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Month

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Central Africa
West Africa
Eastern Africa and the Horn
Southern Africa and islands
North Africa

Spotlight | Africa
Touton's sale to hedge fund Hartree clouds cocoa and coffee outlook

Cocoa bean sorting in Soubré in southwestern Ivory Coast, January 2021. © Luc Gnago / Reuters

Led by Patrick de Boussac, the French trader is finalising discussions with the American firm bidding to acquire it. This is the US company's second transaction in six months in the agricultural trading sector on the continent, following its acquisition of the Swiss company Volcafe in July 2025.

Subscribers only Commodity traders

Central Africa

DRC
The potentially (very) lucrative market for licence plates

Belgian company Castillo Valere, which won the contract to manufacture 100,000 licence plates, could well be called on to go far beyond the initial order. Congolese authorities project demand at an additional 3 million units.

Subscribers only Business

Congo
Minister of Transport vetoes opening of new ECAir regional routes

The relaunch of the national airline's activities has met with strong resistance at the Ministry of Transport.

Subscribers only Business

West Africa

Ivory Coast
Téné Birahima Ouattara on his way to becoming National Assembly speaker

Alassane Ouattara's younger brother is expected to succeed Adama Bictogo as leader of the lower house at the end of this month. This promotion is part of his rise to power, closely endorsed by the president himself.

Subscribers only Politics

Ivory Coast
Transcao comes to the rescue of struggling cocoa traders

At the risk of undermining its own stability, the Conseil Café-Cacao trading subsidiary has had to step up to the plate to absorb the volumes dropped by a number of local operators facing financial difficulties.

Subscribers only Commodity traders

Eastern Africa and the Horn

Uganda
European diplomacy heeds caution as elections approach

A campaign billboard for Yoweri Museveni erected over traffic in Kampala, 24 December 2025. © Badru Katumba / AFP

Matters relating to good governance and the electoral process are being carefully avoided by diplomats from Europe. Instead, one by one they are lobbying the Chief of Defence Forces to raise awareness of the merits of their respective initiatives.

Subscribers only Politics, Diplomacy

Burundi
Gitega recruits Washington lobbyist

Gitega will rely on PR firm Nestpoint to advocate for its interests with the US administration and American investors.

Subscribers only Business, Diplomacy

Southern Africa and islands

Namibia
Gas monetisation strategy to be drafted by Subsea7 subsidiary

Consulting firm Xodus, a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based multinational Subsea7, has been chosen by state-owned company Namcor to develop its gas strategy. Namibia has been held back in this area for years due to a lack of infrastructure and low domestic demand.

Subscribers only Energy

North Africa

Morocco
Sign of thawing relations as Italy-Morocco friendship group makes comeback

MP Ettore Rosato in parliament in Rome on 13 October 2022. © Riccardo Antimiani / EFE / EPA / MaxPPP

The recent resumption of activity by the Italian parliamentary group supporting the autonomy plan for Western Sahara has quietly broken the deadlock in relations between Rome and Rabat.

Subscribers only Diplomacy

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