Davenport has courted controversy over the years. He purchased his 33 Portland Place mansion from the Sierra Leone government for cut market rate in 1999, when the country was in the midst of a bloody civil war.

In 1996, Davenport was introduced to Professor Cyril Foray, the former Foreign Minister and High Commissioner of Sierra Leone to the UK.

The BBC reported that the residence – built in 1775 by Robert Adam and valued at £5 million – was in disrepair, and Davenport agreed to lease the building, fund its refurbishment and then return it to the country once the improvement work was done.

Following negotiations with the government, Davenport signed a contract with Foray and flouting a legal loophole after a payment of just £50,000,  was able to claim 33 Portland Place as his private residence.

Upon hearing (through speculative press reports) that Davenport intended tooccupy the residence permanently, the government of Sierra Leone started legal action. Following a reported out of court settlement, Davenport was allowed to keep the building, and acquired the freehold in 2005.

The five-story, 110-room house has subsequently been rented out by Davenport for parties, weddings and film shoots; most recently the Oscar-winning The King’s Speech starring Colin Firth.

This recent fraud case focused on his sham firm Gresham Ltd, founded in 2005, which was set up with a false predicate of 50 years’ experience in sourcing business loans and undertaking ‘due diligence’ checks.

Simon Mayo QC Prosecution, said ‘That image, deliberately cultivated by these defendants, was entirely false.’

‘It was essentially worthless. Its only business was fraud.’

Davenport and his accomplice Peter Riley, 64, of Brentwood, Essex, would charge companies advance fees to find loans for as much as £27.4m – but the monies never materialised.

‘To outward appearances it was long-established, wealthy and prestigious,’ Mayo QC, told Southwark Crown Court.

‘It operated from expensive London premises and had a balance sheet showing significant assets. It had a flattering corporate brochure and used headed notepaper that lent an image of corporate credibility.’

There are 51 known victims of the scam. An Indian businessman paid the fraudulent company £285,000 to arrange a £156.9m loan.

The group was estimated to have gained in excess of 4 million pounds between 2006 and 2009, prosecutors said.

Davenport will now swap 33 Portland Place for a jail cell, having been sentenced along with Riley to seven years and eight months for conspiracy to defraud.

Perhaps it is the right time for the Government of Sierra Leone to pursue Davenport for the return of 33 Portland place, which he fraudulently acquired, a prominent UK Barrister has suggested.

The joint Africa-EU strategic partnership moved towards a shared agenda during their 5th annual College-to-College session in Brussels where they discussed the two issues which are of present concern, especially with the current unrest in the north and the continent’s widespread poverty.

The two-day long meeting that focussed on issues such as peace, security, democratic governance, food security and humanitarian issues was criticised for being dominated by the NATO –led campaign to bring down the government of Col. Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Yet, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso claimed that they had an ‘open, frank and intense meeting.’

He stated: ‘The encouraging historical changes on the African continent present tremendous opportunities to enhance the relations between our continents. Our two Commissions will continue to serve as the engines of the ambitious Joint EU-Africa Partnership.’

The Strategic Partnership will go beyond the traditional donor-recipient focus, where the two organisations operate as ‘equal counterparts.’ As the biggest trading partner to the African continent, the EU has committed itself to a €24.4 billion aid donation through its various financial instruments for the period of ’07-’13 in support of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and its thematic partnerships.

Barroso added: ‘Together we can achieve real progress for the people of Europe and Africa, by tackling global issues, by creating more opportunities for trade, investment and inclusive development, and by addressing the people’s aspirations for democratic reforms and social justice.’

The elements of the joint Africa-EU strategy’s future political agenda includes the promotion of employment and ‘decent work for all means of achieving an inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development’ to meet the needs of Africa’s growing young population.

The partnership also announced in a joint declaration that they will continue to address and promote cooperation in the areas of trade, investment and infrastructure development on the African continent. It was also stated that bilateral fisheries agreements between the EU and African countries would improve under the partnership in order to ‘to ensure the sustainable and mutually beneficial exploitation of fish stocks, while effectively supporting the development of the fisheries sector in African coastal states.’

Furthermore, the strategy promised to make sure that development in Africa is to be one of the priorities of the G20 agenda.

During the meeting it was also announced by Barroso that South Sudan’s aid donations would increase, resulting in a total of €300 million in aid to the newly independent country.

Analysts are praising the joint Africa-EU partnership, claiming that it is essential to progression in Africa. As 36% of Africa’s annual imports originate in Europe, the continent has been recognised as an important provider of means to strengthen Africa’s civil society organisations, along with health and education.

The partnership has already established many successful projects. In Rwanda for instance, the making of the radio soap opera ‘Unurana’ is one of them. The soap raises awareness on sexual and reproductive health issues, including HIV/AIDS. The radio soap, which is supported by the European Commission, is followed by 74% of the Rwandan population every week.

Another successful scheme supported by the Commission is the PAMENU Project in Northern Uganda which assists with the use of solar panels, improved stoves and micro-hydro power for local electricity grids to bring energy to over 1 million people.

The Africa-EU partnership was established at the historic Lisbon Summit in December ’07 when it was adopted by 80 heads of Governments from Africa and Europe. The partnership was based on a vision of common principles and defines eight specific partnerships: peace and security, democratic governance and human rights, trade, regional integration and infrastructure, the millennium development goals (MDGs), energy, climate change, migration, mobility and employment. The Africa-EU partnership declared that it would continue to promote cooperation between the two continents and address global challenges and opportunities.

The panel consisted of, Nicholas Negroponte (Founder and Chairman of One Laptop per Child), Erik Hersman (Co-founder of Ushahidi, AfriGadget, and iHub), and Herman Chinery-Hesse (Chairman of the SOFTtribe). Sir Bob Geldof was due to chair the event but after being held up with filming commitments in Australia was replaced by BBC’s technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones.

The evening served as an insight into how digital technology is transforming the very landscape of Africa and providing efficient solutions to decade-long problems that have plagued the continent. Nicholas Negroponte began the discussion by providing an overview of his non-profit organisation, One Laptop per Child. Negroponte’s venture strives to do exactly what it says on the tin, to provide each child living in a developing country access to their own laptop. By making available to children new, affordable technology, young generations in underprivileged countries are being given a gateway into a new and interactive form of education that is proving to ignite their passion for learning.

Putting the power of technology in children’s hands has a significant ripple effect across the developing world. It has been witnessed that half of the children that are benefiting from the One Laptop per Child scheme are going on to teach their parents how to read and write. Providing children access to new technology in places like Africa will allow for endless possibilities in developing poorer communities and highlights the fact that through technology, children can really be the agents of change for the future.

Negroponte’s vision of technology being utilised to allow African’s control of their own future is something that was echoed by Herman Chinery-Hesse. Often described as the Bill Gates of Africa, Chinery-Hesse detailed how his businesses are helping to break down the artificial boundaries that exist in Africa through the use of digital technology. Erik Hersman also noted that in Kenya alone, nine million people (22% of the population) are internet users, of which 99% are mobile internet users. Further to this, mobile internet usage is predicted to experience a growth of an astonishing 843%. The potential of this digital market cannot be missed and Chinery-Hesse believes that in order for long-term development to succeed, Africa must ‘take control and nurture its own digital future’.

Responding to a final question by Rory Cellan-Jones, the panel envisioned how they see the technological landscape of Africa in five years’ time. Negroponte mentioned that his laptops will undoubtedly be upgraded to tablets to keep in tune with the current changes in modern technology. Hersman foresees the flow of information being consistently fed from the bottom, upwards; a technological revolution if you will, empowering African citizens. And lastly, Herman showed a confidence that in five years’ time the presence of indigenous businesses will be increased, which will eventually lead to a more consistent spread of wealth across Africans in the continent.

It’s understandable that these three men have such high hopes for Africa’s medium-term development through technology. For too long Africa has been kept out of the loop when it comes to the evolution of digital technology, but it is now their time to catch up. We are already beginning to see the transforming effect of technology in Africa; one can only imagine what we will be seeing in the next decade.

Amnesty believes those arrested by the country’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS)have been given no reason from the authorities as to why they are being detained and are being held without access to their families or a lawyer. The group has called for their immediate release. Erwin Van der Bourght, Africa’s programme director at Amnesty said ‘the Sudanese government must immediately release all those detained during this blatant attempt to stifle free speech.’

Al-Midan, the newspaper of the Communist party, was also prevented from distributing its Tuesday issue which contained reports regarding the protests in Khartoum, no doubt inspired by what had been happening in Tunisia and neighbouring Egypt.

Other papers are also feeling the pressure of the crackdown. Ajras Al-Hurriya the pro-SPLM, newspaper also had its distribution suspended on Monday by the NISS for reporting on Sunday’s protest in Khartoum. The paper’s Editor-in-chief Mister Abdalla Al-Sheik shed light on the arbitrary nature of the authority’s crackdown. He said ‘there have been no any indication of what were the reasons, but for sure the way how they see Ajras Al-Hurriya they thought we would cover the demonstrations which took place in Khartoum in a way that would not please them.’ Independent newspaper Al Sahafa was also stopped from distributing its Monday edition for the same reason.

The attacks are part of a wider crackdown on opposition press by a government which is now extremely fearful of the protest movement that has taken hold in North Africa over the past few weeks. But it is not the first time the administration has deemed it necessary to exert pressure on the press. In June last year Arjas Al-Hurriya announced it would not print for a week in protest at the increased censorship forced upon it by the government, after security forces had managed to censor the entire front page of the newspaper.

The crackdown on the press reporting on the protest comes immediately after a crackdown on the protest itself. Protesters having seen what has happened in Egypt and Tunisia are now calling for regime change in Sudan. Although not on the same size or scale as those in Egypt, reports suggest about 2,000 took to the streets of Khartoum on Sunday. The regime has felt the need for a drastic crackdown on this type of direct action, presumably to deter others from doing likewise. Sunday’s protest saw 70 people arrested by riot police with one man, Mohammed Abdelrahman, subsequently dying through injuries incurred.

It seemed promising for Kenya’s future when the two parties to the disputed 2007 election, incumbent president Mwai Kibaki and his challenger Raila Odinga, agreed to form a coalition government, in which Kibaki would remain president and Odinga become prime minister. The agreement, which ended large-scale political violence in the country, was the result of a mediation process led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. However, as opposed to many other peace and mediation processes on the continent and elsewhere, the solution agreed to in Kenya also entailed the creation of a number of processes and institutions aimed at addressing the legacy of state-sponsored violence. These include a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, commitment to a far-reaching constitutional reform process and official support for the need to pursue criminal accountability for the planners and perpetrators of the electoral violence. A new constitution, which significantly improves the system of governance and in other ways changes some of the structures that have allowed violence and repression to surround most significant political activity in the country since independence, was passed in August 2010. Yet, most of the promises made by the two leaders have proven empty.

The so-called Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence, which was also set up in connection with the Annan-led mediation process and headed by Kenyan Justice Waki, recommended that local tribunals be established to handle the electoral violence. The Commission threatened to hand over a list of the key suspects in the post-election violence to ICC prosecutor Ocampo, if Kenya did not implement the recommendation. As no action was taken in Kenya – illustrated by the fact that parliament on several occasions voted down proposed bills to establish the local tribunals – the commission chose to provide Annan with the list. When it became increasingly clear that Kenya’s elite were opposed to dealing with issues of accountability, Annan finally handed over the list to Ocampo. On December 15, 2010 the ICC prosecutor finalized his investigations and requested the court to summon six individuals who he believes bear the greatest responsibility for the electoral violence. As most had suspected, the prosecutor refrained from including Kibaki and Odinga among the suspects. However, among the so-called ‘Ocampo Six’ are some of the most influential politicians and civil servants in the country, including the former police chief, the head of the civil service who also functions as secretary to the cabinet, and three prominent politicians, two of whom have already made clear that they intend to run for president in 2012.

In an earlier column I expressed the fear that the BBC’s services to Africa could be under threat and the hope that common sense would prevail. It has not. While much of the valued and valuable output remains, the BBC has decided to abolish completely the Portuguese for Africa Service (radio and online), to cut completely short-wave broadcasts to the Great Lakes and to the areas covered by the Swahili service and to look at closer cooperation between the iconic Network Africa and the global World Today programme – usually shorthand among BBC managers for cost-cutting and watering down of content designed for specific audiences.

The Portuguese for Africa Service has existed for 71 years and reaches an audience of around 1.5 million listeners. They are chiefly in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and Sao Tome e Principe. To whom do these listeners now turn for balanced news, for a view of the world not coloured by the elites that own or determine the output of the media in their countries. Angola is still struggling to overcome the legacy of over 40 years of liberation and civil wars. The media is developing but the government is no great lover of free media or of what most would see as democracy. It is currently supporting Gbagbo’s attempts to defy the accepted election results and cling to power. It is reported that the Dos Santos government is supplying arms to help Gbagbo resist any attempt to remove him. Will the Angolan media be willing or able to report this?

Although FM broadcasts and an online presence will be retained for the Great Lakes and Swahili services, short-wave broadcasts are to be cut. This is not good. And this is not an old hack with nostalgia for a dying or obsolete form of radio broadcasting talking here. Fm is great. Signals are clearer, quality is better but it has limited range. It also has to be re-broadcast – there have to be transmitters and rebroadcasting stations near at hand to reach specific audiences as FM does not travel well. If you reduce the broadcasts to Rwanda and Burundi in Kinyarwanda and Kirundi to short-wave, what of the masses of listeners in rural areas with poor or even no FM signals? FM and online alone are not enough for Africa where you need to cover large areas, where few (other than the elite) have regular or any online access, where literacy remains an issue.

It is just 17 years this April since the genocide. Who can forget the role played by hate radio – Radio-Television Libre des Milles Collines – in inciting and assisting genocide? Rwanda has developed since then. Hate radio has gone. But the media are not totally free in Rwanda. Freedom of speech and freedom to oppose Kagame is limited. His propensity to silence or crush opposition appears to be growing. Rwandans need a clear, undistorted window on their society and the world. The BBC is smashing that window.

When it comes to the end of Swahili broadcasts in short-wave, we must also take into account hatred and incitement. Not on the scale or with the level of organisation and premeditation as in Rwanda. But during the ’05 constitutional referendum, the ‘07 elections and ‘07-‘08 post-election violence and during last year’s referendum campaign, the broadcast media in Kenya was not impartial. There was incitement to hatred of and violence against other communities. Not, as I must say again, on the Rwandan scale. But it happened each time there was to be a national vote and political tensions rose.

As a journalist I always want to believe the best of my colleagues in journalism. But Kenyan vernacular radio stations broadcast incitement. The International Criminal Court has indicted one leading Kenya radio broadcaster – Joshua arap Sang – for his suspected role in organising and inciting violence in ‘07-‘08 – and the indictment specifically mentions his radio broadcasts. Whether or not he is guilty – and it is not for me to judge him – the role of the media in Kenya is not always a positive one at times of conflict.

The BBC Swahili Service has always been there for people to turn to as a voice of detachment; a source of information so people can make decisions on the basis of the best and most reliable information. No media service is perfect. But the BBC World Service and its language services have always fought to be independent, balanced and fair.

Take away a source of balanced and fair information and you endanger the future of civil society and democracy.

The writer, Keith Somerville is a lecturer at Brunel University UK, and was with the BBC from 1980-2008.

Although a new beginning may bring with it hope of a solution to warfare and strife, and indeed greater security to the long-troubled region, there are a number of unsettled questions and realities which must take shape before the future of the region will be more certain.

Violence is a word which, to many, is synonymous with the idea of the Sudan. Ongoing strife in Darfur has seen hundreds of thousands displaced, and up to 300,000 dying from a combination of disease and violence. Militant groups apparently loyal to the government, such as the notorious Janjaweed, have played a fearsome and troubling part in this violence. The present referendum has already been marred by a number of violent attacks, which will have many hoping for a resolution, and perhaps the ensuing peace-making, to happen quickly.

President Zuma was joined by a delegation of seven Ministers and Deputy Ministers, and his visit paved the way for a further ten businessmen and women to visit the country on a fact finding mission into possible business relationships.

The meeting, which is hosted on a rotational basis, followed preliminary discussions between the two country’s Trade and Industry Ministers, and provided an opportunity for the Southern African neighbours to discuss areas of mutual concern, such as trade and industry, environmental sustainability and the promotion of tourism.

The over-arching aim of the discussions was to examine the state of the bilateral relationship between the two nations, and to direct energy towards consolidating the expansion of business relationships and improving stability. To that end, the two leaders agreed on a package of enhanced cooperation initiatives targeting a wide range of sectors, and agreed to take these discussions to a higher level, of which the fact-finding mission is part.

It was also agreed that it was strategically prudent to elevate the annual talks to the status of a full Binational Commission to be held at Head of State level every year, which would cover a full range of issues of mutual concern.

Of special focus at this year’s meeting was the need to complete the Trans-Kalahari Rail Project, and its importance in developing infrastructure through facilitating intra-regional trade. Likewise, the development of the Trans-Kunene Corridor within a trilateral framework including Angola was deemed of high import, as it will help encourage the flow of goods between the country and other members of the South African Development Community.

In his closing speech, President Zuma was optimistic that increased cooperation would lead to both social and economic benefits for the poor of each country, claiming’; ‘we depart with a clear conscience that the future is bright not only for us but for future generations. I say this motivated by the commitment and dedication that both our delegations have displayed in response to the clarion call to fight poverty and underdevelopment.’

He also expressed his desire that their future cooperation become more fluid, and that areas of shared concern be easier to address quickly and effectively.

The visit shows a continuing desire on the part of both nations to develop strong bilateral ties that will help bring revenue into their treasuries. But currently over 80% of Namibian goods come from South Africa and 80% of goods produced in Namibia are exported through South Africa, so the relationship between the two countries is at present heavily weighted in favour of the richer nation.

This month’s fact finding delegation, which returned on the 13th, were engaged in one on-one-talks with identified business, and attended industry events put on to attract investment in the country. It carried out a small-scale survey of business conditions in order to understand the legal and geographic idiosyncrasies of doing business in Namibia. The hope is that these delegates will disseminate what they have learnt amongst Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME’s) back in South Africa.

Kagame became president following the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) – his Tutsi-dominated rebel group turned political party – overpowered Hutu extremists after the 1994 genocide. He noted that the country’s history was marked by characteristics of the weak post-colonial state. In addition, he highlighted the false promise of exclusion, which became institutionalised and ultimately championed division and sectarianism as a definitive emblem in the state’s loss of legitimacy at the time.

Since becoming the country’s vice president in ’94 and head of state in 2000, Kagame has been praised for rebuilding the countries institutions and for overseeing economic growth and leading the country into stability following the events of the genocide.

Unlike other political peers Kagame has been credited for not seeking to fill the lines of his pockets. ‘Aid should not be an end in itself’ he said. ‘It is not a substitute for business, innovation and hard work’. While the country has one of the lowest crime rates in the region, the government’s use of funding over the past seven years has also propelled it to the forefront of the World Bank’s ‘top global reformer’ index in 2010, naming it as the world’s best. In addition under Kagame’s rule, investment for the country has increased dramatically. In 2001 the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Rwanda amounted to 18 billion RWF, but has now increased to 600 billion RWF (around one billion USD).

However while Kagame’s form of presidential rule may be praised in many respects, critics have feared that the lack of a definitive political liberalisation may be a future sign of a drift towards authoritarianism in the country. When asked about the leak of a recent United Nations report – which strongly suggested that human rights abuses carried out by Rwandan soldiers between 1996 and 1998 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could constitute a second genocide –  Kagame rebuffed the claims maintaining that such allegations were ‘flawed’ and ‘absurd’.

He argued that the failures of the United Nations throughout the tumultuous periods in the DRC and Rwanda are still yet to manifest themselves into transparent channels of accountability. He added that commentators should look towards the motives and interests of the authors of the report.

On January 9^th the southern Sudanese will have the opportunity to vote on whether or not to secede from the rest of the country. An additional referendum will be held in central Sudan’s Abyei region, where its inhabitants will vote on whether to keep Abyei’s special administrative status in the north or become part of the south.

Provisions for the referenda were made as part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed to bring an official end to twenty years of civil war between the Government led north and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that controlled south. The Regional Coordinator for Southern Sudan for the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), David Gressly has reiterated the UN’s support for peaceful referenda, ‘In an effort to strengthen UNMIS presence before the conduct of referendum, I am happy today to open officially the Warrap Team Site.’