Charles Taylor in 1990 (Getty)
Update: Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, was found guilty of aiding and abetting 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone, the first head of state to be convicted by an international tribunal since the Nuremberg trials at the end of the second world war.
Joseph Kony in November 2006. AP Photo/Stuart Price
By Matthew Green
The first thing I wondered was ‘who irons his shirts?’
When Joseph Kony stepped out of the jungle and into a clearing in eastern Congo, he looked almost debonair in his smartly-pressed white suit. A small army of pint-sized soldiers trailed behind him, hair tousled into dreadlocks, feet flopping in Wellington boots. One or two even cracked a grin, but Kony’s face was stone. An overlord in his forest kingdom, the rebel leader seemed unnerved by the sight of strangers.
That was in 2006. I became one of the few journalists to meet the founder of the Lord’s Resistance Army during one of his sallies from the bush to engage in an ultimately futile dance of peace talks with elders from his native northern Uganda.
Having spent six months tracking him for a book I was writing, I felt a curious pang of nostalgia when I once again saw his face leering out of StopKony2012, the viral video.
It might have gone largely unnoticed. But there was a sting in the opening remarks made by Jia Qinglin to African heads of state at their annual summit.
The sting was aimed in Europe’s direction. Mr Jia, the fourth-ranking member of China’s ruling communist party, made much of Africa’s rich history and culture and of China’s long and brotherly relationship with the continent in his speech at the brand new $200m-headquarters Beijing had gifted to the African Union. Africa was the cradle of mankind, he reminded the audience.
Tensions rise between Iran and the west and Nigeria tries to end a costly fuel subsidy
James Blitz, diplomatic editor, Javier Blas, commodities editor, and Roula Khalaf, Middle East editor, join Shawn Donnan to discuss the growing tensions between Iran and the west as the EU prepares an oil embargo.
Also, William Wallis, Africa editor, and Xan Rice, west Africa correspondent, join the podcast to examine the Nigerian government’s climbdown from an attempt to end a costly fuel subsidy
Nigerian unions may have agreed to suspend strike action and call off protests after the government partially caved into demands for the restoration of the longstanding fuel subsidy. But President Goodluck Jonathan is not out of the woods yet.
The eurozone after Cameron’s veto, and the Durban climate talks
Shawn Donnan, Ben Hall and Peter Spiegel discuss the eurozone crisis following Cameron’s treaty veto, while Clive Cookson talks to Pilita Clark about the outcome of the Durban climate change talks.
World Weekly climate change special: the Durban summit
In a World Weekly special on climate change, guest host Clive Cookson, science editor, is joined by Pilita Clark, environment correspondent, and Chris Giles, economics editor, to discuss how the conflict between the industrialised and emerging economies is shaping the discussions at the climate change summit in South Africa.
Also on the show, Richard McGregor, Washington bureau chief, and Leslie Hook, Beijing correspondent, examine how trade in renewable energy technologies is raising new disputes between the two key countries at the talks.
by William Wallis, Africa editor
David Cameron’s relatively liberal stand on gay rights is causing a predictable backlash in Africa. The reacton is not just fuelled by a clash of sexual mores – although Mr Cameron threatening to make British aid conditional on the relaxation of laws against homosexuality, as he did at the recent Commonwealth summit, was guaranteed to raise hackles on a continent where homosexuality is mostly taboo.
Africa’s largest country has been divided into two and the world has its 193rd new nation. With luck, the partition of Sudan and the creation of the new country of South Sudan will mark the final close of a decades-long civil war that has, directly and indirectly, claimed millions of lives. Even the new nation of south Sudan is a vast country – bigger than Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda combined.
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