Patrick Smith is Editor-in-Chief of The Africa Report. He has edited the political and economic insider newsletter Africa Confdential since 1992 and was associate producer on a documentary about the 2004 coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea commissioned by Britain's Channel 4 television.

He was technical advisor on the UN Security Council's panel on illegal exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 and 2003, and gave expert evidence to the UN Security Council panel on the links between the arms trade and illegal exploitation in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

He edited Who's Who in Southern Africa (Blackwell Publishers, UK, 1997) and AFRICA 2000 (Blackwell Publishers, UK, 2000). A regular broadcaster on the BBC, Smith also writes for Britain's Guardian and the Observer.