Spotlight | DRC
The curious networks behind new oil data bank
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The Malagasy junta leader wants to bypass the island’s long-standing petrol suppliers. A new tanker, chartered by the Nigerian trader Sahara Energy, is expected to arrive early September at the port of Tamatave, in the east of the country.
With the country in the thick of a financial crisis, the new minister for the budget has been overseas, from Paris to Beijing and Washington. He has been establishing himself as the key figure in negotiations with donors, as a resolution to Senegal’s debt crisis looms on the horizon.
Four months after strikes hit the consortium’s mining sites in the south-east, tensions remain high. Workers are dissatisfied with the union’s gains, while representatives say they acted under junta pressure.
Since the start of the war, the Rapid Support Forces leadership has maintained high-level contacts with Tel Aviv. Its senior figures and leader's family members have made several trips there in a security cooperation that predates the conflict.
A reform under consideration by the Kenyan Parliament would bar legal action against proposed referendums that are still in the preparatory stage. This weighty provision has attracted the criticism of several experts who participated in its drafting.
The transfer of French group Somdia’s shares in the Cameroon sugar company to the consortium led by businessman Joseph Pagop Noupoué was due to have taken place by the end of this month. However, the PM’s office is putting up a fight.
Already facing criticism, the head of the Confederation of African Football is experiencing friction with his closest allies, including FIFA president Gianni Infantino. The possibility that the South African billionaire might move into more political spheres is fuelling speculation.
While a disagreement with the board of directors led to the departure of the chief executive of the state-owned mining company, its chair, Jean-Charles Okoto Lolakombe, wants to cut ties with Asa Resource Group, a minority shareholder. He accuses it of being a shell company.
In view of Morocco's legislative elections, CGEM is preparing to examine the economic programmes of the Parti Authenticité et Modernité, a member of the governing coalition, and the Parti de la Justice et du Développement.
The chief of staff of the Libyan National Army has been mounting a broad communications campaign around his role in the release of Russian and American captives in the Sahel. The operations were carried out via Tuareg channels in Fezzan.
The Malagasy junta leader wants to bypass the island’s long-standing petrol suppliers. A new tanker, chartered by the Nigerian trader Sahara Energy, is expected to arrive early September at the port of Tamatave, in the east of the country.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration has recently closed one of its main West African outposts discreetly, as the White House presses ahead with significant cuts to the agency's ranks.
The armed group Allied Democratic Forces has become more active in Kenya, where authorities suspect recruitment networks and sleeper cells. Counter-terrorism and intelligence units have deployed resources to track them down with the help of neighbouring countries.
The Togolese judiciary is refusing to enforce the ruling handed down by the CCJA in Abidjan against UTB in its dispute with Tele Mobil International, on the grounds that the bank has not been incorporated into the registers of the Togolese revenue office. The company has lodged a final appeal.
The federal administration has recruited several members of the jihadist group operating in Somalia into its security agencies and immigration services. On top of this, a lack of bilateral cooperation, in the midst of a political crisis, is frustrating Mogadishu’s Western partners.
The head of Aftrade, Alexander Zingman, is working to arrange a visit by Faure Gnassingbé to Minsk, while also overseeing preparations for the opening of Togo’s future embassy in Moscow.
More than four years after announcing its intentions to set up its regional headquarters in Cameroon, United Bank for Africa has still not secured a site. Two potential locations, in Yaoundé and Douala, have slipped through its fingers, frustrating the bank’s management.
In July, nearly three months after ex-general Béni Xavier Rasolofonirina was appointed interim head, the FSM sovereign wealth fund adopted a new organisational structure. The team includes members from the presidency, prime minister’s office and finance ministry.
The sector regulator has imposed the use of the 'farmer card' for all farm-gate transactions from the first day of the cocoa season, which has just opened.
Despite losing exclusive use of its railway in favour of US firm Ivanhoe Atlantic, Lakshmi Mittal’s conglomerate remains particularly influential in Liberia. That position has been helped by the US president who has personally involved himself in this matter in West Africa, after intense lobbying by the Indian group.
Having faced serious difficulties since the start of the Strait of Hormuz crisis, the phosphate giant has suspended its main projects, notably its mega-industrial complex at Mzinda.
Less than a week after a failed coup, the Niger junta leader must contend with an army riven by deep internal divisions as he seeks to stay in power.
The group, owned by the China-Africa Jinchuan Investment consortium, has just announced plans for mass redundancies at its Bakubung site. Neither the mines minister nor the ANC, which governs the province, has yet intervened in this matter involving economic relations with Beijing.
After months of faltering negotiations between Bangui and Moscow, the rival Russian paramilitary groups have reached a role-sharing compromise: Dmitri Sytyi's forces will keep their security and business contracts, while Africa Corps will mantain a smaller footprint in the CAR capital.
Nairobi’s proposal could also prove profitable for Tanzania, where the city of Tanga had at one point been considered as the location for Dangote Industries’ future oil refinery, which will now be built at the port of Lamu.
On 1 July, the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the appeal brought by the Libyan private security company in the case opposing it to the EU mission responsible for border assistance in the country.
In view of their forthcoming move to a higher international economic category, several East African countries are showing interest in a partnership agreement with the European Union, which Kenya already benefits from. However, a number of obstacles stand in the way of resuming dialogue.
After some 300 days in detention at Melrose prison, ex-president Andry Rajoelina's former key aide continues to battle for release on bail. Three magistrates from the French financial prosecutor’s office went to question the entrepreneur in Mauritius.
The French group is once again locking horns with the authorities in Bangui. This development comes at the same time as the firm vies to retain its contract for the security of the country's EU delegation.
After winning a favourable ruling in its dispute with Yapi Merkezi before the London Court of Arbitration, the Ethio-Djibouti Railway intends to complete its northern rail line linking the town of Awash to Hara Gebeya. Several global giants in the sector have been approached for the project.
The forthcoming restructuring of the country's debt, just announced following an agreement with the IMF for a loan of $2.2bn, is a problem for some of its creditors. The scope of the operation, which would exclude part of the state’s external liabilities, is far from universally supported.
With Rabat considering applying for membership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the head of government is set to present a review of his administration’s performance over the past five years in Paris.
Following a high-profile reconciliation in Algiers in July, the teams of the Algerian and Spanish heads of state are negotiating the details of the former's planned trip to the European country this October.
Deployed for a year within the presidential security detail, members of the Russian paramilitary group are increasingly visible in Brazzaville. Having combined military cooperation with civilian engagement, Moscow now hopes to consolidate its investments in the oil sector.
The network of Vanuatu national Saade Makhlouf, head of Global Maritime Consultants Group, could take control of ship registration on behalf of the archipelago. This project is causing concern at the highest levels of government.
The peace agreement signed at the end of June between the Salamat and Beni Halba tribes was not enough to calm tensions between Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo's two regional allies. The general is concerned about the impact the clashes are having on the supply lines to his troops.
Urged by his allies to seek special status for the waters of the continent’s largest lake, President William Ruto has sent his envoys to negotiate with Uganda. Faced with a deadlock, he may be forced to meet face to face with his counterpart Yoweri Museveni.
Kyiv has adjusted its approach to maximise its leverage: more bilateral visits by diplomats, a department dedicated to the continent, and a more carefully crafted narrative. This is a response to Moscow’s still overwhelming presence, as it prepares to host the Russia–Africa summit.
Several of the continent's heads of state, as well as the leaders of national space agencies, are expected to attend the event organised in Paris by the Élysée Palace. It aims to explore new avenues for cooperation within a rapidly growing sector.
After months of dead-end discussions, the public transport operator proposed that the mining giant use trains originally meant for sugar shipments to haul ore to its export terminal. Concerned, Rio Tinto, which had launched the expansion project for its KwaZulu-Natal subsidiary, Richards Bay Minerals, put the brakes on the investment.
Following the death of the deputy chief of staff, negotiations are in full swing in Abidjan to find a successor to support General Lassina Doumbia.
Having travelled to Libreville at the invitation of the presidency to negotiate an out-of-court settlement regarding the Gabonese state’s luxury property, Ana Atallah, the lawyer representing Santullo-Sericom and Webcor ITP, came up against the unyielding stance of the state's judicial body.
With Rabat considering applying for membership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the head of government is set to present a review of his administration’s performance over the past five years in Paris.
The CNPC-C cotton growers' association is preparing to secure 60,000 tonnes of inputs amid a sharp rise in prices. Already weakened by significant cashflow tensions, the plant-based textile fibre sector is seeking new financing to get through the next campaign.
Newrest has joined forces with a politically connected partner to bid for a major catering contract on TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG project. But the profiles of the local shareholders could complicate the French group’s bid, as it faces five rival consortia.
As Bassirou Diomaye Faye's government prepares to begin dealing with its debt, a handful of hedge funds, from Farallon to VR Capital, have started to coordinate in order to devise a common strategy.
Mining investors Paul Mann and Drew Horn are leaning on the US State Department and their contacts within Cameroon’s presidency to secure the operating rights to the project. Serge Boyogueno, chief executive of Sonamines, is resisting their push.
As guest of honour at the World Nuclear Symposium, the president of the Council of Ministers is expected to call for funding for the nuclear sector in Africa, at a time when Lomé is stepping up efforts to develop its own nuclear industry.
After several months of administrative wrangling, Jean Kaseya, the Congolese national at the head of Africa CDC, has secured the recall of three regional directors from the health agency. These executives are however contesting the legitimacy of this decision.
Once seen as a bridge between Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, the head of Dal Group may pay a heavy price for his caution towards the authorities in Port Sudan.
During his 13 years at the head of the presidency’s powerful interception centre, French ex-foreign intelligence official Jean-Charles Solon built and controlled an entire ecosystem of partner companies and subcontractors, around the Gabonese administration, fuelling suspicions of the centre's gradual privatisation.
Yaoundé hopes to raise 250bn CFA francs, or €381m, from local banks by mid-October. The transaction, arranged by Ecobank, is intended to refinance the state’s purchase of Société Générale Cameroun, now renamed General Bank of Cameroon, while the authorities consider a possible future sale.
Although President Kaïs Saïed is not deaf to the Kremlin's approaches, Russia’s attempts to extend its imprint in Tunisia have only met with limited success so far.
Postponed several times, the oil asset disposal programme has been on hold since June. Behind the scenes, it has been the subject of intense political negotiations in the run-up to the 2027 presidential election.
The loyalist branch of this movement is seeking to close ranks in a bid to influence the national dialogue launched by the SAF commander. A roadmap is being drafted despite the appearance of cracks within the organisation upon the death of its historical leader, ex-prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.
State Procurement of Madagascar's order for petrol, currently anchored off the coast of Toamasina, illustrates President Michaël Randrianirina’s determination to regain control over fuel import channels.
The authorities in both countries have been working towards the signing of a trade agreement for several months now. The talks, which have gathered pace recently, have particularly focused on investment in the critical minerals sector.
Chad and Libya’s Government of National Unity are using CEN-SAD to shape a new relationship, despite the risk of upsetting Benghazi and the Haftar clan, which prefers a more militarised approach to the Sahel.
By broadening its contacts with Sudan’s political scene, Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a possible host for the yet-to-be-defined national dialogue, much to the dismay of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who wishes to host the event in his own country.
The main state body responsible for human rights is set to coordinate with local organisations in several regions deemed to be at risk, in the run-up to the forthcoming elections. The government, however, is awaiting international funding before launching the programme.
Due to meet the French president on the sidelines of the International Space Summit, Madagascar’s transitional president will then travel on to Belgium before flying to the United States, where he will take part in the United Nations General Assembly.
The president has set up a new state-owned company to meet the needs of Chad’s armed forces. It is tasked with assembling military equipment in the country. Talks have begun between suppliers and the former chief of staff to the president, who has been appointed to head the new entity.
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