Spotlight | Congo, Gabon
Bongo and Sassou ready to bury hatchet

Gabon
Ex-Jean Ping adviser Michel Ongoundou Loundah set to run for president

After taking over the Réagir party at the end of January, he has embarked on a tour of the country ahead of a presidential bid.

Palace Intrigues
Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Alassane Ouattara, Félix Tshisekedi, Vincent de Paul Massassa

Intrigues big and small: every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

Congo Influential Julienne Johnson becomes an official adviser to her father

Ivory Coast Ouattara's former special adviser Serey-Eiffel back in Abidjan

DRC Tshisekedi's favourite luxury hotels in the Big Apple

Gabon Vincent de Paul Massassa makes a final, quick trip to oil ministry

Gabon, Ivory Coast
Gabonese presidential campaign strains Abidjan-Libreville relations

An audio recording, purportedly of a discussion between Gabonese opposition politicians Albert Ondo Ossa and Alexandre Barro-Chambrier, led to Libreville's foreign minister asking the Ivorian ambassador to explain himself.

Congo, Gabon
Omar Denis Junior Bongo's Brazzaville dowry sparks hopes of Gabon detente

The grandson of Congolese president Sassou Nguesso has given his fiancée's family a dowry at a ceremony in Brazzaville in the presence Omar Bongo's eldest daughter Pascaline, heralding a further thaw in relations between the two countries.

Central Africa, Congo, Gabon
Perenco appoints new head of African affairs

Le pétrolier Perenco a promu l'un de ses cadres, Jean-Noël Bouassi-Bouassi, au poste tout nouvellement créé de “coordonnateur général des affaires africaines”.

Gabon
Jean Ping allowed to travel again after years of house arrest

Having been banned from leaving Gabon for almost 7 years, Jean Ping, who still insists he rather than Ali Bongo was the rightful winner of a 2016 presidential election, will in the coming days travel to France for medical tests after being given a passport.

Palace Intrigues
Paul Biya, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Ali Bongo, Gims, Mathilde of Belgium

Intrigues big and small... Every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

Gabon Biya skips summit, Sassou snubs group photo

Gabon Congolese delegation plays cat and mouse with Gabonese opposition

Senegal French rappers Gims and Maes pick luxury concierge service

Egypt Belgium's Queen Mathilde acts as ambassador for tourism

Congo
Denis Sassou Nguesso gets in on forest summit act

High-level forest summits are coming up thick and fast. Denis Sassou Nguesso plans to stage an international equatorial forest summit in mid-June

Spotlight | Gabon
Pascaline Bongo and Omar Denis Jr Bongo are latest to be charged in 'ill-gotten gains' case

The Paris court of law has just charged four of Omar Bongo's children, including Omar Denis Jr Bongo, grandson of Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso, and his half-sister Pascaline Bongo, in the so-called 'ill-gotten gains' case.

Gabon
Clan rifts widen as Bongos pushed out of state jobs

Fewer and fewer members of former president Omar Bongo's extended familiy occupy official positions, fuelling ill-feeling within the clan towards president Ali Bongo and his main advisor and eldest son, Noureddin Bongo.

Inner circles | Gabon
Omar Denis Jr Bongo cuts an increasingly solitary figure

The 26-year-old half-brother of Ali Bongo and grandson of Denis Sassou Nguesso, Omar Denis Jr Bongo, appears to have been increasingly ostracised by the Gabonese president's clan, who suspect him of harbouring presidential ambitions for 2023.