Denis Gokana, adviser to Denis Sassou Nguesso on oil matters, has succeeded in building powerful contact networks, enabling him to eclipse the exploration and production competition.
Angola's hyperinflation has had a devastating effect on the financial situation of the trader, which has brought in new managers in an effort to reverse the trend.
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Energy 
Jean-Luc Ndong Amvame, the last of Ali Bongo's staff to have been with him at the time of his stroke in 2018, has discreetly stepped down from his duties as head of the president's personal security.
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Politics 
Amadou Gon Coulibaly is on the hunt for funds to finance the development of Ivory Coast's western iron ore and nickel resources, an initiative that several construction giants have been wanting to get on board.
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Mining Despite its crushing defeat against ConocoPhillips, FAR has been spared a drawn-out legal bill battle.
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Energy To lay the groundwork for its medical support to African states affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Elysée Palace has set up a coordination cell with eight hand-picked NGOs.
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Diplomacy The French electricity producer Eranove may not have yet closed the finances for its Kénié hydropower project but has already locked in the site constructor, Chinese dam engineering giant Sinohydro.
In its drive to reform the Sudanese intelligence services and thereby curtail the power of this key cog in the regime of the ousted president Omar al-Bashir, the Khartoum government has deprived it of one of its principal sources of income: its gold mining company.
Although he made no mention of it at a State House speech he gave at the presidential podium on 25 April, Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho is trying to persuade President Uhuru Kenyatta to bring the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).
Hassan Belkhayat's consultancy Southbridge A&I, which had been keeping a low profile since the 2017 Southbridge affair, has won a 1.8m dirham contract to overhaul the Maison de l'Artisan. With trouble brewing in the RNI party, the award of a government contract to those close to the ruling party could cause further turmoil.
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Business Lamalif is doing very nicely indeed from Rabat streetlighting contracts.
