Mr Savimbi remains hunkered down in the central highlands, around the towns of Nharea, Mungo, Andulo and Bailundo, the symbolic capital of his Ovimbundu people.

ECONOMIST: Angola

The attack on a high-profile event in the heart of the capital is seen as a big symbolic blow to Somalia's attempts to reinvent itself on the international stage after years as a failed state.

CNN: Bomb kills top Somali sports officials

Within a week of the vote for independence on August 30th, this had been reduced to a symbolic presence in a besieged compound in East Timor's capital, Dili.

ECONOMIST: The terror in a ruined capital | The

She travelled to Montevideo, Uruguay's capital, for Mr Mujica's inauguration, an important symbolic gesture.

ECONOMIST: Argentina and Uruguay