Happy New Year and welcome to the first part of our annual look at the year ahead in African politics, security and economics. It will be a year of big drama – on the football pitch in the World Cup in Brazil, where Ghana and Nigeria will challenge Latin America’s supremacy, and on the silver screen, with two blockbuster films starring African actors tipped for Oscars. Good news on the medical front: clinical trials start this year in Europe and the USA of Mosquirix, a vaccine offering protection against malaria, still one of the main causes of death and debilitation in Africa. The more visible dramas in 2014 will be the political shocks, with elections in Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa: all of them could surprise the ruling presidents and parties. Two post-Arab Spring states – Libya and Tunisia – are due to vote on new constitutions and organise fresh elections, too. The political heat is also rising in Angola, Congo-Kinshasa, Nigeria and Sudan as leaders mull their next move amid national and regional pressure. Elsewhere, tensions have boiled over. At the end of January, leaders head to Addis Ababa for the African Union summit. Despite calls from Commission Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to focus on agricultural development, the meeting will be dominated by conflicts in Central African Republic and South Sudan. See the next edition of Africa Confidential for more country reports and analysis of macro and micro trends in African economies.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Jan 2014 09:40:52 +0000
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