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IVORY COAST

Embalo and Sassou discreetly manoeuvre against Ouattara in Oyo

The Congolese president Denis Sassou Nguesso is seeking to involve himself in various other political crises on the continent. © EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/POOL / POOL/EPA/Newscom/MaxPPP

A fierce enemy of Alassane Ouattara, the Guinea-Bissau president is seeking to rally his elder Congolese counterpart to his cause and exert an influence over the post-electoral crisis in Ivory Coast. [...] (744 words)

Issue dated 12/11/2020 Reading time 3 minutes

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Politics

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IVORY COAST
African Union
Alassane Ouattara
Alpha Condé
Amadou Gon Coulibaly
Claudia Sassou Nguesso
Denis Sassou Nguesso
Economic Community of West African States
Etienne Tshisekedi
Félix Tshisekedi
Guillaume Soro
Hamed Bakayoko
International Criminal Court
Jean-Claude Kabongo
Laurent Gbagbo
Leaders hesitant to stoke chaos in Abidjan
Macky Sall
Manoeuvring against a third Ouattara term
Mobutu Sese Seko
Muhammadu Buhari
Nana Akufo-Addo
Rodrigue Nguesso
Socialist International
Stephane Kipre
Tshisekedi and Ivory Coast
Umaro Sissoco Embalo
Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social

In Conakry, Condé's former ministers living under tight surveillance

As Alpha Condé seeks to return to Guinean politics after his ouster, many of his former ministers are living under harsh restrictions imposed by the country's new government. [...]

GUINEA Politics 07/12/2022

In exile in Turkey, Alpha Conde keeps a hand in politics

The former president of Guinea, who has been living in Istanbul since September, still keeps in close touch with several African heads of state. On top of his traditional allies on the continent, he has also renewed contact with his former adversary Umaro Sissoco Embalo, from Guinea-Bissau. [...]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets former president of Guinea Alpha Conde at the Vahdettin Mansion in Istanbul, Turkey on 14 August 2021.

GUINEA BISSAU SENEGAL Energy Politics 18/11/2022

Imbroglio over AGC allows CNOOC to shelve drilling plans

CNOOC is still waiting for Senegal and Guinea-Bissau to settle the matter of resource distribution on their joint maritime zone, where it operates the AGC Profond block. Until a solution is found, the Chinese major does not want to start its drilling programme on the licence. [...]

WEST AFRICA Diplomacy 11/11/2022

ECOWAS to hold summit on 4 December

The heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will meet on 4 December in Abuja, which hosts the headquarters of the regional organisation, for their annual ordinary summit. [...]

IVORY COAST Politics Diplomacy 04/11/2022

Guillaume Soro resurfaces in Dubai

The former speaker of the Ivorian parliament has been in Dubai for several weeks, where he has been engaging in quiet diplomacy. Though Ouattara is aware of his opponent's whereabouts, he is not expected to seek Soro's extradition. [...]

The former president of the Ivorian National Assembly, Guillaume Soro.

GUINEA WEST AFRICA Politics 03/10/2022

ECOWAS split over how to deal with Doumbouya junta

The Economic Community of West African States' decision to impose sanctions on Guinea's junta was the result of a fragile consensus and is far from being unanimously backed by its member countries. [...]

AFRICA FRANCE Diplomacy 02/09/2022

Lyon's lesser-known business school pampers African decision-makers

From Samuel Eto'o to Guillaume Soro, many African celebrities have turned to the Ecole de Commerce de Lyon as an easy way to pick up a degree in management. Its director, Hervé Diaz, is generous with the school's honorary degrees. [...]

WEST AFRICA Diplomacy 19/08/2022

Why the next ECOWAS summit will be held in Abuja

Although he has been president of the Economic Community of West African States since July, Umaro Sissoco Embaló will not host the next summit of the regional organisation in Guinea-Bissau. [...]

WEST AFRICA Diplomacy 01/07/2022

ECOWAS leaders at loggerheads over successor to Akufo-Addo

The summit in Accra on 3 July should officialise the appointment of a new ECOWAS chairperson to succeed the Ghanaian Nana Akufo-Addo as well of new commissioners for the regional organisation. Two electric subjects that have greatly increased tensions between West Africa's leaders. [...]

AFRICA EUROPE Politics 10/06/2022

Groupe Agir Europe-Afrique puts positive spin on African elections

The association, which is officially based in France and coordinated by the Ivorian Jean Amoikon Eba, has been observing elections across the African continent for the last decade. [...]

CENTRAL AFRICA Business 03/06/2022

Business airlines hit jackpot with AU summit in Malabo

The latest African Union gathering held in the capital of Equatorial Guinea in May was a golden opportunity for a handful of business airlines to make some serious money by flying various presidents around. [...]

The African Union summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

IVORY COAST Diplomacy 25/04/2022

Ouattara makes key new appointments at his embassy in Paris

Following his appointment of a new consul general at the French embassy in Paris in February, Alassane Ouattara has promoted one of his generals as head of the military mission there. [...]

IVORY COAST Politics 01/02/2022

Alassane Ouattara puts government reshuffle on hold ahead of string of overseas trips

The Ivorian president has just suspended the country's council of ministers for the next few weeks so that he can have time to make several trips abroad and finalise his government reshuffle. [...]

GUINEA MALI Diplomacy 04/01/2022

Ouattara and Embalo face off over extension to ECOWAS mandate in Guinea and Mali

The Ivorian president had to confront his Guinea-Bissau counterpart Umaro Sissoco Embalo to extend the current mandate of the ECOWAS commission over post-coup Guinea and Mali by several months. It was a tense showdown during which Macky Sall tried to mediate. [...]

Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara and Guinea-Bissau president Umaro Sissoco Embalo.

DRC Diplomacy 04/10/2021

After Doha, Tshisekedi heads to Abu Dhabi to talk big business with MBZ

After Qatar, the Congolese president is continuing his tour of the Gulf with a trip to the United Arab Emirates on the hunt for investments. So far, the pickings have been meagre. [...]

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has already met on 12 September 2021 with UAE Foreign Minister Shakhbut bin Nahyan bin Mubarak al-Nahyan (left).

CONGO IVORY COAST Politics 27/09/2021

Sassou Nguesso and Soro hold secret meeting in Geneva

Former National Assembly speaker Guillaume Soro met with Congo's head of state in Switzerland earlier this month. The talks come as Denis Sassou Nguesso is being repeatedly tipped to lead mediation between Soro and Alassane Quattara. [...]

Former president of the Ivorian national assembly Guillaume Soro and Congo's head of state Denis Sassou Nguesso.

The former president of the Ivorian National Assembly Guillaume Soro. © Reuters/Charles Platiau

In Focus

IVORY COAST Politics 06/09/2021

The quiet attempts to reconcile Alassane Ouattara with his former ally Guillaume Soro

Supporters of the Ivorian National Assembly's former president Guillaume Soro, exiled in Europe since 2019 and sentenced to life imprisonment in June, have been trying to reconcile him with the head of state Alassane Ouattara, with the backing of Congolese president Denis Sassou Nguesso. [...]

WEST AFRICA Politics 20/07/2021

Ouattara tentatively mediates between Buhari and Talon

With the diplomatic skirmish over customs decisions between Nigeria and Benin threatening to paralyse the subregion's entire economy, the Ivorian president has reached out to both their heads of state in an attempt to get them talking again. [...]

Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara

IVORY COAST Politics 09/07/2021

Behind the scenes of Ouattara and Gabgbo's cold war

Despite attempts by their entourage to bring them together, the dividing lines between former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo and his successor are getting clearer. [...]

Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo on his return to Abidjan on 17 June 2021.

AFRICA Diplomacy 03/05/2021

Will Beijing boycott Macron's Africa Summit?

The French president has been trying to get China on board his summit of African economies for months but Beijing has yet to RSVP his invitation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken should represent Joe Biden at the 18 May event, to which several African heads of state have been hastily invited at the last minute. [...]

CAMEROON Diplomacy 08/04/2021

Biya treads gingerly with Washington

Fearful of attracting the ire of a Biden administration that is already rather ill-disposed towards Yaoundé, the Cameroonian foreign ministry is staying silent in the wake of the expulsion of one of its diplomats from the United States over allegations of ill-treatment. [...]

MAURITANIA Politics 05/04/2021

Accused Aziz prepares international legal counter-offensive

Former president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who was placed under judicial supervision in mid-March, plans to take his case to the African Union, the Arab League and the International League for Human Rights. [...]

Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

WEST AFRICA Diplomacy 25/03/2021

Portuguese-speaking countries discreetly lobby for ECOWAS presidency

Portuguese-speaking countries have been busy behind the scenes trying to get their voices heard in ECOWAS, which is dominated by French- and English-speaking members. The president of Guinea-Bissau has even reached out to foes Alassane Ouattara and Alpha Condé. [...]

Bissau-Guinean President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and his Cape Verdean counterpart Jorge Carlos Fonseca, 19 January 2021.

DRC Business 10/03/2021

After Iraq and Abidjan, Philippe Brett's capers continue in Congo

Philippe Brett's picaresque career includes stints as a far-right French politician's driver, an organiser of commercial trips to Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and as a bungling hostage negotiator. He has now turned his attention to the building and public works sector in Lubumbashi. [...]

Self-appointed French hostage mediator Philippe Brett in 2004.

GABON GHANA Diplomacy 04/03/2021

Libreville and Accra win right to vie for UN Security Council seat

Although the Congolese president and current African Union chairperson, Félix [...]

BENIN Defence Politics 23/02/2021

Special border surveillance units in front line as presidential poll looms

Faced with a two-part security challenge of tensions surrounding the presidential election coupled with rising terrorism on its northern borders, Benin plans to redefine the scope of action of its special border surveillance units, the USSF. [...]

ANGOLA CONGO Diplomacy 01/02/2021

Relations between Sassou and Lourenço become ever more poisonous

Presidential advisors in Angola now suspect Congo of colluding with the separatist Frente de Libertação do Estado de Cabinda (FLEC). [...]

WEST AFRICA Diplomacy 01/02/2021

Embaló's hush-hush campaign for ECOWAS chair

President Umaro Sissoco Embaló is working the region to pave his way to the chairmanship of the regional bloc. [...]

WEST AFRICA Business 01/02/2021

From Michael Jackson to Ghana's elite, Nicky Wilson's networks stretch far and wide

The mysterious and influential Togolese businessman Nicky Wilson is close to all of Ghana's decision-makers and knows numerous African presidents. [...]

GUINEA BISSAU Politics 19/01/2021

Embaló wants to declare war on parliament

Now that he no longer has a two-thirds majority in the National People's Assembly, President Umaro Sissoco Embaló cannot carry out his planned constitutional reform. He has threatened to dissolve the assembly, raising fears that this could provoke a political crisis just one year after his own highly contested election as president. [...]

The president of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló.

GHANA Diplomacy 18/01/2021

Foreign minister Botchway, centrepiece of Akufo Addo's ECOWAS chairmanship

Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo's powerful foreign minister for the past four years, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway is to chair a meeting of her ECOWAS colleagues in Mali on 19 January. [...]

CONGO DRC Diplomacy 17/12/2020

Sassou contends with domino effect of Kinshasa crisis

The current head of ECCAS, the Congolese leader Denis Sassou Nguesso, is much exercised by the crisis in neighbouring DRC. Running for re-election early next year, Sassou is above all worried that the standoff between Tshisekedi and Kabila will upset his campaign. [...]

Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso is seeking his fourth term.

IVORY COAST Diplomacy 08/12/2020

Who will be in the presidential box for Ouattara's investiture?

So far, only a handful of the ECOWAS heads of states invited to Alassane Ouattara's swearing-in ceremony on 14 December have confirmed they will attend. For its part, France will be sending foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to the event. [...]

President Alassane Ouattara speaks during his inauguration ceremony on 3 November 2015.

MAURITANIA Politics 20/11/2020

Moustapha Chafi courted from all sides since his return to Nouakchott

The country's business and political elite have been eagerly paying visits to the former opponent of the Aziz regime since his return to the capital in the hopes of finding out what he plans to do next. [...]

MALI TOGO Diplomacy 19/11/2020

Hush-hush diplomacy between Lomé and Bamako shores up junta

Though the visit to Lomé by the president of the transition Bah N'Daw on 13 November was the first by a top Malian official to the country, very close contacts have been nurtured behind the scenes between the leaders of the putsch and Faure Gnassingbé ever since the coup d'état on 18 August. [...]

The meeting with Faure Gnassingbé (left) on 13 November in Lomé was a key stage in Bah N'Daw's regional tour.

DRC Energy Business 18/11/2020

SkyPower due back in Kinshasa to discuss its $1bn PV project

Canadian electricity producer SkyPower is trying to put together a finance package for its planned 1,000 MW solar farm near Kinshasa. [...]

ANGOLA GUINEA BISSAU Diplomacy 17/11/2020

Lourenço and Embalo's spat widens divisions in Portuguese-speaking Africa

Already torn apart by the tug of war between the Angolan and Brazilian heads of state, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries now has to navigate the frosty relations between Guinea Bissau president Umaro Sissoco Embalo and his Angolan opposite number João Lourenço. [...]

Angolan president João Lourenço received Domingos Simões Pereira - Guinea Bissau president Umaro Sissoco's main election rival - in February 2020.

IVORY COAST Politics 13/11/2020

Laurent Gbagbo set to return to Ivory Coast after nine years in exile

Just a few days after his re-election as president, Alassane Ouattara has agreed to grant Laurent Gbagbo a diplomatic passport, opening the way to the former president's return to Ivory Coast after an absence of nine years. [...]

The former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo.

Spotlight

DRC Politics 10/11/2020

Tshisekedi seeks Sassou's clout to sideline one-time ally Kabila

In his battle against predecessor Joseph Kabila, President Félix Tshisekedi has turned to neighbouring head of state Denis Sassou Nguesso for help in building a new political coalition. [...]

IVORY COAST Politics 03/11/2020

Macron's secret call with Ouattara as post-electoral storm brews

Published 3 November 10h45 - A day before the official results of the presidential election were announced, Emmanuel Macron called Alassane Ouattara, who swept up 94.27% of the votes, to urge him to make a "significant" gesture towards the opposition. [...]

Violent clashes took place in Ivory Coast.

IVORY COAST Politics 02/11/2020

Economy a double-edged sword in Ouattara's election campaign

Campaigning for a third term in office, Alassane Ouattara has made great play of the country's economic growth and its respect for the conditions set by the IMF. The economic indicators he is using, however, are still being processed and could turn out less favourable than the Ivorian president imagines. [...]

A campaign poster for Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan, 15 October, 2020.

IVORY COAST Politics 27/10/2020

Pascal Affi N'Guessan becomes central player in presidential election race

In less than a month, Pascal Affi N'Guessan has risen to join aging 86-year-old Henri Konan Bédié and become the opposition's figurehead against Alassane Ouattara. [...]

IVORY COAST Politics 23/10/2020

Ouattara manoeuvres to avoid election boycott

Running for re-election, President Alassane Ouattara has been dangling state campaign subsidies in front of his rivals and bringing pressure to bear from neighbouring states to persuade opponents such as Henri Konan Bédié to take part in the election. [...]

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara is running for re-election. But his opponents look like boycotting the ballot.

IVORY COAST Politics 20/10/2020

Construction king Bonkoungou gives wings to Ouattara's presidential campaign

Ouattara will be jetting around the country campaigning for a third mandate on a plane belonging to banking and building king Mahamadou Bonkoungou. [...]

IVORY COAST Diplomacy 06/10/2020

Ouattara's bid for third term deepens his diplomatic isolation

The Ivorian president's unshakable determination to run for re-election on 31 October is increasingly irking the international community. At the same time, several West African states are unhappy over the treatment of the former head of state Laurent Gbagbo. [...]

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara is determined to run for a third term.

Set up email notifications for these topics

IVORY COAST
African Union
Alassane Ouattara
Alpha Condé
Amadou Gon Coulibaly
Claudia Sassou Nguesso
Denis Sassou Nguesso
Economic Community of West African States
Etienne Tshisekedi
Félix Tshisekedi
Guillaume Soro
Hamed Bakayoko
International Criminal Court
Jean-Claude Kabongo
Laurent Gbagbo
Leaders hesitant to stoke chaos in Abidjan
Macky Sall
Manoeuvring against a third Ouattara term
Mobutu Sese Seko
Muhammadu Buhari
Nana Akufo-Addo
Rodrigue Nguesso
Socialist International
Stephane Kipre
Tshisekedi and Ivory Coast
Umaro Sissoco Embalo
Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social

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Transition in Guinea: what's next after the coup?

Embalo and Sassou discreetly manoeuvre against Ouattara in Oyo

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Set up email notifications for these topics

In Conakry, Condé's former ministers living under tight surveillance

In exile in Turkey, Alpha Conde keeps a hand in politics

Imbroglio over AGC allows CNOOC to shelve drilling plans

ECOWAS to hold summit on 4 December

Guillaume Soro resurfaces in Dubai

ECOWAS split over how to deal with Doumbouya junta

Lyon's lesser-known business school pampers African decision-makers

Why the next ECOWAS summit will be held in Abuja

ECOWAS leaders at loggerheads over successor to Akufo-Addo

Groupe Agir Europe-Afrique puts positive spin on African elections

Business airlines hit jackpot with AU summit in Malabo

Ouattara makes key new appointments at his embassy in Paris

Alassane Ouattara puts government reshuffle on hold ahead of string of overseas trips

Ouattara and Embalo face off over extension to ECOWAS mandate in Guinea and Mali

After Doha, Tshisekedi heads to Abu Dhabi to talk big business with MBZ

Sassou Nguesso and Soro hold secret meeting in Geneva

The quiet attempts to reconcile Alassane Ouattara with his former ally Guillaume Soro

Ouattara tentatively mediates between Buhari and Talon

Behind the scenes of Ouattara and Gabgbo's cold war

Will Beijing boycott Macron's Africa Summit?

Biya treads gingerly with Washington

Accused Aziz prepares international legal counter-offensive

Portuguese-speaking countries discreetly lobby for ECOWAS presidency

After Iraq and Abidjan, Philippe Brett's capers continue in Congo

Libreville and Accra win right to vie for UN Security Council seat

Special border surveillance units in front line as presidential poll looms

Relations between Sassou and Lourenço become ever more poisonous

Embaló's hush-hush campaign for ECOWAS chair

From Michael Jackson to Ghana's elite, Nicky Wilson's networks stretch far and wide

Embaló wants to declare war on parliament

Foreign minister Botchway, centrepiece of Akufo Addo's ECOWAS chairmanship

Sassou contends with domino effect of Kinshasa crisis

Who will be in the presidential box for Ouattara's investiture?

Moustapha Chafi courted from all sides since his return to Nouakchott

Hush-hush diplomacy between Lomé and Bamako shores up junta

SkyPower due back in Kinshasa to discuss its $1bn PV project

Lourenço and Embalo's spat widens divisions in Portuguese-speaking Africa

Laurent Gbagbo set to return to Ivory Coast after nine years in exile

Tshisekedi seeks Sassou's clout to sideline one-time ally Kabila

Macron's secret call with Ouattara as post-electoral storm brews

Economy a double-edged sword in Ouattara's election campaign

Pascal Affi N'Guessan becomes central player in presidential election race

Ouattara manoeuvres to avoid election boycott

Construction king Bonkoungou gives wings to Ouattara's presidential campaign

Ouattara's bid for third term deepens his diplomatic isolation

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