Amid plummeting crude prices, Angola's president has decided to make sweeping changes to Sonangol, the state oil firm. But not everyone is happy.
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Energy 
The DGRE external intelligence service, which was set up by President Denis Sassou Nguesso in 2001, was formally shut down by General Hilaire Moko, Sassou's nephew.
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Politics 
In his latest legal broadside against Vale about a joint venture on Guinea's Simandou iron ore project, Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz rejects all accusations of wrongdoing. Claiming that the Brazilian mining giant knew the score before teaming up with his company, Steinmetz says it cannot now sue him on this front.
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Mining His side may have claimed victory in last week's municipal elections, the Beninese president is not all smiles: he just missed out on a huge agricultural supply contract in Ivory Coast, where his group has lost its main lobbyist.
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Business Businessman Gaby Peretz, head of Israeli military equipment broker AD Consultants (AD Con), succeeded in early May in selling a third CN-235 transport aircraft to the Senegalese Air Force for Indian Aerospace.
The Covid-19 crisis has disrupted plans for a new Africa CDC building, with China and the United States at odds over the saga. The leadership of the AU's public health agency is taking a stand against Beijing.
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Diplomacy Despite Covid-19 restrictions, the US Senate was able to meet earlier this month to approve the nominations of three new ambassadors to African countries.
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Diplomacy 
Norway can count on DOF Subsea and Equinor to help the country build and then strengthen its ties with its largest economic partner in Africa, Angola.
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Energy Virtually unknown on the African continent, Hungarian construction firm Duna Aszfalt is looking for local partners to complete construction of a road between DRC and Zambia, originally started by an associate of Moïse Katumbi.
The employers' association and union have created a common front against the Islamist transport minister Anouar Maârouf, who they suspect is willing to place container quays in the hands of the world shipping leader Maersk.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Libya welcomed new board members in May from oil services firm Halliburton and health specialist AMI. Their appointments signal a revival in US interest for business opportunities in Libya.
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Business Turkey is further strengthening its military presence in Libya, where it supports the government led by Fayez Sarraj in Tripoli against Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA).
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Politics 