Amidst reports that Ghana is trying to evacuate 10,000 of its citizens from Libya as Arab freedom fighters mistake ordinary black Africans for Gaddafi-hired mercenaries, Cameron Duodu remembers the last time Libya posed a threat to his compatriots.

It's nonsensical for Gaddafi to be preaching the theory of establishing a 'United States of Africa' to people, when Libya makes it impossible or difficult for them to interact with one another in the flesh, writes Cameron Duodu.

A common message through the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East is that leaders must serve the interests of the people or quit, writes Cameron Duodu.

Cameron Duodu remembers working as a journalist in Ghana and documenting Patrice Lumumba’s dramatic rise to power - and subsequent assassination - from afar. In so doing he uncovers why Lumumba is such an important historical figure who 'was not assassinated merely as a person, but as an idea'.

As the fallout from the release of the WikiLeaks cables continues, Cameron Duodu considers the implications for addressing corruption in Africa.

As tensions persist in Cote d’Ivoire following the contested presidential election result of 28 November, Cameron Duodu calls on incumbent Laurent Gbagbo to accept defeat and respect the victory of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara.

‘African countries that walk into the credit vaults of banks must be aware that if the plug can be pulled on Ireland or Greece, it can be pulled on them too. Only, in Africa's case, there will be no European Central Bank or friendly neighbours like Britain, to come to their assistance,’ writes Cameron Duodu.

‘The road to controlling the press, however attractive to rulers it may be, must be trodden with extreme wariness. For it is luxuriantly strewn with signposts that read: “Expect unintended consequences!”’, writes Cameron Duodu.

Ghana has lifted its ban on a business caught smuggling cocoa out of the country, after lobbying by Britain at the request of the company’s owner. As long as African countries are dependent on aid, they will find it hard to refuse the demands of potential donors, muses Cameron Duodu.

There have been great women in history, but Yaaa Asantewaa was one of a kind, Cameron Duodu reminds us of the story of the ‘mere woman’ who ‘fought against the cannon’ during the British colonisation of Ghana.

‘There’s no political event more dangerous than a general election’, and ‘if wise counsels do not prevail, no one can predict what might happen’, writes Cameron Duodu.

Following the 1 October bombs in Abuja, suggestions have been made that northern interests in Nigeria were attempting to convey a message to President Goodluck Jonathan in response to his 2011 presidential ambitions, writes Cameron Duodu. While political declarations around responsibility for the bombing confuse the public, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ‘elders’ are in discussions over whom to endorse as the 2011 party candidate.

Instead of falling for the rhetoric around the UN development goals, Cameron Duodu argues that Africa should gauge the true commitment of rich countries to ending poverty on the continent by looking to the past. In this area, the G8 has been sorely lacking, he says.

As Ghana gears up to develop its petroleum industry, Cameron Duodu strongly laments the absence of greater public sharing of information around the sector. Duodu stresses that Nigeria’s tumultuous history with petroleum ‘is a rehearsal of what could be waiting for us’ and that Ghana should pay particular attention to its neighbour’s experience if it is to avoid ‘so much cheating and thievery’.

Basil Davidson wrote so passionately about Africa it was assumed he was an African, writes Cameron Duodu, paying tribute to the late historian, whose work ‘enriched the world's understanding of Africa’. Davidson was ‘not only an inspiration to progressives inside academia, but was an important resource for African leaders themselves’, says Duodu, at a time when the majority of ‘histories’ depicted Africa as ‘a land full of barbarous peoples “until the whiteman came”’.

Following Ghana's controversial exit from the World Cup after Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez's goal-line handball, Cameron Duodu charges that governing body Fifa's rules must be changed to fully stamp out cheating.