Central Africa
CEMAC leaders brood over exclusion from Paris summit

Palace Intrigues
Denis Sassou Nguesso, Kais Saied, Mamady Doumbouya, François Beya

Intrigues big and small... Every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

Congo Macron's embarrassing handshake at presidential palace

Tunisia Saied requests $500m in aid from Al Thani

Guinea French-Guinean duo brings Pogba and Ronaldinho to Conakry and Abidjan

Central African Republic François Beya fails to show in Bangui

Central Africa
ECCAS-CEMAC merger project in limbo

The latest summit of the Economic Community of Central African States, held on 25 February, once again postponed the planned merger the bloc with two other regional entities.

Central African Republic, Chad
IMF splashes out for some CEMAC states but leaves N'Djamena and Bangui hanging

Since the beginning of the year, the International Monetary Fund has signed support programmes with four of the six countries in the oil-dependent and Covid-weakened Central African monetary zone. But its talks with Chad and the Central African Republic have stalled.

West Africa
West Africa on lobbying spree to recover developed countries' share of IMF SDRs

With France's active support, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) is on a mission to obtain some of the special drawing rights (SDR) funds attributed to developed countries to offset the impact of Covid-19.

Southern Africa
LSE Consulting negotiates for EU with Zimbabwe and Indian Ocean

The European Union is trying to rework its economic partnership with East and Southern Africa but is struggling to make a mark on the continent.

Gabon
IMF questions Arise IIP tax exemptions

An International Monetary Fund team left Gabon early this week after a long annual consultation mission during which it laid out its conditions for granting the country a new loan programme. They include the scrapping of numerous tax and customs exemption regimes, and in particular one in place for the Nkok special economic zone.

Gabon
One minister after another visits Moscow

This week, it is the turn of trade minister Hugues Mbadinga Madiya and his investment promotion colleague Carmen Ndaot, who are visiting St Petersburg and Moscow.

DRC
Emmanuel Macron expected in Kinshasa in the autumn

Over a working lunch at the Elysée Palace on April 26, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi discussed the possibility of a visit by Emmanuel Macron to the DRC.