DISPATCHES
The UN’s warning about the lack of vaccines has turned a health emergency into a test of Africa’s stalled manufacturing plans
World Health Organization officials reported at least 139 suspected Ebola deaths on 21 May and said neither of the two candidate vaccines for the Bundibugyo species has yet...
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Part investment forum and part military realignment, summit co-hosts France and Kenya brought in 30 African leaders and some 1,500-2,000 business leaders
There was enough mutual self-interest, measured in €23 billion (US$27bn) of commercial deals and diplomatic positioning ahead of the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains in June, to make the...
Ghana joins the pushback against America First health data agreements as Africa’s negotiators try to steer policy back towards pandemic equity
Two international pandemic initiatives are in trouble due to disputes over access to vaccines and medicines in Africa. One, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), is trying...
China’s latest concession doesn’t shake a system in which Africa exports raw materials while overseas firms capture most of the value-added
As an act of economic diplomacy, Beijing’s offer of tariff- and quota-free trade to 53 African countries, coming into effect on 1 May, was expertly timed. In late...
European firms are selling pesticides banned in the EU to African countries, nearly six years after Brussels promised a blanket ban
The European Union’s agricultural trade relationship with Africa has long been unequal but its double standards have sunk to absurd depths. Brussels allows European-based companies to export more...
Leaked memos reveal millions spent on pro-Russian online stories, but the documents’ claims to be directing policies in friendly states don’t check out
A cache of 75 secret Russian memos about the Kremlin’s propaganda offensive in Africa by the Wagner Group and its successor organisation, ‘The Company’, has exposed a vast...
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Vol 67 No 8 |
- RUSSIA
- AFRICA
Some 35 websites or media organisations published 700 stories at Russian instigation for fees ranging from $250 to $700 per article
The documents leaked from ‘The Company’, the inheritor of the Wagner Group’s network in Africa, itemise US$7.3 million spent on social media ‘influencers’ and journalists to promote the...
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The continent may be a major fertiliser producer, but farmers still import more than 80% of what they use – leaving them highly exposed
Urea prices have almost doubled in a month, and with the World Bank reducing its growth forecasts, the United States-Israeli war with Iran is hitting African farmers at...
DISPATCHES
Fertiliser shipments blocked in the Strait of Hormuz pose a graver threat than the oil price surge, as currencies weaken, and fuel subsidies are cut
African economies will slump on average by 0.2% if the United States-Israeli war against Iran lasts longer than six months, reckons a joint report by a group of...
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African countries are bearing the brunt of swingeing cuts to official development assistance, which fell to US$174.3 billion in 2024 – a 23% drop – according to data...
DISPATCHES
Whitehall is eviscerating aid budgets but differs with Washington over cash for radio stations and soft power
Washington’s Voice of America radio station will be back on air in dozens of African countries following a court ruling outlawing attempts by the Trump administration to shut...
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DISPATCHES
Touring Africa, Brussels officials are offering help on counter terrorism and intelligence sharing
Ghana will become the first African state to conclude a defence and co-operation pact with the European Union on 23 March when the bloc’s High Representative for Foreign...
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The US-Israel strikes on Iran have sent energy prices soaring and upended global supply chains in a multi-front crisis
After the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February, triggering a cascade of retaliatory attacks across the Gulf, the economic toll on Africa is...
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As France hosts its first-ever summit in Anglophone Africa bringing in Kenya, Uganda, Germany and India, it tries to drop the old post-colonial playbook
The choice of Kenya to host the France-Africa summit on 11-12 May, a first for an Anglophone state, suits the policy aims of both President Emmanuel Macron and...
DISPATCHES
A few oil and gas exporters will see upside if prices stay higher but most economies will pay heavily
‘Wait and see’ is the verdict of many African ministers as they weigh the impact of the Middle East war on oil prices. That is the stance that...
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Vol 67 No 5 |
- AFRICA
- FINANCE
Fitch’s junk downgrade and withdrawal from Afreximbank highlight a wider battle over how global ratings agencies judge African lenders
An African bank and one of the ‘big three’ ratings agencies have fired their latest salvoes in a broader struggle over how the global financial system treats the...
DISPATCHES
Pushed to rival Beijing’s Belt and Road scheme, the EU’s Global Gateway plan is coming under fire
The European Parliament has heavily criticised the opacity in the EU’s Global Gateway infrastructure investment programme, particularly the lack of clarity over where the cash for projects is...
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Vice-President Vance and Secretary Rubio unveil critical minerals plan in Washington
Amid a flurry of initiatives in Congo-Kinshasa, Sudan, Kenya, and the Sahel, the Trump administration has named Frank Garcia, a former staffer on the Intelligence Committee in the...
DISPATCHES
Pressured by western economies the WTO is to review of ‘most favoured nation’ trade provisions
Trade ministers are set to reopen the World Trade Organization’s fundamental principles on most favoured nation status at a March summit in Cameroon after WTO director general Ngozi...
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Washington is withholding the funds it owes the UN to force reform but it is losing credibility and influence – even if no country wants to take over its role
António Guterres has sounded alarms before, but his 28 January warning that the United Nations faces ‘imminent financial collapse’ marked the organisation’s gravest moment since 1945. The Secretary-General’s...
Activists are demanding urgent policy reform and UN agencies are on the brink of ending many life-saving relief operations in war zones
Against the backdrop of heightening geopolitical rivalries and a sluggish world economy, rich western economies are ending many of their long-established aid – or Official Development Assistance (ODA)...
Rival plans to extend Washington’s tariff relief offer – by one, three or sixteen years – are under review but South Africa looks set to be shut out
The US Senate is due to vote on the renewal of Washington’s preferential trade agreement with African economies in the next few days with South Africa facing the...
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Business leaders and state officials cooperate on the Magic Mountain to map out new strategy for assistance
Delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the site of Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain, have been tasked with drawing up a new blueprint for development policy as...
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Having claimed a global success in its hosting of Afcon, Morocco now turns from the spectacle back to the business of maintaining stability
Until its chaotic final on the evening of 18 January, Morocco had enjoyed an exceptional Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), marked by state-of-the-art stadia served by new motorways...
Vol 67 No 2 |
- ECONOMY
- AFRICA
There are reasons for optimism on growth and inflation but concerns on the cost of Africa’s debts persist
After a year of global uncertainty during which Africa’s economies were hit by the tariff war fallout, deep cuts in official development assistance (ODA), and the impact of...
DISPATCHES
Washington is pushing health contracts including tough conditions on big pharma, sexual health and data access
President Donald J Trump’s administration is reshaping development policy again with 13 bilateral pacts with African states so far as part of the ‘American First Global Health...
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