GAMBIA Barrow fires Auditor, shielding a ballooning family empire 17th September 2025 Modou Ceesay. Pic: nao.gm After being accused of favouring relatives and friends with state-backed rice deals and discounted bank sales, the President has summarily sacked the Auditor-General When police forcibly removed Auditor-General, Modou Ceesay from the National Audit Office on 15 September they triggered youth-led protests in which several demonstrators were arrested as fighting spilled onto the streets of Banjul.
ECONOMYAFRICAUNITED NATIONSTAX After US walkout, African officials push ahead with global tax treaty 16th September 2025 First Session of Committee on UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, New York, August 2025. Pic: UN Photo/Manuel Elías EU states in talks as Egypt’s Youssef aims for legally binding framework after Nairobi meeting in November Against an unpromising diplomatic backdrop, the African-led push for a UN tax convention to boost public revenues by countering illicit financial flows is making progress through the labyrinthine...
JAPANAFRICA Tokyo scores on policy but loses on scale 12th September 2025 In August 2025 Japan announced an initiative on Strengthening the Global Supply Chain through Nacala Corridor Development. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2025 Summit pledges on cutting the cost of capital, boosting fair trade and investment were popular, but delegates want quantity as well as quality One of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s last diplomatic forays before his resignation on 7 September was his hosting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9)... READ FOR FREE
GHANA Constitutional battles to follow Mahama’s removal of Chief Justice 11th September 2025 Gertrude Torkornoo The President’s dismissal of Gertrude Torkornoo raises more questions about independent institutions and executive power The fight over President John Dramani Mahama’s dismissal of Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo on 1 September has prompted calls for constitutional reform across the political spectrum. Concerns...
NIGERIA Tinubu moves to rein in the NNPC, slashing funds for northern states 9th September 2025 Bashir Bayo Ojulari. Pic: @nnpclimited The president’s plan would double the central government share of the state oil company’s profits to over 80% As tensions deepen between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the managing director of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Bashir Bayo Ojulari, the government plans to claw...
SOUTH SUDAN Salva and Riek risk a return to war 12th September 2025 Salva Kiir, April 2024. Pic: Cropped, GovernmentZA CC BY-ND 2.0 Both sides are breaching the 2018 peace accord but are shielded by oil deals with China and Russia The latest attempt at a peace deal between factions loyal to the country’s rival veteran leaders – an internationally brokered agreement signed in 2018 – is falling apart...
MALAWI Lazarus Chakwera fights to survive 12th September 2025 Lazarus Chakwera. Pic: @LAZARUSCHAKWERA Soaring prices, broken alliances and corruption reduce the President’s chances of winning re-election and favour his 85-year-old predecessor Malawians go to the polls on 16 September in an election that could make President Lazarus Chakwera the third one-term president in the past 11 years. All the...
SOMALIAUNITED ARAB EMIRATES Grudges and geopolitics – why MBZ is clashing with Hassan Sheikh 10th September 2025 Hassan Sheikh Mohamud meets with UAE foreign affairs representatives, August 2025. pic: @TheVillaSomalia The origins of the chronic enmity between Somalia’s president and the UAE leader lie in the Gulf state’s hegemonic ambitions, and some personal gripes The United Arab Emirates has puzzled many observers with its hostility towards the Somali federal President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and its active support of his opponents in the...
MOZAMBIQUE Insurgents regrouping as Chapo signs security pact with Kagame 9th September 2025 Daniel Chapo and Paul Kagame, Kigali, August 2025. Pic: @daniel_chapo24 TotalEnergies moves to restart its $20bn gas project behind a fortified green zone after 60,000 citizens displaced Four years since the deployment of Rwandan and Southern African Development Community forces in July 2021, the security situation in northern Cabo Delgado remains fraught – contradicting Maputo’s...
LESOTHOUNITED STATES Tariff shock, aid cuts and graft scandals are wrecking Matekane’s plan 4th September 2025 Sam Matekane. Pic: @MatekaneSam President Trump’s threat of 50% tariffs decimated textile factories, exposing the government’s limited choices Almost three years after Sam Matekane’s Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) stormed to power on an anti-corruption and pro-business platform, Lesotho is reeling from tariff whiplash, a suspended United...
BURKINA FASOMALINIGERRUSSIA Putin’s gambit in the Sahel as France leaves the stage 3rd September 2025 Vladimir Putin meets with Assimi Goïta, June 2025. Pic: Ramil Sitdikov, RIA Novosti, kremlin.ru Moscow courts the three juntas with anti-western rhetoric and promises of gold refineries and nuclear power but is struggling to counter insurgents On 14 August, the defence ministers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – Generals Sadio Camara, Célestin Simporé and Salifou Modi – were in Moscow for talks with...
NAMIBIACANADA Parliament tests Nandi-Ndaitwah’s anti-corruption vow 2nd September 2025 Eneas Emvula MPs are to vote on a call to investigate claims that Canada’s ReconAfrica broke accountability and environment rules Canada’s Reconnaissance Energy Africa – ReconAfrica – first started drilling for oil and gas in the Kavango basin of north-eastern Namibia four years ago and has been mired...
ETHIOPIAWHO'S WHO Ethiopia’s debt diplomat Mamo Mihretu bows out 12th September 2025 Mamo Mihretu. Pic: nbe.gov.et The 3 September resignation of National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) Governor Mamo Mihretu – one of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s closest economic confidants – surprised bankers in Addis...
KENYAUNITED NATIONS Relocation and dislocation 12th September 2025 António Guterres. Pic: UN Photo/Manuel Elías The relocation of several United Nations agencies – including UN Women, the UN Children’s Fund and the UN Population Fund – to Nairobi, as part of the UN80...
BENIN Talon to step aside 12th September 2025 Romuald Wadagni Finance minister Romuald Wadagni has been named joint presidential candidate of the governing l’Union progressiste pour le renouveau (UPR) and Bloc Républicain (BR) for April 2026 – confirming...
NIGERIA Escalating violence could reshape Tinubu’s plan for 2027 vote 29th August 2025 NIGERIA'S SECURITY CRISIS (2014-2025) Islamist fighters keep attacking in Lake Chad Basin. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2025 Northern states have been hit hardest by jihadist insurgents together with banditry and kidnapping alongside murderous herder-farmer clashes
SOUTH AFRICAUNITED STATES General’s Iran mission deepens ANC rifts 29th August 2025 Rudzani Maphwanya. Pic: @SAgovnews The defence chief’s foreign policy pronouncement in Tehran exposes President Ramaphosa’s waning authority
AFRICAUNITED NATIONSCLIMATE CHANGE ICJ climate ruling opens floodgates for billions in pollution payouts 22nd August 2025 Earth asking for help. Pic: un.org The UN court’s opinion defining greenhouse gas emissions as ‘internationally wrongful acts’ argues for climate finance to become a legal obligation for the main polluting countries
FRANCEAFRICA Paris resets military ties in Africa, tilting to Europe 14th August 2025 Thani Mohamed-Soilihi. Pic: diplomatie.gouv.fr After their exit from the Sahel, French troops prioritise flexible partnerships and blunting Russia’s influence
SOUTH SUDAN Salva’s family values 29th August 2025 Adut Salva Kiir pays Benjamin Bol Mel a courtesy visit, 27 August 2025. Pic: @vpsouthsudan
SUDANUNITED STATES Washington revives peace push after a year of drift 27th August 2025 Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Pic: © Egyptian Presidency Handout/Handout via ZUMA Press Wire A secret meeting in Zurich between US President Donald Trump’s envoy and SAF Commander Burhan may cut across the regional rivalries blocking negotiations READ FOR FREE
SEYCHELLES President Ramkalawan takes an authoritarian turn 27th August 2025 Wavel Ramkalawan. Pic: @StateHouseSey Ahead of next month’s elections, activists questions the value and accountability of new Gulf States investments
TUNISIAITALY Meloni’s Mattei plan: blocking the migrants as power flows north 20th August 2025 Giorgia Meloni and Kaïs Saïed 2023. Pic: @GiorgiaMeloni This €400 million strategic partnership props up Kaïs Saïed and offers Europe cheap and reliable energy
NIGERSAHEL General Tiani tightens grip as regional rumblings grow louder 12th August 2025 General Abdourahamane Tiani. Pic: FB Présidence De La République Du Niger After failing to repel determined jihadist attacks, the Sahel juntas crack down on internal dissent
KENYA Looking east, Ruto targets yen and yuan 29th August 2025 William Ruto meets Toyota Tsusho Corporation Chairman and CEO Toshimitsu Imai and Toyota Kenya officials, Yokohama City, Japan, August 2025. Pic: @WilliamsRuto As dissent mounts, the government is counting on loans, interest rate cuts and a stalled privatisation programme to ease its debt woes
ALGERIAMOROCCOUNITED STATES Arms, gas and fertiliser – Rabat outflanks Algiers with a Trump-linked lobbyist 22nd August 2025 King Mohammed VI. Pic: @Marocdiplo_EN After recognising Israel in return for US backing on Western Sahara, Morocco is maximising its commercial gains
EUROPEAN UNIONAFRICAN UNIONCOMMODITIES Cocoa and coffee farmers facing trade chaos as Brussels pushes deforestation crackdown 15th August 2025 Cocoa in Kumba, Cameroon. Pic: Silvia Truessel / stock.adobe.com Smallholders to be hit hardest as EU and ‘Big Chocolate’ resolve to impose new traceability rules next year
TANZANIAWHO'S WHO Tanzania’s climate czar Richard Muyungi 29th August 2025 Richard Muyungi. Pic: @AGNChairUNFCCC