Archives

The New Guard
DRC, Mali, Egypt, Kenya

Every Wednesday, Africa Intelligence spotlights the next generation of movers and shakers in business and politics.

DRC Patrick Nkanga, the quiet mainstay of Kabila's political bureau

Egypt Osama Elgohary, Prime Minister Madbouli's spin-doctor

Kenya Catherine Muraga, driving Microsoft's new tech development

Mali Adam Dicko plants her networks in rural Mali

Cameroon, France
Bolloré challenges overturning of controversial Port of Douala arbitration ruling

Bolloré Africa Logistics, now a subsidiary of MSC, is to go to the French Court of Cassation over a 10 January Paris appeal court judgement quashing a 2020 arbitration ruling against the Port of Douala.

Gabon
Citibank shortlists three potential buyers for Carlyle/Assala Energy assets

One of the biggest oil deals in Africa in 2023, involving 50,000 bpd, has the industry in a tizzy. Carlyle has chosen Citibank to handle the sale, and the bank has selected three potential buyers.

Mauritania
Addax Energy and Coral Energy battle for bunkering contract

Mauritania's historical supplier of petroleum products, Addax Energy, and a newcomer to the African market, Coral Energy, are both bidding for a deal to refuel vessels off the country's coast.

Sub-saharan Africa
France gives helping hand to Céréalis' growing trade in Africa

Céréalis, the leading French wheat trader south of the Sahara, has been granted a new credit facility by a subsidiary of France's AFD development agency. West and Central African millers, who have turned increasingly to French wheat because of the war in Ukraine, had lobbyied for the measure.

Ethiopia
Abiy sticks his oar into Orthodox church row

Barely a year after a thwarted schism over the war in Tigray, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is confronted with new divisions driven by the linguistic demands of the Oromo community. A public intervention by the prime minister could exacerbate tensions.

Kenya
Odinga risks losing allies over renewed rejection of Ruto's legitimacy

The runner-up in last year's presidential election has ignored his top supporters' pleas to accept William Ruto's offer of becoming Kenya's official leader of the opposition. But Odinga's own calls for mass demonstrations to push for Ruto's resignation could well backfire.

Madagascar
Angry French vanilla exporters seek help from Paris

Major French traders are up in arms about the latest measures put in place by Madagascar's vanilla regulatory board, and have written to French Trade Minister Olivier Becht to ask for his help.

South Africa
Rheinmetall Denel Munition could face prosecution over Macassar munitions plant explosion

The official commission of enquiry into the 2018 explosion at the Rheinmetall Denel Munition plant in the suburbs of Cape Town, in which eight people died, has concluded that the group breached regulations, opening the way to possible prosecution.

Russia, Tunisia
Cloudy skies ahead for Moscow-Tunis relations

The Russian foreign minister's trip to Tunis scheduled for the beginning of February has been put off indefinitely. This is the second time Sergei Lavrov's has had to cancel a visit to Tunisia.