NEWSFLASH 5 Newsflash 6 Agenda 7 Psst 9 Watchdog

FEATURES 10 Lagos Letter: No fire w ith ou t smokescreens

11 Z im babwe: Debunking the myth of the unproductive peasant fa rm e r 20 Ghana: Prospects fo r tourism developm en t

COUNTRY BRIEFINGS 23 Liberia: When a dollar is not a dollar; 24 Liberia investors dodge privatisation carrot 25 Cote d ’ Ivoire: The economy's breath of fresh air

26 Nigeria: Radical farm policy shift looms 28 Z im babwe: 5-Year Plan tempers ambition with pragmatism

32 Uganda: Moves on milk production 33 Sierra Leone: Commerce and church attack IMF terms

34 Somalia: Problematic qat ban 34 Mozambique: Technocrats to the fore 39 Tanzania: Why people resort to the black market

READERSHIP SURVEY

35 AB polls its readers

RAILWAY SURVEY 40 Tanzania's devaluation plans 41 Overview: Second age of the train 43 Tazara: Donors help brighten outlook 45 Francophone countries: On course, despite costs

53 Nigeria: Starved of funds 53 Kenya: Meeting the long-term challenges 54 Sudan: Famine highlighted crippled system

SECTOR BY SECTOR 55 Agriculture: Kenya sells maize amid downpour 57 Banking & Finance: Who controls Ghana’s money? 58 Energy: Kenya's Turkwel controversy; Cheap oil drilling in Nigeria

60 In fras tru c tu re : Port study spotlights bottlenecks

61 Labour: Uganda tea looks good again 62 M anufacturing & Technology: UN's drought space-technology

62 M a rke t Network: Can Zimbabwe parastatals profit? 63 Mining: UN will fight Namibia uranium case; Togo phosphorus plant 64 Transport & Communications: Airline for Togo? Leyland’s new market-capturer

___________ ZAMBIA SURVEY___________

65 Cover

69 Overview: Auctioning gives econom y a bashing 70 Finance: Despite recession, banks turn profits

71 Changing the guard: Cabinet reshuffles

73 Energy: What chance of striking oil? 75 Agriculture: Export opportunities open up

_____________ BOOKS______________ 76 Bureaucracy and famine; The press in Zambia

I The myth that Zimbabwe’s commercial farmers are more efficient than peasant farmers has been smashed by new statistics. With them come new government initiatives on land redistribution.

The Liberian economy is spluttering to a halt, gripped by a massive liquidity crisis and the failure to find new funds from abroad or business confidence. A measure o f the government’s desperation is its creation o f a virtual second currency to attempt to ease some of the pressure.

O Q Essential goods, even high-tech gadgets,

are now easier to get in Tanzania, but only at prestige prices. We look at how some white-collar workers spend their money and what forces them into the parallel economy.