Spotlight | Africa
African presidents reach for the sky

Palace Intrigues
Macky Sall, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Emmanuel Macron

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

SenegalSocial crisis dents Macky Sall's international plans

CARTouadéra expected in Paris for financial summit

FranceSpeculation abounds over Macron's 'Mr. Africa'

Africa
Heads of state get ready to attend Malabo's African Union summit

A handful of African heads of state are expected to be heavily involved in the African Union counter-terrorism summit, which Teodoro Obiang Nguema will host in Malabo from 25 to 28 May.

Africa
Covid-19 - a political tsunami for the leaders of francophone Africa?

As African governments take emergency measures to combat the pandemic, several west African leaders find themselves in the firing line of public opinion.

Africa, France
MP Bruno Fuchs' African network

The government-allied MoDem MP and former PR advisor, Bruno Fuchs, has been behind several African initiatives over the last year.

Niger
Mahamadou Issoufou reinvents himself

The president of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, who has already declared [...]

Africa
Paul Biya, Teodoro Obiang Nguema and George Weah in Paris on 11 November

The Cameroonian president Paul Biya and his Equatorial Guinean counterpart [...]

Benin, Niger
Patrice Talon and Boni Yayi fail to hook up

Patrice Talon had asked his Nigerien counterpart, Mahamadou Issoufou, to [...]

Benin
Patrice Talon goes missing for ten days

Having left Cotonou on 13 September to take part in [...]

Benin, Burkina Faso
Bonkoungou lays on a flight for Patrice Talon

On 7 July, Patrice Talon travelled to the African Union [...]

Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria
APPO headquarters: Denis Sassou Nguesso rallies round to convince Muhammadu Buhari and Teodoro Obiang Nguema

Temporarily transferred to Abuja since 2017, the African Petroleum Producers Organization has been the subject of intensive lobbying from three of its members.

Ivory Coast, Senegal
Macky Sall's wise advice to Alassane Ouattara

In private, Macky Sall has advised Alassane Ouattara not to [...]

Benin
How Air France is trying to defuse the crisis

Two directors from the French airline have been urgently dispatched to Cotonou.

Benin, Spain
Jean-Charles Tchikaya to the rescue of Komi Koutche

The Bordeaux lawyer Jean-Charles Tchikaya has been retained to defend [...]

Congo, Ivory Coast
Guillaume Soro tends to his networks in central Africa

Still cagey as to his intentions for the 2020 presidential [...]

Spotlight | Central Africa, West Africa
Why African presidents are looking beyond France for their healthcare

For many years regulars at the Val de Grace military hospital in Paris, African heads of state are now increasingly likely to get their check-ups in Saudi Arabia, Morocco or Israel rather than checking into a clinic in the French [.

Africa
The secrets of those presidential jets

The aerial ballet is by now well choreographed. Whenever Sylvia Bongo needs to travel, she flies on a Boeing 737 [...]

Spotlight | Central Africa, West Africa
The young guard invades the corridors of power

As their long-standing allies enter their dotage, African heads of state are turning to a new generation of highly qualified pretenders who are colonising the presidential palaces and forging their own networks. An exposé of the inner circles of tomorrow.

Africa, Belgium
Arion to head the ICCO?

The former Belgian diplomat Michel Arion has been shortlisted to [...]

Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast
VIPs left stranded after Ivoire Executive folds

Ivoire Executive, one of the few companies active in the VIP market, has been wound up after a shareholder disagreement. The authorities are seeking a new partner. An exclusive investigation.

Ivory Coast
Air France rapped on the knuckles

The director responsible for west Africa at Air France, Philippe [...]

Benin, Congo
Boni Yayi in talks with Sassou

Thomas Boni Yayi spent a long time discussing the political [...]

Spotlight | Togo
Faure coached by his peers in outfoxing the opposition

Forced to reopen dialogue with his opponents, the Togolese president is being discretely urged by the majority of his sub-regional counterparts not to loosen his grip on power one iota. An investigation.Referendum - Having succeeded his father Gnassingbe Eyadema in [.

Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea
The murky ‘putsch' against Obiang bolsters relations with Biya

The alleged coup attempt against the president of Equatorial Guinea has strained relations with N'Djamena, while strengthening ties with Yaounde.

Africa, France
Macron keeps Biya at arm's length

During their encounter on 29 November in Abidjan, Paul Biya [...]

Senegal
Marieme Faye-Sall snubbed on the doorstep of Wade's home!

The big family reconciliation of Senegalese liberals will not be [...]

Benin, Ivory Coast
Abidjan the epicenter of Talon-Ajavon rivalry

Benin’s president and his "best enemy" are competing with one another in business in Ivory Coast’s economic capital.

Senegal
Sall has the "Y’en a Marre" movement in his cross-hairs

With legislative elections set for July 30, Senegal’s Y’en a [...]

Ivory Coast
ARM stalled in tracks on Ivoire Golf Club

Restoration of the hotel is marking time, even though the project is supposedly a priority for tourism minister Siandou Fofana.

Ivory Coast
Therese N’Dri-Yoman finds her footing in Brazzaville

Named Ivory Coast’s ambassador to Congo-B last July, Therese Aya N’Dri Yoman presented her credentials to Denis Sassou-Nguesso in early [...]

Ivory Coast, Mali
Ado displays prudence

Alassane Ouattara, worried by the Jan. 6 mutiny in several [...]

Togo
Katari Foli-Bazi heads to Lome’s port

Interior minister during President Faure Gnassingbe’s accession to power inn [...]

Madagascar
Sheraton has not said its last word on OIF summit

Officials for the Sheraton hotel in Ivato are pulling out [...]

Ghana, Ivory Coast
John Mahamat Dramani flies French

Ghana's President John Mahamat Dramani travelled on a French-registered plane [...]

Benin
Patrice Talon ditches Boni Yayi’s Boeing jet

Benin’s new leader had barely come to power when he had to deal with his predecessor’s problematic order of a new presidential plane.

Equatorial Guinea
Jean-Marie Le Pen votes for Obiang in Malabo

After having been re-elected in April with a meagre 93.7% of the vote - he got 95.37% in 2009 -, [...]

Niger
Issoufou may pension off “Mont Bazagam”

President Mahamadou Issoufou is awaiting an audit of the ageing presidential plane before he makes his mind up.

Benin
Talon takes to the air to settle scores with predecessor

The new president is expected to take a close look at the conditions surrounding the acquisition of a presidential Boeing by his predecessor.

Document | Congo
Sassou’s election campaign takes off with a Falcon

Apart from having at his disposal the resources of the Congolese state, including the state-controlled media (WAN n°725), Denis Sassou-Nguesso [...]

Equatorial Guinea
AMAC Aerospace enhances Obiang’s Air Force One

No expense has been spared to make President Obiang’s Boeing 777-200 plane fit for its new owner.

France, Gabon
Bongo’s Boeing handed back

President Ali Bongo is going to get his Boeing 777 [...]

France, Gabon
Ali Bongo’s Boeing seizure prompts diplomatic row with Paris

A diplomatic crisis has erupted between Paris and Libreville over the French police’s seizure of a Gabonese presidential Boeing 777 [...]

Congo
Sassou cracks for presidential Falcon

Fearful that the country’s creditors might take it badly, Denis Sassou Nguesso resisted acquiring a presidential jet for a long time but he has finally given in to temptation.