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CONFIDENTIALLY SPEAKING

The Africa Confidential Blog

Displaying 1-10 out of 150 results.

  • 20th February 2025

Europe and South Africa strengthen ties after Trump freeze

Unknown

With geopolitics in flux, alliances are shifting. United States President Donald Trump’s attacks on South Africa, including the suspension of government programmes, the boycott of its G20 presidency, and claims of ‘genocide’ against white farmers by Trump...

  • 6th February 2025

Europe divided on policy as Congo war spreads

Unknown

The unilateral ceasefire by the M23 announced days after laying siege to Goma in eastern Congo-Kinshasa did not mean an end to fighting in the Kivus. M23 and the Rwandan army are continuing to push towards Bukavu in Kivu-Sud. Shortly before Africa Confide...

  • 23rd January 2025

EU ratchets down ambitions in Africa

Unknown

‘Our partners want more from Europe,’ the European Union’s new International Partnerships Commissioner Jozef Síkela told MEPs in the European Parliament at hearings last year. In the case of Africa, they are unlikely to get it. Facing wars in Ukraine and ...

  • 9th January 2025

Africa’s agenda for 2025

Unknown

17-18 February – Leaders at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa will choose between Kenya’s Raila Odinga, Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf and Madagascar’s Richard Randriamandrato to elect the AU Commission Chair.29 May – Eight candida...

  • 12th December 2024

South Africa to push for debt reform as G20 chair

Unknown

Addressing the spiralling debt-servicing costs facing African economies will top the agenda of South Africa’s G20 presidency which started on 1 December. President Cyril Ramaphosa plans to launch a cost-of-capital commission to address the major dispariti...

  • 28th November 2024

Kenya silent on kidnapping of Ugandan oppositionist in Nairobi

Blue Lines

The abduction of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye in Nairobi is a chilling demonstration of the Kenyan government’s collusion with autocratic leaders. Besigye was lifted by Uganda intelligence officers in the evening of 16 November at an apartment ...

  • 14th November 2024

Climate summit faces geopolitical shockwaves

Blue Lines

Attendance may be sharply down at the COP29 climate summit which started in Azerbaijan this week, but the politicking in Baku still reflects the geopolitical faultlines between east and west and wealthy and developing countries. One of the priorities faci...

  • 31st October 2024

Macron mends ties with Morocco and angers Algiers

Blue Lines

France and Morocco completed the relaunch of their diplomatic relations after the state visit by Emmanuel Macron on 28-30 October featuring an open-top motorcade through the streets of Rabat with King Mohammed VI. The visit saw the signing of more than 20...

  • 17th October 2024

Euro and Gulf diplomats fail again on Sudan plan

Patrick Smith

At a European Parliament hearing on 8 October about the humanitarian crisis caused by the civil war, EU officials and MEPs asked how they could raise media coverage of Sudan’s ‘forgotten’ war. It is a remarkable but accurate indictment and description of ...

  • 3rd October 2024

US generals and diplomats set out markers ahead of Presidential election on 5 November

Blue Lines

The threat of a widening war in the Middle East has dominated the attention of policymakers in the United States and delegates to the UN General Assembly – and ensured that Sudan’s civil war and humanitarian catastrophe will not get the attention it deser...

Displaying 1-10 out of 150 results.