The Freemasons push back against the politicians

Freemasonry may be the classic means for governments to co-opt their elites, but lodges throughout west and central Africa are increasingly defying the politicians. An investigation into the lodges that are striving to assert their independence. [...]

Germany's Muhlbauer joins the battle over biometric ID cards

Little known in Morocco, Germany company Muhlbauer wants to obtain a share of the biometric identity cards design market. [...]

Ankara shakes Paris out of its complacency

Turkish businesses have mushroomed over the last five years and are becoming serious competitors to French operators. [...]

Why Manuel Vicente has become master of the oil sector

After being side-lined by Isabel dos Santos, Sonangol's former CEO Manuel Vicente has made a spectacular come-back under President Joao Lourenco. [...]

Why the opposition won't succeed in ousting Hery

Since most civil servants at the ministries and the private sector have not joined a general strike, despite 73 opposition MPs urging them to do so from the steps of the town hall, the opposition is now looking to negotiate a way out of this mini-crisis, their protests having fallen short of their expectations. [...]

BeIN Sports red-carded just after coming on to the field

BeIN Sports, which has only just set up a subsidiary in Tunisia, is already in trouble! According to our information, the Qatari sports pay-TV giant is in the sights of the Competition Council. [...]

Waha: Total hesitating between playing good cop or bad cop against NOC

Bensalah-Chaqroun wants Elalamy's job

The replacement of Meriem Bensalah-Chaqroun by Salaheddine Mezouar as head of the employers' body CGEM on May 22 is going [...]

Ali Bongo keeps it in the family

Despite opening the new government up to the opposition, the president continues to surround himself with a small handful of loyal relatives. Analysis. [...]

Museveni shores up his defences against Kagame

On every front, Kigali is conspiring with countries in the region to destabilise Kampala. [...]

How AMC plans to seduce authorities over bauxite

The Guinean government, which has aspirations to make the country the world's largest bauxite producer, was sure to have appreciated [...]

Mustapha Hamadou moves from dry port to wet

Businessman Mustapha Hamadou, who runs the Oran dry port via the company Anisfer, is planning to move into the maritime [...]

Veolia seeks a positive outcome to the SEEG saga

The boss of the French firm, Antoine Frerot, is in favour of negotiating with Libreville. Here's why. [...]

Erin Energy crosses swords with lenders

Severely cash-stripped, Erin Energy is pushing to use its creditors' cash collateral. [...]

A naval battle for the port of Doraleh

On 28 April, the Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and the Djiboutian president Ismail Omar Guelleh announced with great pomp that Addis Ababa was acquiring a stake in Djibouti's port infrastructure in exchange for shares in Ethiopian companies (Ethiopian [...]

Singapore's IMC plays fairy godmother to lead-zinc sector

The revival of Gabon's lead-zinc project Kroussou can be greatly attributed to a boost from Singaporean fund IMC and Australia's Centrepeak. [...]

Pierre-Claver Maganga Moussavou, Ali Bongo's enforcer in the south

The former opponent Pierre-Claver Maganga Moussavou, the country's vice president since August 2017, is the president's principal ally in Ngounie [...]

Bongo's chief-of-staff secures GOC top slot for friend Patrichi Tanasa

Patrichi Christian Tanasa has been appointed to replace the outgoing managing director of Gabon Oil Co, Arnauld Engandji, who has [...]

Jean-Adolphe Dominique takes a trip to Russia

There was a notable absentee from the skirmishes of 21 April involving 73 opposition MPs (Mapar/TIM/MMM) who were seeking to [...]

Where Mwana's founder, Kalaa Mpinga, has landed

He may have been ousted in mid-2015 as CEO of Mwana Africa (now Asa Resource Group), the company he founded [...]