SENEGAL Faye's victory shakes up the region 28th March 2024 Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024 In jail until ten days before the vote, a political outsider has been elected president on the first ballot As detailed results from around the country trickled in, Amadou Ba, former Prime Minister and standard bearer for the ruling Benno Bokk Yaakaar (BBY) alliance, could draw only one conclusion. By the afternoon of 25 March, less than 24 hours after the polls had closed, it was clear that he had been decisively defeated by Bassirou Diomaye Faye of the radical opposition Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l'éthique et la fraternité (Pastef). READ FOR FREE
SENEGAL Team Anti-Système takes over the system 28th March 2024 Pic: @DiomayeFaye President Faye will have to balance the expectations on job creation with reassurance for investors Withdraw from the French-backed Communauté Financière Africaine (CFA) monetary zone, restructure public debt and renegotiate the oil, gas and mining contracts –...
NIGERUNITED STATESIRANRUSSIA General Tiani swaps the US for Russia 27th March 2024 Niger PM on official visit to Iran. Pic: Ahmad Moeini Jam/IRNA Annulling its defence agreements with Washington, the Niamey junta strengthens ties with Moscow and Tehran Severing military ties with the United States on 16 March, three months after France closed its embassy in Niamey, General Abdourahamane Tiani's Conseil national pour la sauvegarde...
KENYA A one-man diplomatic mission 28th March 2024 Pic: @WilliamsRuto President Ruto has become an everyman of international summitry but is he leaving his top advisors sidelined? For a politician whose skills were seen as being centred entirely on domestic politics before winning the presidency in August 2022, William Ruto has quickly established a reputati...
SOMALIA Politicking hinders the war effort 26th March 2024 Pic: @TheVillaSomalia Manoeuvring in Mogadishu for the elections is diverting focus from the war on Al Shabaab and the pirates are returning to the high seas Analysis of recent security lapses in and around Mogadishu show the government in Mogadishu is in danger of losing much of the ground it gained in the fight against Al Shabaab sinc...
SUDAN Ceasefire efforts resume as Burhan's forces go on offensive 19th March 2024 Abdel Fattah al Burhan and Abdel Fattah el Sisi, October 2023. Pic: Imago / Alamy After a year of the generals' war, the UN says the country is weeks away from a 'catastrophic hunger crisis' International alignments on the Sudan civil war are shifting and there are multiple attempts to revive the stalled talks for a ceasefire ahead of a feared escalation in fighting.
UGANDA Bribes row rocks parliament 28th March 2024 Pic: @AnitahAmong Speaker Among refuses to hear charges of misuse of public funds by her office as more evidence emerges of efforts to bribe the opposition Parliamentary Speaker Anita Among has refused to answer charges that she has obtained millions of dollars' worth of expenses and allowances she was not entitled to that were first ...
UGANDA Museveni clears his son's path to the Presidency 25th March 2024 Muhoozi Kainerugaba In his latest military shuffle, the President appoints his son Muhoozi as army chief and sidelines his critics In the clearest indication of his plans for the succession to date, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni appointed his son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, as head of Uganda's military on...
SENEGAL Historic vote could set a new economic path 22nd March 2024 Pic: @DiomayeFaye Radical nationalism is on the ballot as the establishment candidate is challenged by a new generation of opposition activists The presidential election on 24 March is the most important in Senegal's history offering voters a clear choice on economic policy at a time of heightened political tensions. It is...
EUROPEAN UNIONAFRICA Fearing a regional meltdown, Brussels pays Egypt $7.4 billion 21st March 2024 Pic: @vonderleyen Cairo's negotiators have astutely played the geopolitical card as EU governments respond to migration panic The prospect of deepening economic chaos in Egypt and regional shockwaves from Israel's war in Gaza galvanised European Union officials to finalise a €7.4 billion (US$8bn) aid...
CONGO-KINSHASA Mobutu-style economic nationalism returns 20th March 2024 Pic: @miguelkashalkatemb State officials led by Kashal Katemb are bent on restructuring company ownership in favour of Congolese business people Foreign companies in Congo-Kinshasa are increasingly alarmed at what they see as a wave of economic nationalism that revives the politics of 'Zaïreanisation' under the three-d...
ZAMBIA A debt deal redux 28th March 2024 World Bank Country Director for Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia & Zimbabwe Nathan Belete and Hakainde Hichilema, 25 March 2024. Pic: @HHichilema Zambia has finally reached an agreement to restructure its US$3 billion of Eurobonds after more than three years in default, the government announced on 25 March. The three Eurobon...
KENYA Re-opening the commission's wounds 28th March 2024 Tallying centre. Pic: @IEBCKenya The audit of the controversial August 2022 presidential elections and the scope of its mandate have been the most disputed topic facing the bipartisan National Dialogue Committee (...
SIERRA LEONE Court date for mine bosses 28th March 2024 Pic: sfo.gov.uk Two former executives and a business consultant from collapsed Sierra Leone iron ore developer London Mining PLC are set to stand trial in London on charges of making corrupt payme...
AFRICAUNITED NATIONSCLIMATE CHANGE Anger as Geneva wins Fund fight 28th March 2024 Pic: @KPCGNOREB African officials and climate activists want to reverse the decision to host the Loss and Damage advisory network in Geneva instead of Nairobi. They met in Lilongwe, Malawi, to agr...
NIGERIA Cost-of-living crisis forces government rethink 14th March 2024 Riot police, Lekki tollgate 2021. Pic: Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto/Alamy Armed attacks and kidnappings, combined with food riots and looting, are putting President Tinubu and his inner circle under pressure The cost-of-living crisis is becoming the most serious political challenge facing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's government a year after it was elected. Whether it is maladministrat...
KENYA It's the politics that counts 14th March 2024 William Ruto lays the foundation stone for the construction of an Affordable Housing Project. Pic: @WilliamsRuto Disregarding economic woes, President Ruto has asserted his authority over the ruling party and its opponents Laments over spiralling prices and multiplying taxes on transactions dominate conversations in Kenya's cities and towns these days. President William Ruto's strategy of pushing thr...
SOUTH AFRICA Parties prepare for the costliest election 14th March 2024 Pic: Vividrange / stock.adobe.com Businesses and wealthy individuals are stepping up political donations and their influence on policy Ahead of the most competitive election ever in South Africa on 29 May, local and foreign political donors are trying to influence the outcome within – and sometimes outside &...
CHAD Kaka paves a hard road to sham poll 13th March 2024 Yaya Dillo Djérou. Pic: psf-tchad.org The killing of opposition leader Yaya Dillo consolidates the President's control of the elite and confirms his autocratic path
CAMEROON Contenders spar in the waiting room 11th March 2024 Pic: @PR_Paul_BIYA As the post-Biya era looms, internal rivalries are dominating governance and politics in Cameroon to the exclusion of all else
RWANDACONGO-KINSHASAEUROPEAN UNION Kigali pushes back against the African Union 5th March 2024 President Kagame's strategic position is facing growing regional pressure
ETHIOPIA How war sank the development plan 14th March 2024 Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024 After the devastating human cost of the Tigray war comes its destruction of the country’s economic base
ZAMBIA Can mega discovery end debt impasse? 14th March 2024 Pic: @KoBold_Metals Bad management and lack of accountability – not the lack of new finds – have held back the mining business
SOUTH AFRICA Ramaphosa and Mashatile clash on election date 1st March 2024 Paul Mashatile. Pic: GCIS CC BY-ND 2.0 DEED The tussle over the vote schedule is part of a wider battle for the presidential succession
ETHIOPIA Addis enters the debt talks tunnel 14th March 2024 Pic: @AbiyAhmedAli Abiy Ahmed’s government is edging towards an IMF deal as it approaches a March deadline for a debt agreement READ FOR FREE
RWANDACONGO-KINSHASAEUROPEAN UNION How Brussels was caught out by the Kivu war 5th March 2024 Alexander De Croo and Félix Tshisekedi. Pic: @alexanderdecroo The proxy war between Kinshasa and Kigali is derailing the European Union's plan to secure critical minerals