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Angola is trying to reduce its oil dependence. REUTERS/Ed Cropley

New Asset Class

Premium badgeBanco de Fomento plans Angola’s first private credit fund to support diversification The bank is targeting foreign investors such as sovereign wealth and development funds to help Angola reduce reliance on oil.
© FILE PHOTO: High-tension electrical power lines are seen at the Azura-Edo Independent Power Plant (IPP) on the outskirt of Benin City in Edo state, Nigeria June 13, 2018. Picture taken June 13, 2018. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye/File Photo

lights off

Premium badgeNigeria suffers total blackout as power grid collapses Africa’s largest economy has for decades faced challenges in its power sector due to population growth, dilapidated infrastructure and corruption.
© Locomotive D-133 arrives at the railway station in Benguela, Angola. Opened in 1902, the Caminho de Ferro de Benguela originally ran to Lubumbashi in the Belgian Congo but currently only operates from Lobito. (WikimediaCommons/CC/David Stanley)

Back on track

Premium badgeUS and EU join forces on rail corridor in play for African minerals Western investments in rail links between Angola, DRC and Zambia aim to secure greater access to the raw materials powering the green energy revolutio...
Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale Dosso, Niger. (Wikimedia Commons/CC/ Sakou Gado)

pension politics

Premium badgeOp Ed: Francophone Africa coups focus on pension stability Health and pension rights have become a priority for African transitional authorities, who have recognised that social benefits are key to political s...
© An irrigation system at a farm in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg, South Africa. (Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko)

water wars

Premium badgeSouth Africa: Race-based quotas for water licences worry farmers The ruling ANC has drafted a water licence bill that is criticised by the opposition DA party as being race-based and threatens agriculture.
File photo of Zimbabwe’s second Vice President Kembo Mohadi. (Reuters/Feline Lim)

you again?

Premium badgeZimbabwe: Why Mnangagwa trusts Mohadi more than Chiwenga Kembo Mohadi, Zimbabwe vice president who was forced to resign in 2021 amid a sex scandal, has bounced back following his boss Emmerson Mnangagwa’s re...
Rahul Dhir, CEO of Tullow Oil at the Africa Oil Week in Cape Town © Rahul Dhir, CEO of Tullow Oil, speaks to Reuters at the Africa Oil Week 2022 conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre 2, Cape Town, South Africa, October 4, 2022. REUTERS/Shelley Christians

big hole

Premium badgeTullow Oil production outlook cut shows debt overhang still hampers investment Tullow Oil is struggling to convince analysts that it can deliver debt reduction alongside a growing business.

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Amhara Fano militia fighters inside a ransacked terminal at Lalibela airport in 2021. (Solan Kolli / AFP)

protracted conflict

Premium badgeEthiopia: Will the Fano drag Ethiopia back into civil war? Nearly two months after militia fighters briefly seized control of several cities across Amhara, the fate of the region hangs in the balance. Is Ethio...
File photo of National Unity Platform opposition party leader Bobi Wine. (AP/Nicholas Bamulanzeki)

not free

Premium badgeUganda: Bobi Wine’s short-lived freedom…why? On 28 August, Uganda’s foremost opposition politician, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, kicked off his countrywide tour, uncertain of how security wou...
Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi and Taoufik Hakkar, chairman and CEO of the state-owned Sonatrach group. ©Jeune Afrique MONTAGE: YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP; Billel Bensalem/NurPhoto via AFP

energy plays

Premium badgeSonatrach, QatarEnergy face off over gas supply to Europe From contracts under discussion to major projects already underway, Algeria’s Sonatrach and the Gulf giant are battling to bolster their status as key...

More top stories

Amhara Fano militia fighters inside a ransacked terminal at Lalibela airport in 2021. (Solan Kolli / AFP)

protracted conflict

Premium badgeEthiopia: Will the Fano drag Ethiopia back into civil war? Nearly two months after militia fighters briefly seized control of several cities across Amhara, the fate of the region hangs in the balance. Is Ethio...
File photo of National Unity Platform opposition party leader Bobi Wine. (AP/Nicholas Bamulanzeki)

not free

Premium badgeUganda: Bobi Wine’s short-lived freedom…why? On 28 August, Uganda’s foremost opposition politician, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, kicked off his countrywide tour, uncertain of how security wou...
Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi and Taoufik Hakkar, chairman and CEO of the state-owned Sonatrach group. ©Jeune Afrique MONTAGE: YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP; Billel Bensalem/NurPhoto via AFP

energy plays

Premium badgeSonatrach, QatarEnergy face off over gas supply to Europe From contracts under discussion to major projects already underway, Algeria’s Sonatrach and the Gulf giant are battling to bolster their status as key...

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The FSDEA’s Kamba Dyami programme, which provides one laptop per pupil. January 2016. Facebook FSDEA

drawbacks

Premium badgeAngola’s sovereign wealth fund still in limbo despite improvements Created during the dos Santos era, Angola’s sovereign wealth fund is still finding its feet under the Lourenço administration.
© Ahmed al-Tantawi, Egypt’s only candidate campaigning so far for a presidential election next year against incumbent President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Photo supplied

predetermined outcome?

Egypt’s sole presidential challenger Tantawi alleges campaign harassment President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief, is widely expected to run for re-election next year.
George Akuffo Dampare/Ghana Police

LEAKED TAPE

Premium badgeGhana: Why are juniors plotting to oust police chief Dampare ahead of elections? Ghana’s parliament is probing the authenticity of the audio recording containing alleged conspiracy to remove the Inspector-General of Police George A...
Rising fuel and food prices are squeezing Kenyan consumers. (Reuters/Thomas Mukoya)

high prices

Kenya is heading in the wrong direction, citizens tell Ruto as he marks one year in office Kenya President William Ruto marked one year in office this week, as Kenyans polled say they are losing hope with his administration.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hand with Nigeria President Bola Ahmed Tinubu upon his arrival at Bharat Mandapam convention centre for the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Evan Vucci/Pool via REUTERS

too risky

Premium badgeNigeria: FX shortages frustrate Tinubu’s plan to lure FDI back Changes to the monetary policy have done little to attract foreign investors, as Africa’s largest economy continue to suffer a trade deficit.
eacopmap1 © Satellite image provided by by the Earth Insight research group in the US shows EACOP environmental impacts in Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park.

Ripple Effect

Premium badgeNew satellite images show potential EACOP impact may be worse than feared Satellite images chart EACOP oil pipeline impacts in Uganda, Tanzania and the DRC.
File photo of supporters at a party rally to celebrate the presidential candidacy of Henri Konan Bédié for the opposition PDCI-RDA party, September 2020) (AP/Diomande Ble Blonde)

keeping strong

Premium badgeCôte d’Ivoire’s PDCI party tries to limit electoral damage after Bédié’s death After the death of PDCI party president Henri Konan Bédié, the party has lost key local polls, but remains the leading opposition regarding numbers of...
General Brice Oligui Nguema, sworn in as President of the transition, during the military parade in Libreville on 4 September 2023. © AFP

bread & circuses

Premium badgeGabon: Nguema charms the masses as he takes up residence at presidential palace Ever since his swearing in on 4 September as Gabon’s President of the transition, Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema has used his charisma to garner support...
Ralph Mupita in London in May 2019. © Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

‘enormous project’

Premium badgeMTN’s Ralph Mupita, the CEO who aims high despite challenges For the second half of his term, the CEO who wants to turn the pan-Africa telecommunications giant into a technological platform is embarking on a tra...
Planet Earth, illustration. (Photo by Visible Earth, NASA/JOHAN SWANEP / JSW / Science Photo Library via AFP)

digging deeper

Premium badgeMining, energy, construction: Where in Africa is it best to invest? In a complex economic environment in Africa, political risk, soaring construction costs and rising interest rates are putting the brakes on internatio...
On the street in Timbuktu, Mali, in happier times. (Wikimedia Commons CC 2.0/Emilio Labrador)

Not Again

Premium badgeIn Mali, Timbuktu grapples with resurgent jihadist threat Timbuktu, the city of 333 saints has been under jihadist blockade for a month, as residents struggle to live, and eat.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane listens during a briefing at Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, 2016. (Reuters/Mike Hutchings)

political wrangling

Premium badgeSouth Africa: Ousted public protector says Ramaphosa behind ‘political manoeuvering’ South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa has fired public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane effective Wednesday, just one month before her tumultuous tenure ...
© Members of Libyan Red Crescent Ajdabiya work in an area affected by flooding, in Derna, Libya, in this social media image released September 12, 2023. Libyan Red Crescent Ajdabiya via REUTERS

At least 30,000 left homeless by Libya city flood: UN agency Derna was counting its dead Wednesday with 2,300 people confirmed killed, with the Red Cross warning that 10,000 are missing.