Africa, as governments and businesses struggle to deal with harsher economic conditions.

One of the latest victims in Africa is Ngota Ngota Germain, editor of the weekly Cameroon Express, who died in detention on 23 April in Yaoundé's Kodengui gaol. Along with two other journalists, Serge Sabouang and Robert Mintya, Ngota had been investigating allegations of corruption against Secretary General in the Presidency Laurent Esso and the state oil company.

The investigative programme 60 Minutes traveled to Dr Congo with Enough Project's co-founder John Prendergast to learn how conflict minerals are fueling the one of the deadliest wars in the world. 

The Obama administration pledged to regularly evaluate the progress of peace in Sudan--or lack thereof.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that "backsliding by any party will be met with credible pressure in the form of disincentives leveraged by our government and our international partners."
UN Ambassador Susan Rice underscored that "there will be significant consequences for parties that backslide or simply stand still. All parties will be held to account."

 Six leading human rights and Sudan advocacy groups are keeping the Administration on its toes and have produced a rigorous analysis of leading indicators across nine overarching categories of benchmarks. Its not good.

Vote-fixing in an election lacking any credibility has galvanised opposition in the North and may undermine the ruling party

A beaming President Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir waved his stick triumphantly as his victory was announced in Khartoum on 26 April. Yet the ruling National Congress Party faces a succession of challenges after what many African and Western officials call deeply flawed elections - though mainly in private. The divided and formerly supine Northern opposition now looks determined to continue the struggle triggered by the polls.

Being the first Eritrean reporter ever arrested for doing his job is an odd claim to fame: "I was arrested right after I interviewed the U.S. ambassador to Eritrea," said Milkias M. Yohannes now exiled to the US. 

"I was accused of being a CIA spy. From my colleagues who were there with me, one is in jail. We don't know if the other is still alive."

Yohannes spoke at "Truth Teller," a new series of talks featuring reporters in exile taking the stand on the dangers they faced in their home countries run by Reporters Without Borders.

Eritrea, independent since 1993, is now the continent's biggest prison for the press. It ranked last in the latest annual World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders.

A lawyer by trade, Yohannes is the founder of Kestedebena, one of the Eritrea's largest independent newspapers until it was shut down during the 2001 government crackdown.