John Atta Mills

A respected if uncharismatic former law professor, Mr. Atta Mills presided over Ghana’s continuing experiment in stable democracy.

The president, John Atta Mills, died unexpectedly Tuesday, five months short of completing his first term in office. The government gave no details of the cause, but Mr. Mills had recently undergone medical treatment in the United States.

The presidents of Nigeria and Ghana talk a good game to Italian Men’s Vogue this month, but it’s African designers who are forcing their work onto global runways.

It could have been Barack Obama’s change of heart, or the entreaties of a pair of African elder statesmen, or David Cameron’s threat to cut off aid. But whatever the reason, Joyce Banda says she intends to change Malawi’s anti-gay laws. Could she change Africa, too?

Ghana’s democratic elections and comparatively well-managed economy are still not the norm in Africa, and the list of imploding, unstable countries is long.

Jerry John Rawlings was an unlikely savior for a country that represented Africa’s brightest hopes, but that in its disappointment became emblematic of a continent’s malaise.

John Atta Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress party narrowly won a runoff vote for the presidency of Ghana, electoral officials announced Saturday.