Isaac Ugbabe

Monumental misnomers: Nigeria's democratic renaissance

The United States has given its stamp of approval to the recent transfer of power in Nigeria, reports the BBC. Of the National Assembly’s decision to officially designate Vice President Goodluck Jonathan ‘Acting President’, the US...

Never say die: Defeating democracy in Nigeria

The Nigerian Commander in Chief, President Umaru Yar’Adua, has gone AWOL. He’s been laid out in a Saudi Arabian hospital for nearly a month, reports the BBC, recovering, they say, from heart-related troubles. This most...

Realpolitik and Referendums: The EU's role in deciding Omar al-Bashir's fate

Last week, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir controversially decided against attending a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Istanbul, Turkey. Sudan’s state-run news agency, Suna, reported that “new developments” in the...

Eternal bliss in Ethiopia: Meles Zenawi's inexcusable ignorance

Echoing the Ethiopian government’s recent call for food aid, British diplomat, Paddy Ashdown, has requested the international community’s urgent assistance in preventing a looming humanitarian crisis. Reuters reports that 160,000 tons of food are required...

Bing Tuan and bauxite: China's not-so-pragmatic, if predictable, partnership with Guinea

According to reports by Reuters and the BBC, China is in talks with Guinea over a $7bn oil and mining deal that, once completed, will serve as a critical pipeline to China’s resource-starved economy. Predicted to overtake...

Nigerian independence: Celebrating myths of our own making

Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua gave an uplifting speech on October 1st, marking the West African nation’s 49th year of independence from the British, reports Reuters news agency. He reiterated his economic development plans for the Niger...

Climate change and the Promised Land: Israel's troubling forecast

The human rights advocate, Amnesty International, earlier this month reacted angrily to the killing of four migrants on the Egyptian-Israeli border. It criticized the Egyptian government for its failure to contain the spate of killings unleashed by its border...

Paying tribute to the powerful: Gordon Brown's gift to Libya

After the devolved Scottish judiciary recently chose to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the alleged Lockerbie bomber, questions were immediately asked of Britain’s involvement in the decision, reports the Economist. Choosing to free a man who’d initially...

Don't leave, Dadis: A little West African nation clings to legitimacy

Last week came the first suggestion that Guinea’s interim president, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, might extend his stay at the top. A group of supporters going by the name “Dadis Must Stay” has called for Captain...

Writing a wrong: What the referendum in Sudan will not accomplish

South Sudan, the semi-autonomous region of Sudan, Africa’s largest country, has accused the central government, based in the North, of threatening to sabotage a peace accord signed by the two sides in 2005 , reports the BBC. Secretary...

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