Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani is keen to keep trade relations open with both Algeria and Morocco, and to avoid taking sides at all costs.
Now a senator for Haut-Katanga, former prime minister Sama Lukonde Kyenge intends to take advantage of his party's success in the legislative and senatorial elections.
With France's diplomats increasingly less interested in becoming ambassadors in Africa, French army generals look ready to step into their shoes.
Senegal's new prime minister has told officials to provide him with information on the sale of state-owned buildings to private companies and individuals during the lengthy rule of president Macky Sall.
The coalition led by Sudanese former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok is keen to bring in more political movements. But its ambitions clash with regional interests in the country's civil war.
Alison Blackburne is to replace Sarah Montgomery as the British Foreign Office's Special Envoy for the restive region around the Red Sea and Horn of Africa.
The Groupe de Réflexion et d'Analyse Diplomatique brings together former top mandarins and will function independently of the foreign ministry. It also plans to work on diplomatic issues on behalf of Morocco's partner countries.
General Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), visited France in late April after a short tour of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan, three long-standing supporters of his cause.
