Jacob Zuma Photo: Getty

With south Africa’s membership of the Brics, the continent now has formal representation amongst the world’s leading emerging markets

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A Côte d’Ivoire drug enforcment gendarme watches as the contents of siezed bags of cannabis are incinerated Photo: AFP/Getty

Traffic control

West Africa has emerged as a major hub for trans-Atlantic drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, prompting warnings that the region could Mirror countries such as Mexico

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Photo: AFP/Getty

Regional Ambitions

Plans to create a “Grand Free Trade Area” covering half of Africa could mark an important step towards strengthening the continent’s international competitiveness, but some suggest it may be overambitious

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The price of stalemate
The breakdown of security caused by the ongoing conflict in Libya is raising concerns over the influence of Al Qaeda’s North African branch in the region’s leading oil producer
The illusion of strategy
The large scale of Indian corporate forays into Africa masks a relatively small and parochial diplomatic approach from New Delhi. However, the impact of the new wave of investors should not be dismissed
Development delayed
The Seoul summit of the G20 has ended without any appreciable resolution of the so-called “currency wars”, and its failure to create a meaningful development agenda undermines the evolution of the grouping as a successor to the G8
Dfid means business
The UK’s development agency, Dfid, is to reorient itself to be better able to promote private sector development in low-income countries, and will drastically reform its investment arm, CDC Group
US oil rules favour frontier investors
The regulatory response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster has not been as strict as many feared. However, international oil companies may be pushed towards frontier opportunities
Chasing shadows?
An apparent rise in Al-Qaeda-linked militancy in the Sahara presents complex challenges for policymakers
in Europe and the US. However, experts are divided over whether the terrorist franchise could pose a strategic threat across the continent
Good Neighbours
Negotiations over expanding Tunisia’s integration into the European Union are raising questions about the efficacy of Brussels’ soft power mechanisms in promoting political reform in the Southern Mediterranean
Andry Rajoelina: Exclusive Interview
“We are on the path to reform and this is the first time that the one in power will not run in the next presidential election. This has always been a problem in Madagascar and in Africa, because those in power always want to stay”
Building on a qualified success
Ten years after the Clinton administration adopted the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a groundbreaking piece of trade legislation, Agoa’s architects are petitioning to take it a stage further and increase US investment in Africa
Ajai Chowdhry: Exclusive Interview “India as a country didn’t do enough branding. You know how that branding happened? It was Indians working abroad that created the Indian brand. Engineers who went out, doctors who went out, software engineers who went out, administrators who went out, researchers, scientists, teachers. These are the people who actually created brand India”
The fight against corruption The UK’s new bribery laws should bring more clarity to corporate prosecutions, but the movement of large companies into the developing world presents huge challenges for the authorities
Kanayo Nwanze: Exclusive Interview “One factor that emerged from the 2007-2008 food crisis was the clear linkage in the developing world between food security and political stability. It brought down two governments, one in Haiti and one in Madagascar. What happens in some small developing country affects a big one in Europe. They realised that food security is no longer what we used to think it was”
Jørgen Ole Haslestad: Exclusive Interview “We see the huge potential that this area has. If we can participate in moving it in the direction that we would like to see it, then we can sell more products. We can’t do that if we’re just sitting, listening and selling our fertiliser. Here we have to be active. I’m not into this for the fun of it. We’re not an NGO”
Yvo de Boer: Exclusive Interview “If you know, as I know, that 85 percent of the investments in the energy sector, which is responsible for 80 percent of emissions, are going to have to come from the private sector, it really is critical that we bring more of that private sector perspective into building a climate change regime”
Gathering storms test US capacity With emerging security concerns in Somalia and Nigeria and events coming to a head in Sudan, the US faces major challenges in the year ahead
Middle ground or party lines? If the UK opposition can articulate its Africa and development policies in terms of security, immigration and commercial promotion and keep its own right wing at bay, then victory in May’s elections may not change the trajectory of Britain’s approach to the continent
Paul Kagame “A lot is changing. The voices of Africa are becoming more pronounced. There is insistence on Africa being taken seriously by Africans themselves, and Africans are trying to assert themselves and not only say the right things but also be seen to be doing the right things”
Rhetoric or reality Attention may be focused on Iran’s nuclear programme but Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government has worked hard to become an increasingly global power with a reach that extends into both Latin America and Africa
Harder edge to soft power China’s growing commitment to UN peacekeeping could hint at Beijing’s willingness to take on a greater role in African security
A change for the better? Spain’s second “Plan Africa” emphasises multilateralism, but its basic motivations show little departure from previous initiatives, analysts say
Fragile states back on global agenda Commitments from a number of nations look set to push state-building into the spotlight, and policymakers would do well to learn the lessons of the recent past.
Picking winners: the return of industrial policy Widespread government intervention to combat the financial crisis is leading to a reevaluation of how the state can promote economic development
Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco “We spent the last 25 years saying that, look, we are a private business, we do private business things. You are the government, stay out of the way. And then this crisis happened, and all of a sudden we come across the fact that governments, after all, have a role to play”

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Interviews

Olusegun Obasanjo

“The reason I am‘re-inventing’myself as an investor... is because I was on the other side when I was in government. During that time I tried to create a conducive environment for investment into Nigeria, knowing fully well that you cannot talk of development and growth without investment”