The brutal kleptocracy of Equatorial Guinea hopes to gain a measure of international acceptance by hosting the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) soccer spectacle that kicked off last weekend. The oil and gas wealth generated by this “Kuwait of Africa” provides the economic wherewithal for the ruling elite to buy favours while the bulk of the population wallows in repressive poverty.

The failure of Rwanda’s Faustian bargain— trading democracy for development and ending up with neither — should come as no surprise to students of history and human nature.

Simukai traces back some of the historical roots of the Ebola outbreak and other public health crises. Without understanding the political history of public health, he argues, we are not able to understand the current crises or successfully tackle health challenges in the future.

The captured rebel commander should be encouraged to be an insider witness and provide information about the atrocities committed by his group and the Ugandan military in the 20-year war in the north. His evidence may confirm the suspicion that President Museveni deliberately permitted the war to drag on in order to punish northerners and under-develop the opposition stronghold.

Dr Assoa Adou, a former minister of environment in the government of President Laurent Gbagbo, was recently arrested for his political activities. A strong figure of the FPI party, he fled into exile in Ghana after the electoral violence of 2010. In Ghana, he chaired the coordination of the FPI in exile but returned after three years.