The African situation

Anyone viewing the footage of the ITV reporter trying to ask Mugabe questions as they walk through the lobby of the conference centre at the AU Summit in Egypt will be left with the opinion that the dictator is losing it. His security guards start to rough the reporter up at one point. Then the agitated 84 year old turns back to lambast him as a "bloody idiot". It was like Bob Tizard all over again.

NZ Herald has a great precis from Tracey Barnett of one of Africa's forgotten tyrants:

Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the resident dictator of Equatorial Guinea
[...]
Nguema taught his nephew well. When the tyrant-in-waiting caught his uncle trying to flee into the jungle with a suitcase of foreign cash, Obiang put his elder on trial in a cage suspended above 1500 spectators in a rundown cinema, then sentenced him to death 101 times. Obviously, 100 times didn't do the job.

Obiang grabbed his uncle's extensive collection of skulls to make sure he inherited his rellie's magical powers for torture. And inherit those powers he did.
[...]
an exiled politician, told Spanish radio that Obiang once proudly "devoured" a police commissioner, literally. This official was buried without his brain or his testicles. Livers seem to go missing too.

And that's all a bit Idi Amin again. And yes, completely beneath the radar - a patch of jungle in a corner of Africa that pumps out oil and bugger all gets back to the people. One wonders if the coup plot involving Thatcher's son, Mark, might have had some humanitarian upside had it been successful.

Africa has more than its share of malgovernance, today's headlines for example include

Somalia: Migrants Flee to Yemen

Human Rights Abuse Continues in Côte d'Ivoire

Ugandan Army Blamed for Attacks in South Sudan

Nigeria: Oil Thieves Take Over Niger Delta - VP
...and then there's Bob Mugabe.

The AU's soft pedaling over Mugabe is disgraceful. But with a cast of characters composed largely of coup leaders and military dictators what would you expect.