Zambia will be holding its national presidential and parliamentary elections on 11 August 2016 in an environment of heightened political tensions. The incumbent, Edgar Lungu, has only held office since January 2015 following a snap election called after the death of President Michael Sata. Lungu, who also replaced Sata as leader of the Patriotic Front …
Protest demonstrations took place across Zimbabwe during a nationwide public-sector strike on 6 July 2016. The strike, dubbed Zimbabwe Shutdown on social media, was called for by leaders of the This Flag movement. Throughout the day civil servants, teachers and hospital staff at government facilities stayed away from work to protest the increasing economic mismanagement …
Political talks between the Frelimo-led government and Renamo at the “Joint Commission” have continued throughout the month of June and it has been announced that an agreement has been reached which will enable President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama to meet face to face. This agreement was reached after Nyusi agreed to the …
Moise Katumbi, the former governor of Katanga Province and declared opposition presidential candidate for the November 2016 elections, has been taken in for questioning by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) security forces on the basis of allegations that he has hired mercenaries. The move has been denounced by opposition political figures and human rights organisations, …
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that it has frozen the second planned instalment of a US$286 million loan to Mozambique following revelations that the government did not disclose the full extent and nature of the country’s national debt ‒ allegedly to the tune of over US$1 billion. The IMF has also cancelled a …
South Africa’s municipal elections scheduled for 3 August 2016 will take place in a highly charged political environment following recent developments. On 31 March 2016, South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruled that President Jacob Zuma had failed in his constitutional duties in refusing to implement the remedial actions ordered by the country’s most senior ombudsman, the …
Steadily ratcheting political tensions in Mozambique rose another notch on 28 March 2016 after a police raid on the headquarters of the main opposition party, Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo), and houses belonging to Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, in the capital, Maputo. Police seized over 40 firearms, including assault rifles, which they claim had been used …
The Republic of Chad will hold presidential elections on 10 April 2016 as incumbent President, Idriss Déby Itno, seeks a fifth term in office. Déby has ruled the landlocked country since seizing power in December 1989 and is widely expected to win by a significant margin again as per the 85% he recorded in the …
At least 16 people, including foreign nationals, were killed and a further 22 injured in an attack on a beach resort in Grand Bassam, about 40km east of Côte d’Ivoire’s capital, Abidjan, on 13 March 2016. At least six gunmen, who targeted three hotels in the resort, were killed in a subsequent shootout with security …
The Republic of Congo (ROC), also referred to as Congo-Brazzaville, will hold presidential elections on 20 March 2016. The incumbent president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, has ruled the central African state for 31 of the past 36 years since coming to power in 1979. He was voted out of office in the first multi-party elections in …