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Trump family allies broker security and mining deals in Central Africa

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, Marco Rubio, and Olivier Nduhungirehe. Pic: @onduhungirehe
Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, Marco Rubio, and Olivier Nduhungirehe. Pic: @onduhungirehe

Multiple mining investments and a hydropower project are riding on Kigali and Kinshasa making peace but details on military arrangements remain thin

US Africa Envoy Massad Boulos and US hedge fund executive Gentry Beach – both with close links to US President Donald J Trump’s family – were prime movers in the discreet business-infused negotiations leading to the signing of a peace accord between the foreign ministers of Congo-Kinshasa and Rwanda in Washington DC on 27 June.


As protests mount, state repression goes regional

Protesters in Nakuru, Kenya, 25 June, 2025. Pic: © James Wakibia/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/ZUMA Press Inc/Alamy
Protesters in Nakuru, Kenya, 25 June, 2025. Pic: © James Wakibia/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/ZUMA Press Inc/Alamy

Economic hardship and youth mobilisation are driving a new opposition movement online and on the streets

A year after ‘Gen Z’ activists stormed parliament in Nairobi shaking the foundations of President William Ruto’s legitimacy, a new round of protests on 25 June were greeted...

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Ministers pin their faith on tax collectors

East Africa: Revenue growth key For bigger budgets. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2025
East Africa: Revenue growth key For bigger budgets. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2025

Squeezed by creditors and angry citizens, the region’s finance chiefs are looking for ways to boost public spending

Political opposition is rising across the region, much of it fuelled by government austerity policies and there is no let-up in sight. Last year’s mass protests in Kenya...


Will anti-corruption politics work for John Mahama?

John Dramani Mahama. Pic: presidency.gov.gh
John Dramani Mahama. Pic: presidency.gov.gh

Top officials from the former NPP government are being investigated, as the new administration tries to sharpen its political lead

In Ghana, ‘non-aggression pacts’ – informal understandings between senior figures in the two main political parties not to pursue grand corruption cases after a change in government –...


Aziz falls – while his closest ally thrives

Mohamed Ould Cheikh el Ghazouani. Pic: @CheikhGhazouani
Mohamed Ould Cheikh el Ghazouani. Pic: @CheikhGhazouani

Jailed for corruption, the ex-president has lost his battle with his former right-hand man and the political elite continues to consolidate power

In Nouakchott’s cafés, where political debates simmer beneath the whir of ceiling fans, the sentencing of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to 15 years for corruption barely...


Rulebook under pressure as Afreximbank slips a notch

Benedict Oramah. Pic: afreximbank.com
Benedict Oramah. Pic: afreximbank.com

Fitch’s downgrade raises questions about risk perception and preferred creditor status – and has reignited calls for an African-owned rating agency

Fitch Ratings downgraded the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) one notch to BBB- on 4 June, leaving the Cairo-based lender just above non-investment grade. The principal reason was a...


Development finance implodes with rich countries shifting to military budgets

Mo Ibrahim Foundation conference, Marrakech, June 2025. Pic: @Mo_IbrahimFdn
Mo Ibrahim Foundation conference, Marrakech, June 2025. Pic: @Mo_IbrahimFdn

Ahead of the UN summit in Seville, delegates are preparing to battle over radical reforms to aid as western states cut funds and cooperation plans

The civic activists, businesspeople, former and serving top UN and government officials agreed on one headline at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation conference in Marrakech at the beginning of...


Gavi vaccine summit seeks a shot in the arm

Pic: weyo / stock.adobe.com
Pic: weyo / stock.adobe.com

A pledging conference in Brussels will test rich countries’ willingness to plug the gaps left after the USAID shut down

Public health systems in Africa and Asia could face more pressure on their budgets on 25 June when Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, holds its five-year donor pledging...


Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi – democracy champion

Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi. Pic: afrobarometer.org
Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi. Pic: afrobarometer.org

‘The men in green are back, and prospects for democratic consolidation have dimmed significantly,’ warned Afrobarometer’s Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi in a Brookings Institution essay in June. ‘Africa’s democratic project...


Power play

Tribunal das Contas. Pic: tcontas.st
Tribunal das Contas. Pic: tcontas.st

São Tomé’s Audit Office (Tribunal de Contas) released a report on 19 May examining the implementation of a 25-year PPP agreement signed by Patrice Trovoada’s government in October...


As Trump turns off the tap, Guterres wields the knife

United Nations HQ, New York. Pic: vacant / stock.adobe.com
United Nations HQ, New York. Pic: vacant / stock.adobe.com

The UN Secretary-General hopes radical restructuring and austerity can rescue the organisation as multilateralism starts to split at the seams

Instead of celebrating its 80th birthday, there is a serious chance that the UN headquarters will have to declare a form of institutional bankruptcy at its General Assembly...

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Amid the turmoil, some room at the top

António Guterres. Pic: un.org
António Guterres. Pic: un.org

Questions about the UN Secretary-General’s future are intensifying as debate rages over his reform and restructuring plans

For over two years, the UN Secretariat in New York has been buzzing with rumours about the mooted early departure of Secretary-General António Guterres. Part of the reason...


Muhoozi attacks regime insiders

Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Pic: @mkainerugaba
Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Pic: @mkainerugaba

As the president seeks to build bridges ahead of 2026 elections, his son is throwing online bombs at powerful figures


Jihadists hit harder as junta loses focus

MALI AT WAR: General Assimi Goïta's junta is © africa-confidential.com 2025 400 km losing to the insurgents. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2025
MALI AT WAR: General Assimi Goïta's junta is © africa-confidential.com 2025 400 km losing to the insurgents. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2025

A surge in attacks on army bases leaves security forces overstretched and civilians more vulnerable


Chakwera in trouble as election looms

Lazarus Chakwera. Pic: @LAZARUSCHAKWERA
Lazarus Chakwera. Pic: @LAZARUSCHAKWERA

The IMF cancelled its programme in May, topping a bad news week for the president as the opposition looks confidently at September’s poll