Experts call it the ”oil curse”. In Africa’s oil-exporting countries, only a tiny fraction of revenues is used to fight poverty, and in many cases black gold has actually become a hurdle to development. Oil in Africa — from the Gulf of Guinea to north-western Sudan — lies at the heart of questions of good governance and development.
Côte d’Ivoire’s President Laurent Gbagbo is to start on Monday two weeks of talks with different groups in the country with a view to implementing a peace deal brokered by South Africa. But he faces problems given the reluctance of rebel groups to lay down their arms, as well as reservations among his own supporters over the accord.