Jump to navigation

Published 2nd December 2021

Vol 62 No 24

Sudan

Opposition grows to Hamdok's deal as military digs in

Abdalla Hamdok. Pic: sudan.gov.sd
Abdalla Hamdok. Pic: sudan.gov.sd

The prime minister has been restored to power under a deal that looks dangerous for democracy

The ceremony restoring Abdalla Hamdok to the premiership on 21 November had none of the celebratory atmosphere of the occasion in August 2019 when he was first appointed to lead the transition to civilian rule. This time, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo 'Hemeti', commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was present. But Fadlallah Burma Nasir, the leader of the National Umma Party (NUP) who helped get Hamdok appointed two years ago, was not. This spoke volumes about the political reconfiguration that had just taken place and explained Hamdok's tense expression.

READ FOR FREE

No jaw, jaw – just war, war

Pic: @PMEthiopia
Pic: @PMEthiopia

Neither side in Ethiopia's growing conflict is ready to negotiate, as Addis Ababa targets the supposed enemy within

At the beginning of last week, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced he was going to take command of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) on the frontline against...

Inside the mining mega deal

Du Wei (centre, striped shirt) visits Sicomines with Ambassador Wang Yingwu and Economic and Commercial Counsellor Zhou Mangsheng in 2012. Pic: Chinese Embassy to DRC)
Du Wei (centre, striped shirt) visits Sicomines with Ambassador Wang Yingwu and Economic and Commercial Counsellor Zhou Mangsheng in 2012. Pic: Chinese Embassy to DRC

Touted as a new development model, the 'deal of the century' set a terrible example on corruption

A scholar who delivers lectures on doing business in Africa has emerged as the lynchpin of a massive bribery scandal drawing in Chinese business magnates and some of...

BLUE LINES
THE INSIDE VIEW

'We want deals' was the mantra of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa when he touched down in Abuja on 30 November for a seven-day West African tour with a delegation of ministers and business leaders. His visit comes a year after the launch and limited progress of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), headquartered in Ghana and led by South African Wamkele Mene.

Ramaphosa, who helped persuade Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari to join the AfCFTA, wants to speed u...

'We want deals' was the mantra of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa when he touched down in Abuja on 30 November for a seven-day West African tour with a delegation of ministers and business leaders. His visit comes a year after the launch and limited progress of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), headquartered in Ghana and led by South African Wamkele Mene.

Ramaphosa, who helped persuade Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari to join the AfCFTA, wants to speed up economic integration across Africa along the model of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. His advisors say that South Africa's determination to build stronger trade routes has been reinforced by the pandemic and narrowing of access to international capital.

Ramaphosa will be pushing for West African states to increase investment in South Africa and to deal with what he described as the 'maze of challenges and difficulties' of doing business in Nigeria. He is due to sign five new agreements with Buhari's government.

Protectionism has deterred intra–African investment and holds back growth across the continent. South African companies, led by the telecoms giant MTN, are well represented in Nigeria but there are few Nigerian firms in South Africa. Last year, South Africa imported $2.48bn of goods, mostly crude oil, from Nigeria; it sent just  $425m of goods the other way.

Read more

Bonds and budget blockers

As opposition lawmakers initially block the budget, the finance ministry and central bank face new economic headwinds

Faced by a powerful opposition party, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta's 2022 budget statement, presented on 17 November to Parliament, was always unlikely to have an easy passage. And...

Bank admits wrongdoing but hits out at data leak

Central Africa's biggest bank, BGFI, says it cleaned up its operations in Kinshasa back in 2018

After refusing to respond for years to accusations of grand corruption in its operations in Congo-Kinshasa, central Africa's biggest bank has come as close as its lawyers would...

Kampala bombings linked to Islamic State

Regional security services say they have uncovered training networks and a cash pipeline of hundreds of thousands of dollars to fighters affiliated with the group

The double suicide-bomb attack in Kampala on 16 November was the fourth terrorist explosion in Uganda in two months. Security services in the region are focused on what...

ANC hits coalition conundrum

Power is ebbing away from the ruling ANC but opposition parties lack the numbers to form stable alliances

Intra-party rivalries will reach new heights in the run-up to the African National Congress's (ANC) elective conference in December next year as the allies of former President Jacob...

Exposed – the cost of Kabila's state capture 

Millions of leaked bank papers which expose the mechanics of former leader's plunder of the state could up-end national politics

Using evidence from the biggest ever leak of financial documents in Africa, an international investigative journalism consortium has tracked the main sources of the staggering wealth, reckoned to...

READ FOR FREE

Deputy President Ruto steals a march on his rivals

As he prepares to break with the ruling Jubilee coalition, William Ruto is winning over voters in President Kenyatta's home base

The grand plan to parachute veteran oppositionist Raila Odinga into the presidency in the elections next August has run into powerful headwinds. The heaviest blow to Odinga's ambition...

Everyone wants to be president

Politicians past, present and aspiring scrambled to get on the ballot paper for the presidential election in December adding to doubts about its viability

Nominations for candidates in the country’s first-ever presidential elections closed on 22 November. With less than a month to go until the first round of voting, the political...

The bank at the heart of the scandal

Owned partly by the Bongo family, the BGFI was implicated in corruption before its Kinshasa operations were exposed

The bank at the centre of the Congo Hold-up consortium's revelations of state capture and grand corruption in Congo-Kinshasa, Banque Gabonaise et Française Internationale (BGFI), has been a...

READ FOR FREE

Pointers

Jab race hits new snag

Slow and unpredictable supplies and donations continue to disrupt the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines in Africa. According to the World Health Organization, most vaccine donations have been 'ad...

Channelling wealth

The extradition of two Moi-era senior officials has inched closer after the Supreme Court granted authority to the Director of Public Prosecutions to pursue the cases.

Extradition mission

South Africa cannot make up its mind what to do with former Mozambican Finance Minister Manuel Chang, in jail for nearly three years since his arrest in December...

Shooting the messengers

The row over the shootings at Lekki toll gate in Lagos a year ago is set to spill into the campaign for national elections in 2023. After an...

Stories by country

Footer Map