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Diplomacy

Chinese ambassador to Madagascar, Guo Xiaomei. — Chinese ambassador to Madagascar, Guo Xiaomei.© Madagascan Republic presidency

Madagascar
Beijing busy building bridges in Antananarivo

Chinese ambassador Guo Xiaomei is mounting a diplomatic offensive to forge ties with Rajoelina's government and his IRD party.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 25.05.2021

French President Emmanuel Macron greets Democratic Republic of the Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi. — French President Emmanuel Macron greets Democratic Republic of the Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi.© Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA/Newscom/MaxPPP

DRC, France
DGSE and DRC intelligence chiefs bond on sidelines of Macron-Tshisekedi meet

While in Paris to attend the French summit on African financing on 18 May, the DRC's top intelligence staff met with their French counterparts to further strengthen security cooperation between the two.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 25.05.2021

Equatorial Guinea
Teodorin's failed bid for photo op with Macron

Equatorial Guinea's bigwigs hoped until the very last minute that the summit on African economies in France would be an opportunity for the country's probable future leader to shine on the world stage.

Free access Diplomacy 25.05.2021

Spotlight | Africa
Putin diligently prepares Russia-Africa summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2019 Russia-Africa summit in Sochi. — Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2019 Russia-Africa summit in Sochi.© Sergei Chirikov/Pool/EFE/Newscom/MaxPPP

Subscribers only Diplomacy 24.05.2021

Mozambique
Nyusi negotiates details of EU, SADC military contributions to Cabo Delgado conflict

The Mozambican president, under pressure from the ruling Felimo party's leadership, is accepting a drip-feed of military aid from his European and African partners.

Subscribers only Diplomacy Running Story - Cabo Delgado 24.05.2021

Sudan
Hamdok sends his foreign minister to defuse Russian naval base row

A contretemps in early May over Russia's naval base in Port Sudan has brought an unwelcome chill to relations between Moscow and Khartoum. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi is due to meet her counterpart Sergei Lavrov in early June to patch things up.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 24.05.2021

Tunisia
Sall, Ouattara, and Tshisekedi confirm OIF summit attendance

Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed left his 18 May meeting in Paris with confirmation from three heads of state they would attend the summit of the francophone organisation OIF in Djerba in November.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 24.05.2021

Central Africa, Congo
Sassou Nguesso and ECCAS seek to regain upper hand on Chad

ECCAS President Denis Sassou Nguesso is timidly trying to play a part in managing Chad's transition. But the international community would clearly prefer the African Union to oversee the next stage.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 24.05.2021

Congolese head of state Denis Sassou Nguesso in Paris in May 2021.

Morocco
Mohammed VI still on the lookout for a chief lobbyist in Washington

Morocco is taking its time to find the right person to coordinate its influence networks in the US. Meanwhile, Mohammed VI's cousin and ambassador Lalla Joumala Alaoui has kept close ties with the Republican Party and with the controversial lobbyist Richard Smotkin.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 24.05.2021

Sahel
Delay in appointment of new French army chief has domino effect on Barkhane

Though General Pierre Schill seemed to be the frontrunner to succeed Marc Conruyt at the helm of France's Operation Barkhane in the Sahel, it now looks like the post could go to one of his three-star colleagues.

Subscribers only Defence, Diplomacy 21.05.2021

Tunisia
Washington gives Borj Erroumi prison a radical makeover

In the hope of curbing the radicalisation of the most dangerous prisoners, the US State Department is to modernise the Borj Erroumi penitentiary where the Ben Ali regime kept its political opponents under lock and key.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 20.05.2021

Central Africa
CEMAC leaders brood over exclusion from Paris summit

Denis Sassou NGuesso, much to the irritation of his fellow Central African heads of state, was the only one among them who managed to get himself invited to the Paris summit on the financing of African economies.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 20.05.2021

France, Ivory Coast
Ouattara's evening at the Elysée

Invited by the French president to attend a ceremony in honour of the ex-MD of the IMF Michel Camdessus, to whom he is very close, the Ivorian president will try to raise the issue of budgetary cooperation, which has been the source of recent frictions between Paris and Abidjan.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 20.05.2021

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) greets Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara as he arrives at the Grand Palais Ephemere for the Financing of African Economies Summit in Paris, 18 May 2021.

Libya
Dabaiba appoints militia leaders to foreign ministry

Amid threats and increasing calls for foreign minister Mangoush to resign in recent days, the Libyan prime minister Abdelhamid Dabaiba has appointed militia leaders as under-secretaries within her ministry.

Subscribers only Politics, Diplomacy 20.05.2021

Libya's Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dabaiba.

Gabon, Russia
Michael Moussa in Moscow

The Gabonese defence minister Michael Moussa Adamo travelled to Russia last week for a series of meetings with various military and industry figures.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 20.05.2021

Africa
French grand lodge faces pushback from 'regular' Masons in Africa

The trip to Benin by Jean-Pierre Rollet, one of France's most senior Freemasons, has riled African affiliates of his French grand lodge who take increasing exception to his tutelage and look with envy to so-called 'regular' lodges with loose ties to the United Grand Lodge of England.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 19.05.2021

Horn of Africa
MBZ dominates fence-mending efforts between Abiy and Hamdok

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has emerged as UAE Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan's envoy to Sudan to speed up reconciliation with neighbouring Ethiopia.

Free access Diplomacy 19.05.2021

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan.

Spotlight | Qatar, Somalia, UAE
Farmajo, spurned by Qatar, turns to UAE crown prince MBZ

The Somali president, on the verge of losing his job, is seeking financial support from new sources in the Gulf. The Emirati crown prince has agreed to talks, but remains cautious.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 18.05.2021

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, addresses Parliament on May 1, 2021.

Morocco
Rabat ignores Merkel's olive branch

Hawkish Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has not replied to an invitation to attend a June conference on Libya in Berlin. He has also delayed the appointment of a new German ambassador to Rabat.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 18.05.2021

German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Marrakesh, Morocco, in December 2018.

Chad
AU's special envoy soon to be named

The African Union is on the cusp of appointing its special envoy to Chad. The name of a former president from the Sahel seems to be on everyone's lips as the most likely candidate for the job.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 18.05.2021

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