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Published 12th June 2026

Vol 67 No 12

Congo-Kinshasa

Tshisekedi tests opinion with third-term kite

CONGO-KINSHASA: The war in the Kivus rumbles on after a year of negotiations. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2026
CONGO-KINSHASA: The war in the Kivus rumbles on after a year of negotiations. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2026

The President’s hints at ending term limits and delaying the 2028 polls unsettle investors wary of conflict in Africa’s biggest copper producer

Congolese voters have been presented with a fait accompli but their acquiescence is not guaranteed. President Felix Tshisekedi, who is midway through his second term, says the rebel bid for secession in vast swathes of Kivu-Nord and Kivu-Sud means it would be ‘impossible’ to hold presidential elections in 2028. He also says that if ‘the people’ ask him to serve another term, he would accept, even though the Congolese constitution expressly rules out any change to a two-term presidential limit.

Immigration ire exposes faltering state

Malawian nationals at Beitbridge Border Post making their way back home from South Africa under the Malawi government's voluntary repatriation exercise. Pic: @MalawiGovt
Malawian nationals at Beitbridge Border Post making their way back home from South Africa under the Malawi government's voluntary repatriation exercise. Pic: @MalawiGovt

Growing public anger over enforcement failures is raising doubts about whether the government can still assert its authority

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government faces a challenge that reaches far beyond immigration. The rise of anti-immigration movements across South Africa is exposing deeper doubts about the country’s ability...

Not yet ubuntu

The SA Border Management Authority processes 663 Ghanaian nationals for repatriation from South Africa to Ghana through OR Tambo International Airport, 6 June 2026. Pic: @TheBMA_SA
The SA Border Management Authority processes 663 Ghanaian nationals for repatriation from South Africa to Ghana through OR Tambo International Airport, 6 June 2026. Pic: @TheBMA_SA

Evacuations of Ghanaians fleeing xenophobic attacks have strained Accra-Pretoria ties, exposing divisions between historic Pan-African partners

The Ghana government’s repatriation of over 950 Ghanaian citizens from South Africa has yielded a surge in support locally for President John Mahama’s government even as it signals...

BLUE LINES
THE INSIDE VIEW

‘A World Cup of chaos,’ was the verdict of former England forward Ian Wright after Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the United States because, the Trump administration says, of his ‘association with suspected members of terror organisations’. A record 10 African countries will take part in the 48-team tournament that kicks off on 11 June. The tight visa restrictions imposed by US authorities, combined with astronomical ticket prices, mean that few Africans w...

‘A World Cup of chaos,’ was the verdict of former England forward Ian Wright after Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the United States because, the Trump administration says, of his ‘association with suspected members of terror organisations’.

A record 10 African countries will take part in the 48-team tournament that kicks off on 11 June. The tight visa restrictions imposed by US authorities, combined with astronomical ticket prices, mean that few Africans will travel to the US, which is co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico.

Combined with Artan’s deportation, it suggests FIFA has lost control of its flagship tournament. FIFA President Gianni Infantino declined to intervene, even though his organisation had testified to Artan’s footballing bona fides.

Morocco and Senegal – the highest-ranked African sides – are expected to reach the tournament’s knockout stages. They are also embroiled in a dispute, now before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, over January’s Africa Cup of Nations final: won by Senegal, but later awarded to Morocco by Africa’s football governing body after the Senegal team walked off following a controversial stoppage-time penalty.

Politics surrounded the previous two World Cups in Qatar and Russia. But this year’s event, which has already surpassed those levels of political heat, is oddly paired with record levels of pre-tournament public apathy.

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After the IMF, Accra targets growth

Accra’s roadshow hits the London stage, but investors are looking beyond the macro-data to assess the reforms

Ghana’s exit from its US$3 billion International Monetary Fund lending programme in May, followed by an economic roadshow in London including meetings with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and...

IMF critiques Abuja’s opaque lending

After the Tinubu government sold forward 14% of national oil production last year, it is borrowing US$5 billion from the UAE

The IMF’s warning on 9 June to President Bola Tinubu’s government of the financial risks of a US$5 billion loan package via a series of derivative contracts with...

How Anita Among lost the House to the succession wars

Museveni's inner circle has moved to curb a Speaker who had built her own political machine as the question as to who succeeds him edges closer

For months, Speaker of Parliament Anita Among looked too powerful to remove. She had money, reach and an expanding network inside the ruling National Resistance Movement, but those...

Mnangagwa’s 2030 power bid hits the barracks

Behind the constitution debate is a struggle over the post-Mugabe state with presidential allies, disgruntled generals and a fragmented opposition testing their strength

Parliament’s debate on Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 3 starting on 2 June has opened a wider battle over Zimbabwe’s political order, as the bill would extend elected terms...

Probe targets over $20bn of the NNPC’s crude oil loans

Tinubu ally and Matrix Energy chief Abdulkabir Aliu is fighting a bid by an anti-corruption agency to police forward oil sales

The investigation into over US$20 billion of forward oil sales by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is widening its remit to include top officials of the...

Abiy’s Prosperity Party is set for another crushing majority

Behind a calm polling day is a harsher reality – fractured opposition parties, shuttered constituencies and insurgents determined to shoot their way to power

Lengthy queues formed before the polling stations opened at six in the morning on 1 June in national elections that are expected to produce an overwhelming majority for...

Region prepares for a crisis it can’t afford

Health agencies and governments have announced new Ebola-related projects and promised tighter screening – but who will pay for them?

Coordination and harmonisation is the mantra of health officials as they race to contain the Ebola outbreak in north-eastern Congo-Kinshasa. With no vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain beyond...

Ruto puts a downpayment on his second term

In Kisumu and Mombasa, ODM's courtship of Ruto has come with a price tag — and the local voters know exactly what it is

Even a year ago, few would have imagined that Kisumu, Kenya’s main port city on Lake Victoria, and late opposition leader Raila Odinga’s fiefdom for four decades, would...

Pointers

Samaila Zubairu – the AFC’s dealmaker in chief

The African Finance Corporation’s US$2 billion syndicated loan on 4 June – the largest in the AFC’s 17-year history – marked the latest success in President and Chief Executive Samaila Zubairu’s drive to transform the institution from a Nigeria-focused investment arm into a genuinely pan-continental player. The AFC had initially sought $1.6bn but increased the target to $2bn due to strong demand. New interest is coming from banks in China, Hong Kong and South Korea, which Zubairu has identified as heavyweight investors. They accounted for around 35% of participating lenders, matching the share from European banks, while lenders from the Gulf and wider Middle East provided another 25%.

The Africa Finance Corporation’s US$2 billion syndicated loan on 4 June – the largest in the AFC’s 17-year history – marked the latest success in President and Chief...

Cash for impeachment

Rigathi Gachagua won the argument but lost the political battle after the High Court ruled that he was denied due process during the Senate hearing that led to...

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