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Africa could lose out from bid to rewrite Europe’s deforestation rules

Dense forest, Katanga, Congo. Pic: Alvaro/stock.adobe.com
Dense forest, Katanga, Congo. Pic: Alvaro/stock.adobe.com

EU lawmakers have brought in wide-ranging exemptions to the forestry laws but few African states will benefit

The European Parliament’s vote on 14 November to take apart the EU’s deforestation rules is another step in the weakening of the bloc’s Green Deal laws. It has managed both to anger environmentalists and alarm African exporters of coffee, cocoa and timber.


President Faye set to win in parliament as honeymoon endures

Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Pic: @PR_Senegal
Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Pic: @PR_Senegal

New alliances are unlikely to stop the popular president and his Pastef party from success in the snap legislative election

If President Bassirou Diomaye Faye hoped a relaxation of nomination rules for the 17 November parliamentary elections would see opposition to his ruling Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour...


Leaders look for deals in the Trump marketplace

The White House. Pic: Public Domain
The White House. Pic: Public Domain

States rich in critical minerals could win big investments as Washington jostles for access with Beijing

Countries sitting on the minerals to power the energy transition – such as copper, cobalt and lithium – expect a more determined push for access from US mining...


Boko wins big

Duma Boko. Pic: @duma_boko
Duma Boko. Pic: @duma_boko

Rebooting economic growth and and cutting unemployment are the new President’s priorities

The pace of the political transition in Botswana matches the urgency of the new government’s agenda: to stabilise an economy in free fall with youth unemployment hitting 38%....


Mnangagwa takes on the army

Heroes Day, August 2024. Pic: @edmnangagwa
Heroes Day, August 2024. Pic: @edmnangagwa

Seven years after the coup, Mnangagwa’s manoeuverings to stay in power are angering Chiwenga and other generals

The most significant constraint on President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s plan to extend his rule is the military. Senior officers know that just as they launched him into power...


Facing calls for reform, the state hits back

William Samoei Ruto. Pic: @WilliamsRuto
William Samoei Ruto. Pic: @WilliamsRuto

A wave of murders and abductions at the hands of the police has prompted condemnation from civic activists and diplomats

Initial hopes that the mass protests in June against state corruption and police brutality would persuade President William Samoei Ruto to make the government more accountable were overblown....


Debt and inflation drag Bawumia down

Ghana: Growth surprises, but will deficit overshoot? Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024
Ghana: Growth surprises, but will deficit overshoot? Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024

The green shoots of economic recovery may be coming too late for the ruling party’s electoral chances

As two credible opinion polls show the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its presidential candidate Mahamudu Bawumia heading for defeat three weeks ahead of the national elections...


High stakes but low ambitions at Baku’s geopolitical climate summit

COP29 opening, 11 November 2024. Pic: cop29.az
COP29 opening, 11 November 2024. Pic: cop29.az

Africa’s bargaining chips at COP29 are ‘green ores’, and trading its forests, grasslands and shorelines as carbon sinks

After a year of weather disasters and the hottest average temperatures on record, cash will dominate negotiations at the UN Conference of the Parties (COP29) climate summit from...


Touadéra’s balancing act

Faustin-Archange Touadéra and Vladimir Putin, July 2023. Pic: Pavel Bednyakov, RIA Novosti/en.kremlin.ru
Faustin-Archange Touadéra and Vladimir Putin, July 2023. Pic: Pavel Bednyakov, RIA Novosti/en.kremlin.ru

The President walks a fine line, relying on military support from Moscow as he shores up ties with the EU and France

The regime of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra may have staved off the threat of a coup d’état – unlike neighbouring Gabon and three Sahelian states – but citizens complain...


It’s the economy, Macron!

Pic: @EmmanuelMacron
Pic: @EmmanuelMacron

Paris has lost power in its old chasse gardée but French companies are spreading their wings across the continent

President Emmanuel Macron’s government is wheeling out the ministers of finance, trade and foreign affairs on 19-20 November to meet African businesses and official delegates to cut deals...

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All roads lead to Maputo

Pic: venancio.mondlanevm7
Pic: venancio.mondlanevm7

Opposition firebrand Mondlane is staking everything on his calls for mass protests in the capital on 7 November

Mozambique’s economy is grinding to a halt amid nationwide protests, following its disputed election on 9 October. Many in the ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo) party...


Cultural and political battles break out as the stolen bronzes come home

Bronze Plaque looted from the Royal Palace of Benin, purchased by the Pitt Rivers Museum for five pounds in 1907
Bronze Plaque looted from the Royal Palace of Benin, purchased by the Pitt Rivers Museum for five pounds in 1907

A $100 million museum to exhibit Benin bronzes looted by British soldiers is opening but few of the artefacts will be on display

A trial of strength between powerful figures in Edo State and the Federal Government highlights the complexities around demands for reparations and restitution to Africa. The bold vision...


Yellowcake shutdown

Yellowcake. Pic: Vladimir / stock.adobe.com
Yellowcake. Pic: Vladimir / stock.adobe.com

Uranium production will effectively cease with the decision by France’s Orano to suspend activities at the Arlit mine operated by Société des mines de l’Aïr (Somaïr), due to...


The price of minerals

Jozef Síkela. Pic: @JozefSikela
Jozef Síkela. Pic: @JozefSikela

The EU’s difficult relations with Rwanda were exposed last week when a series of MEPs demanded that Brussels’s minerals deal with Kigali be re-opened or scrapped because of...


No policy shifts as Tinubu reshuffles

Bola Tinubu. Pic: @NGRPresident/State House/Ella Eduozor
Bola Tinubu. Pic: @NGRPresident/State House/Ella Eduozor

Economic hardship and political frustration are worsening but the president endorses most of his cabinet