RWANDACONGO-KINSHASAUNITED STATES Trump family allies broker security and mining deals in Central Africa 27th June 2025 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.
EAST AFRICA As protests mount, state repression goes regional 27th June 2025 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... READ FOR FREE
EAST AFRICA Ministers pin their faith on tax collectors 27th June 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...
GHANA Will anti-corruption politics work for John Mahama? 27th June 2025 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 –...
ZIMBABWEINTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUNDBRITAIN London leads the long march back to Harare 25th June 2025 The King's birthday celebrations in Harare. Pic: @UKinZimbabwe Eyeing minerals and markets, western governments are softening their stance on rights abuses and grand corruption A quarter of a century after Britain under Prime Minister Tony Blair led the charge against Zimbabawe President Robert Mugabe’s land resettlement plan, the two governments – both...
MAURITANIA Aziz falls – while his closest ally thrives 27th June 2025 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...
ECONOMYAFRICABANKS Rulebook under pressure as Afreximbank slips a notch 27th June 2025 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...
EUROPEAN UNIONUNITED NATIONSAFRICAN UNION Development finance implodes with rich countries shifting to military budgets 24th June 2025 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...
UNITED NATIONSAFRICAN UNIONHEALTH Gavi vaccine summit seeks a shot in the arm 20th June 2025 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...
SENEGAL Pressure mounts on President Faye over political reforms and anti-corruption drive 18th June 2025 Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Pic: @PR_Diomaye The trial of five ex-ministers for misuse of public funds will test government’s pledge of an independent judiciary The youngish government of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 45, and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, 50, is at a crossroads seven months after winning a super-majority in the parliament....
GHANAWHO'S WHO Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi – democracy champion 27th June 2025 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...
KENYA The shine comes off M-Kopa 27th June 2025 Pic: m-kopa.com Founded by the Vodafone team behind M-Pesa, M-Kopa has seen similar commercial success and political backing. At a 2015 entrepreneurship summit with President Barack Obama, then-President Uhuru Kenyatta...
SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE Power play 27th June 2025 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...
AFRICAUNITED NATIONS As Trump turns off the tap, Guterres wields the knife 13th June 2025 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... READ FOR FREE
UNITED NATIONS Amid the turmoil, some room at the top 13th June 2025 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...
UGANDA Muhoozi attacks regime insiders 13th June 2025 Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Pic: @mkainerugaba As the president seeks to build bridges ahead of 2026 elections, his son is throwing online bombs at powerful figures
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Ould Tah faces brutal realities 13th June 2025 Akinwumi Adesina and Sidi Ould Tah. Pic: @akin_adesina The Bank’s new leader will have to bridge the widening gap between the continent’s ambitious goals and international economic turbulence
MALI Jihadists hit harder as junta loses focus 13th June 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
ZIMBABWEWORLD BANKINTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND Talks on $21 billion debt could inch ahead if IMF backs Ncube’s plan 11th June 2025 Mthuli Ncube. Pic: zimtreasury.co.zw Fund officials are due to rule on programme this month opening the prospect of serious negotiations with creditors
MALAWI Chakwera in trouble as election looms 13th June 2025 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
MALAWIUNITED KINGDOM $50m corruption trial rocks Lilongwe 6th June 2025 Southwark Crown Court. Pic: pxl.store / stock.adobe.com Zuneth Sattar goes to court in London accused of bribing Malawi’s top officials and politicians but neither they nor he face prosecution back home