Africa in 2023

Arguments over emissions cuts, climate finance and developing economies' access to energy are set to dominate the UN COP28 Climate summit in Dubai in November. Despite sharpening geopolitical...

The bold hopes surrounding fresh talks between Sudanese political parties on 9 January to agree a final deal for a transition to civil rule 'within a few weeks'...

President João Lourenço came out of last August's elections doubly weakened – by the opposition, which made historic gains despite the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola...

High levels of oil and gas revenues meant Algeria ended 2023 with good economic results on paper, as foreign reserves rebuilt to over US$60 billion and enough money...

At the present rate of progress President Hakainde Hichilema and his United Party for National Development (UPND) – elected in a landslide by voters fed up with six...

President Filipe Nyusi will use every means at his disposal, including taking credit for the likely resumption of the offshore gas projects this year, to change the constitution...

Elections look unlikely again this year. After the eastern-based House of Representatives (HoR) blamed the failure of the December 2021 presidential elections on Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dubaiba's...

The military juntas running Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso – in place since August 2020, September 2021, and January 2022 respectively – are set, according to their own...

For many of the delegates who travelled to Washington DC for the United States-African leaders' summit on 13-15 December, the first such gathering in eight years, it was...

Ousmane Sonko, the charismatic leader of the Pastefs les Patriotes opposition party, is in full campaign mode for the presidential elections due in early 2024 – although President...

The Kremlin is working hard to diversify its influence in Africa and involve more of the Russian state in it, as far as international sanctions imposed after the...

With a third of the world, including many African economies, forecast by the IMF to go into recession, unsustainable debts with all their socio-political consequences will take centre...

The coming year is likely to see further loosening of President Cyril Ramaphosa's grip on his divided ruling party and reduce his ability to progress economic reforms.

Presidential and national assembly elections on 25 February presage sweeping changes. Among 11 million new voters, most of them aged between 18 and 34, many are frustrated with...

Militants of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have a spring in their step in the new year as they gear up to fight the December 2024...

Although the impact of the economic crisis has been softened by financial support from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in the form of deposits and...

Having secured, however fleetingly, full-spectrum dominance over the domestic political scene, and with the debt crisis in remission after the International Monetary Fund injected an additional $550 million...

President Félix Tshisekedi has been consolidating power, but that does not mean accountability and better governance are any closer than when he fraudulently won the presidency in 2018....

Pre-election buzz will energise discussions about Zimbabwe's future ahead of general elections set to be held in July or August. But any sense of optimism will be short-lived...

Economic woes and conflicts in Uganda's restive regions are set to escalate during the year as tensions accumulate over whether President Yoweri Museveni will stand for re-election to...