Inner circle | Africa
Saadé family's CMA CGM entrusts military and diplomatic veterans with its Africa ops

Palace Intrigues
Alassane Ouattara, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Mahamat Idriss Déby

Intrigues big and small: every Thursday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

Ivory CoastOuattara set to complete his new palace in native village

SenegalFollowing in Macron's footsteps, Faye falls for luxurious Weston trainers

ChadEx-senior member of French far-right party courts Mahamat Idriss Déby

South Africa
CMA CGM's new plans for South Africa

Maritime transport giant CMA CGM is planning to expand its activities in South Africa.

Madagascar
Former ambassador Le Roy to accompany Macron to Antananarivo

The 72-year-old diplomat is part of the delegation that will be travelling with the French President to Antananarivo from April 22 to 24. He was ambassador to Madagascar between 2005 and 2007.

Algeria
CMA CGM boss Rodolphe Saadé due in Algiers

The head of the French shipping giant will be taking part in high-level meetings with the Algerian authorities.

Cameroon
Leading frozen food company Congelcam chooses Kribi Port over Douala

After its dispute two years ago with the Douala Port Authority, the company owned by businessman Sylvestre Ngouchinghe moved the bulk of its activities to its Kribi site.

Tunisia
Container shipping company CMA CGM downsizes Tunis operations

The group headed by Rodolphe Saadé recently dissolved its Tunisian land transport subsidiary. Nearly nine years after it was set up, the business had not got off the ground.

Djibouti, East Africa
Djibouti eyes East African models for Addis Ababa corridor

Freight forwarders and transport companies will be meeting the heads of corridor management authorities during a study tour from 26 January to 2 February in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

Cameroon
Garoubé and Ivo Capital Partners battle over €24m in damages sought from Yaoundé

The company Garoubé, which won an arbitration award against the Cameroonian state in September 2021, is now seeing its claim challenged by Ivo Capital Partners which financed part of the proceedings. The Paris Commercial Court is shortly due to rule on the case.

Ethiopia
Ethiopian Shipping Lines monopoly proves harder to break than hoped

After several delays, the Ethiopian Maritime Authority has released a list of companies that will take part in the liberalisation of the country's logistics sector. But several international shipping firms have decided not to submit bids, deeming current conditions unsuitable.

CMA CGM pitches for UN customs contract in Israel

The French shipping firm is bidding for a contract with a UN agency to provide customs clearance services through its logistics subsidiary.