The World Today

Population ageing is unprecedented, without parallel in the history of humanity. Increases in the proportions of older people, those 60 years or older, are accompanied by declines in the proportions of the young – under the age of 15. By 2050, the number of older people in the world will exceed the number of young for the first time. This historic reversal in relative proportions of young and old had already taken place by 1998 in the more developed regions.

The death of rebel UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi on February 22 in Moxico province is a watershed. The Angolan government had become fixated upon Savimbi’s demise and the ceasefire that followed offers the best chance for peace in living memory. Luanda will now be increasingly under the international spotlight over democracy, corruption and how it spends the oil money.

After years of fighting and instability the peace is holding in Sierra Leone as it prepares for elections next month. What are the chances of lasting peace and democracy in this poor West African country, which has just emerged from under a carpet of conflict and crimes against humanity?

Enlargement of the European Union from fifteen to perhaps twenty-eight members is approaching fast. The next two years are crucial for those both inside and outside to prepare for a very different sort of club. This pre-accession period is a golden opportunity to include the candidate countries as never before, engaging governments and people at an emotional, intellectual and practical level.

The French presidency has traditionally had a mythical quality. As father – or in theory, at least – mother of the nation, the person who incarnates the French republic is supposed to be above party politics and – rather more controversially – above the law. But as voters prepare to choose their president for the next five years, the institution is in danger of slipping into irrelevance. Much depends on the result of presidential voting this month and next and, more importantly perhaps, of the June legislative elections.

President Andrés Pastrana of Colombia is about to leave office, his bold peace plans in tatters. As his successor is chosen in May elections, the army is trying to reassert control over the vast area ceded to the guerrillas during the talks. They in turn are back to violence. Colombians are tired of the vicious dispute between state and insurgents.