NEWS ANALYSIS

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  Ivory Coast heads to the polls Sunday for a referendum on a new constitution their president insists will heal a nation beset by violent turmoil, but which the opposition says is dangerously anti-democratic. Given that President Alassane Ouattara’s political foes have called for a …

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP |  Complex diverse political agendas are driving African nations to quit the International Criminal Court, with leaders seeking to cloak the move by reigniting age-old anger at the West, analysts say. Gambia’s announcement that it would be the third country to withdraw from the court …

Dakar, Senegal | AFP | The Gambia has become the latest African nation to announce its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, accusing the war crimes tribunal of “persecuting” Africans. The shock move announced late Tuesday was condemned by rights groups as a “drastic blow” for victims of serious crimes …

Five questions and answers on the ICC The Hague, Netherlands | AFP |  The Gambia has become the third country in just a matter of weeks to announce it plans to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The shock announcement will be a personal blow to the tribunal’s chief …

Washington, United States | AFP | It’s a hard scene to imagine, a Saudi Arabian king answering before a New York court for the 9/11 attacks, but a new US law threatens to become a Pandora’s Box of diplomatic crises. Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, overcoming …

New York, United States | AFP | Many unorthodox things have taken place in the 2016 race for the White House, but Russia is perhaps the most unlikely guest at the US political dinner table. From US accusations that Moscow hacked emails of Democratic Party leaders to hurt Hillary Clinton, …

National carrier revival question: World Bank calls for more focus on high cost of doing business instead At the beginning of his fifth term in office, President Yoweri Museveni set tongues wagging when he included the revival of the national career among his 20 priority programmes in this term of office. …

Baghdad, Iraq | AFP |  Iraq launched a broad offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group a week ago. Here is what we know so far about the country’s biggest military operation in years: What have Iraqi forces retaken? Federal forces operating out of the main staging base …

A decision by France to re-open a probe into the 1994 shooting down of then-president Juvénal Habyarimana could once again lead to a break in diplomatic relations between the two countries. Kigali and Paris had made great strides on the path to reconciliation and it’s not clear what could have …

 Oil refinery trouble: Museveni pushed into tight corner A shadowy international company registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), a major international tax haven is high up on the list of companies government is courting to invest in the $ 4 billion oil refinery, investigations by The Independent have found. …