Despite all the publicity surrounding Joseph Kabila, perhaps the most unexpected leader in Africa’s modern history, very little is still known about him. His past, including his parentage, is clouded in thick layers of doubt. With uncertainty about who the real power behind the throne is, no one has any idea how this shy and retiring young man will fare when the heat is turned up. François Misser set out to look for some answers to the Kabila enigma.

• City View :Keep faith with the dollar
  
• Topic: Tanzania - Zanzibar boils over
  
• Comment: Is the rand suffering from racial prejudice
  
• Around & About: Ghanaian companies win UK awards
• Trends: Funerals - SA’s new growth industry
• Trends: Museveni challenged
• Special Report: Tunisia celebrates 45 years of independence
• IT Africa: The pitfalls of abusing the e-mail
• Focus: The big rip-off - millennium scams
  

• Sun powered pay phones; To catch a thief
  
• ‘Fingerprinting’ wine; Miracle rice for Africa; Probe reveals earth’s secrets
• New version of palm-top computor; Full marks for unique school

• Congo Brazzaville - signs of hope
• Zambia - propping up the kwacha
• Kenya - IMF walks out; Botswana budget