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Omar Bongo is dead
Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon and Africa’s longest serving ruler has died. Mr. Bongo had intestinal cancer and had gone to Barcelona, Spain for treatment. He took over power in 1967. The African...
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what ali ben bongo owes gabon
His father ruled Gabon, an oil and timber rich nation of 1.4 million, for 42 years. The elder Bongo passed away this year and was succeeded by his son Ali Ben after a disputed election. Nobody really...
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Zambia’s Chipolopolo win the Africa Cup of Nations
Congratulations to the Chipolopolo and their fans all over the world! Source: Jakarta Post Filed under: africa Tagged: Abidjan, Africa Cup of Nations, caf, CAN, Chipolopolo, equatorial guinea, Gabon,...
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Reason for African Petro-Rulers to be Worried
Africa’s petrorulers (heads of state of Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Sudan) may be headed for tough times later this year....
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Africa’s newfound love with creditors: Bond bubble in the making?
I know it is increasingly becoming not kosher to put a damper on the Africa Rising narrative (these guys missed the memo, H/T Vanessa) but here is a much needed caution from Joe Stiglitz and Hamid...
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Why are Kenyan politicians politicizing the military?
Botswana, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the only continental sub-Saharan African states to have never experienced military rule. Each country...
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Quick thoughts on presidential term limits and the political crisis in Burundi
The president of Burundi is about (or not) to join the list of African leaders who have successfully overcome constitutional term limits in a bid to hang on to power. Currently (based on observed...
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Africa’s looming debt crises
The 1980s are calling. According to Bloomberg: Zambia’s kwacha fell the most on record after Moody’s Investors Service cut the credit rating of Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, a move the...
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Some Africanist inside baseball
Filed under: africa Tagged: africa is a country, africa is not a country, Algeria, angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, burundi, Cameroon, cape verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Cote...
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Was the Election in Gabon rigged?
Here is a potential answer to this question: Thanks to the last minute Haut Ogooué results, Mr. Bongo was able to win by a margin of 5,594 votes, securing 49.8% of the vote to Mr. Jean Ping’s 48.2%....
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How to avoid the resource curse, or how Norway spends its $882 billion global...
This is from the Economist: This week the “Pension Fund Global” was worth Nkr7.3 trillion ($882 billion), more than double national GDP. No sovereign-wealth fund is bigger (see chart). It owns over 2%...
View ArticleThe Politics of the CFA Franc Zone
This is from the Economist: Where some see an anchor, others see a millstone. To maintain the euro peg, notes Ndongo Samba Sylla, a Senegalese economist, these very poor countries must track the...
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On the deep flaws of the pre-Trump “liberal international order”
Paul Staniland has a great piece over at Lawfare on the need to see post-war Pax Americana for what it has been: Pushing back against Trump’s foreign policy is an important goal. But moving forward...
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