NEWS ANALYSIS

Washington, United States | AFP | After months of being blocked by political rivals, Anthony Scaramucci had finally landed his coveted White House job. Just 10 days later, the fast-talking Wall Street financier was unceremoniously fired, his wife had filed for divorce and he’d missed the birth of their child. And …

Hoedspruit, South Africa | AFP |  It was a hard-fought victory for South Africa’s black community seeking to reclaim land, and for the Moletele ethnic group it has become a surprising model of wider racial cooperation. After a 10-year legal battle, the Moletele have taken back the land from which …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  The timing was perfect. Two months before Kenya’s August 8 vote, President Uhuru Kenyatta inaugurated the nation’s biggest infrastructure project: a railway connecting the capital Nairobi and the port of Mombasa. With pomp and ceremony Kenyatta touted the railway as proof of his campaign promises …

Zimbabwe: The opposition’s urban voter problem via @africaarguments  Harare, Zimbabwe | AFRICAN ARGUMENTS | As Zimbabwe heads for elections in 2018, all the economic warning signs are there for the ruling party. Under the ZANU-PF, the economy has gone into rapid decline and it’s possible that by the time the polls are held, the new currency …

Washington, United States | AFP |  US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday he will meet with his Russian opposite number Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the weekend, but warned US-Russia ties could still get worse. Some in Moscow and Washington had hoped relations between the former Cold War …

Washington, United States | AFP |  The White House admitted Tuesday that Donald Trump helped draft a misleading statement about his son’s meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer — deepening the president’s entanglement in the saga over his team’s ties to Russia. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Elections in Kenya are a fraught business, with polls beset with claims of rigging and intimidation, some subtle, some not, and this year’s vote on August 8 is no different. A decade after a disputed election led to the country’s worst electoral violence with over …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Kenya’s election campaign enters a tense final week Tuesday, with a tight race between incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta and his rival Raila Odinga leading to intensified personal attacks and rigging accusations. The longtime political foes face off at the polls for a second consecutive time on …

Washington, United States | AFP |  Ten days ago, Anthony Scaramucci — then newly named as White House communications director — dismissed reports of infighting in the West Wing, saying that things were “on track.” On Monday, he was out of a job. The following events trace the meteoric rise …

US$4bn project fails to get investor again KAMPALA, UGANDA |HAGGAI MATSIKO| President Yoweri Museveni’s oil refinery project has once again suffered a major blow with a major Chinese contractor quitting. As has happened in many major infrastructure deals, frustration over in-fighting, intrigue and lobbying had already taken root with cabinet officials, …