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Ethiopia

How Tigray is turning on itself

Redwan Hussien Rameto and Getachew Reda sign the 2022 Pretoria Agreement. Pic: Alet Pretorius/Xinhua/Alamy
Redwan Hussien Rameto and Getachew Reda sign the 2022 Pretoria Agreement. Pic: Alet Pretorius/Xinhua/Alamy

The fight for control of the ruling TPLF is slowing the region’s post-war recovery and playing into the hands of the federal government

Instead of moving towards the much-discussed national reconciliation, Ethiopia is grappling with a new bout of regional factionalism. The two largest regions, Oromia and Amhara, are already plagued by violent internal strife. Now Tigray faces internal unrest, as its leaders fight for control of the ruling party.


Beijing’s green new deal pledges factories in Africa

Xi Jinping meets with Abiy Ahmed Ali. Pic: focac.org
Xi Jinping meets with Abiy Ahmed Ali. Pic: focac.org

With its domestic market almost saturated and western tariffs biting, China is planning to make more electric vehicles in Africa

A string of investment announcements for electric vehicle production across Africa are expected at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing from 4-6 September. Previ...

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Swiss dead-end prompts policy rethink

FD-63 shotgun, Al-Daein, Darfur, 2023. Manufacturer: Dağlıoğlu Silah. Country: Türkiye. Pic: amnesty.org
FD-63 shotgun, Al-Daein, Darfur, 2023. Manufacturer: Dağlıoğlu Silah. Country: Türkiye. Pic: amnesty.org

General Burhan’s refusal to attend talks may prompt new negotiating strategy benefiting Hemeti’s fighters

One of the ‘seeds of hope’ identified by United States envoy Tom Perriello as the Sudan peace talks in Switzerland broke up on 23 August was an accord to allow relief a...


Incapable of defeating each other, the generals fight on

Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024
Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024

The political ambitions and unfathomable greed of the rival leaders are driving their country to destruction

It is a mark of the intractability of the conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that during the peace talks in Switzerland from 14-23 August ...


Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin builds on Wagner’s propaganda legacy

Ibrahim Traore and Vladimir Putin, July 2023, Moscow. Pic: Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant/Sipa USA/Alamy
Ibrahim Traore and Vladimir Putin, July 2023, Moscow. Pic: Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant/Sipa USA/Alamy

Prigozhin’s African network survives him as Moscow’s outreach expands disinformation about the west and support for military juntas

One year after Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s dramatic demise, the legacy of his efforts to frame Russia as a liberator of Africa from western neocolonialism lives o...


Africa Confidential prompts probe of business school scheme

The Bureh Town campus site after five years after work stopped. Pic: Josef Skrdlik
The Bureh Town campus site after five years after work stopped. Pic: Josef Skrdlik

The Anti-Corruption Commission has opened an investigation into Africa Confidential’s report on the failed campus project as public anger grows

Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) announced on 27 August that ‘after a careful review of’ Africa Confidential’s special report on how the Univ...

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Abiy pushes radical reforms for debt deal

Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024
Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024

A multi-billion-dollar financing programme and debt restructuring deal are taking shape but the political risks are high at home and in the region

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s grand plan to raise over US$10 billion from international financial institutions and the restructuring of Ethiopia’s $28bn foreign debt afte...


After African lobbying, the UN wins battle over tax rules

Pic: @UNDGACM_EN
Pic: @UNDGACM_EN

Global south countries voted as a bloc for the UN to set rules on taxing revenues and cutting illicit financial flows

Leaders are set to back a UN tax convention with a mandate to agree global tax policy on wealth, environmental levies and illicit financial flows at the UN General Assembly in Sept...


The Ruto-Raila trade-off redraws the electoral map

Pic: @RailaOdinga
Pic: @RailaOdinga

Both the president and opposition leader benefit from the national unity government, but there are plenty of losers

The odd man out in the latest round of political musical chairs is Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua as Kenya’s political parties realign to prepare for the 2027 elections. ...


Poll hopes fade

Salva Kiir Mayardit. Pic: GCIS
Salva Kiir Mayardit. Pic: GCIS

Prospects of an election being held before a 22 December deadline are fading rapidly with a number of political groups both in opposition and in the transitional government insisti...


A selective war on graft

Moses Lenolkulal in court. Pic: still, TV47
Moses Lenolkulal in court. Pic: still, TV47

On 28 August, former Samburu governor Moses Lenolkulal was convicted of corruption and told to repay 84.5 million shillings (US$600,000) or face eight years in prison. Lenolkulal s...


Value for metals

Pic: blinkstud.io / stock.adobe.com
Pic: blinkstud.io / stock.adobe.com

Only 2% of Africa’s exports of energy transition minerals are destined for other African countries, according to a new report by the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) lobby. That l...


Dangote and Tinubu wrestle over the future of oil

Aliko Dangote. Pic: @DangoteGroup
Aliko Dangote. Pic: @DangoteGroup

The vested interests of the political class are driving the public fight over a US$20 billion refinery and may determine its fate

The threat of more mass protests and the spiralling cost of petrol, over 1,000 naira (62 US cents) a litre in parts of Nigeria, have played to Aliko Dangote’s advantage in hi...


Faye mulls a snap parliamentary poll

Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Pic: @PR_Diomaye
Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Pic: @PR_Diomaye

Differences between the president’s measured style and that of his fiery prime minister may complicate national politics and regional diplomacy

Dakar political life is slowing down in August giving President Bassirou Diomaye Faye some time to weigh up whether to dissolve the National Assembly in September and call early le...


Back to bulldozer politics

Samia Suluhu Hassan. Pic: @SuluhuSamia
Samia Suluhu Hassan. Pic: @SuluhuSamia

Without spelling out her plan to seek election next year, President Samia is cracking down on opponents and rivals in the ruling party

The arrests of hundreds of opposition leaders and activists planning to attend rallies marking International Youth Day, suggests that the spirit of former President John Magufuli l...


Paranoia on show as Harare hosts summit

Emmerson Mnangagwa at the 7th SADC Summit Public Lecture. Pic: @edmnangagwa
Emmerson Mnangagwa at the 7th SADC Summit Public Lecture. Pic: @edmnangagwa

Rights groups outraged as SADC hands its chair to Mnangagwa after security agents arrest and beat up over 100 activists