Commentary
President Sisi’s third term will be his biggest challenge—not the upcoming Egyptian election
Egyptians head to the polls from December 10-12 to cast their ballots in a presidential election that analysts say is certain to guarantee a third term for incumbent Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who has been in power for nearly a decade. Click here to read…
Zanzibar: Bungling the fragile coalition raises the stakes in the 2025 elections
Three years after a disputed General Election led to a serious bout of electoral violence that was only stabilised by the formation of a unity government, Zanzibar’s President Hussein Ali Mwinyi appears to be stirring the political waters again. Click here to read…
News
Egypt election: Discontent grows as Sisi seeks third term
Once hailed by many people as a saviour, Egypt's strongman leader Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is now seen in a very different light. Click here to read…
Egypt to raise minimum wage to $113 a month from January
Egypt’s government will raise the minimum wage paid by the private sector to 3,500 Egyptian pounds ($113) a month as of Jan. 1, according to a decision published in the official gazette on Monday. Click here to read…
Zimbabwe by-elections: Polls open in controversial vote
Zimbabwe is holding by-elections in which there have been attempts to exclude the main opposition candidates - as President Emmerson Mnangagwa cements his control. Click here to read…
Zimbabwe Ruling Party Eyes Supermajority in Votes Without Opponents
Zimbabwe will hold nine by-elections Saturday with opposition candidates largely absent as President Emmerson Mnangagwa cements his control over the mineral-rich nation. Click here to read…
Senegalese presidential election: Sonko's candidacy returns to court
A court in Dakar will examine on December 12 whether Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko should be reinstated on the electoral rolls, on which his candidacy for the 2024 presidential elections depends, AFP learned on Tuesday from a judicial source. Click here to read…
Sierra Leone Ex-Leader’s Movements Restricted Amid Coup Probe
Former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma was given restricted release over the weekend as an investigation continues into a foiled Nov. 26 coup. Click here to read…
Ex-Sierra Leone president Koroma to be questioned over ‘failed coup’
A former president of Sierra Leone has been called in for questioning by police over recent attacks that officials say was a failed coup, an official said on Thursday. Click here to read…
Gabon Coup Leader Visits Cameroon to Press for End to CEMAC Sanctions
Gabon's military leader, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, visited Cameroon on Wednesday, asking central African states to lift economic sanctions on his country before the 2025 elections. Click here to read…
Guinea: divisions in the press in the face of the junta's restrictive measures
Private press organizations in Guinea were divided on Sunday over a call for a dead day for Monday, launched after a series of restrictive measures taken by the ruling junta. Click here to read…
Philip Mpango: Tanzania orders social media crackdown over VP death rumours
Tanzanian authorities are investigating social media users accused of spreading false information about Vice-President Philip Mpango's health. Click here to read…
Uganda plans ban on sale of used clothes; 80,000 people, mostly women, to lose jobs
Uganda’s capital has seen the bustling Owino secondhand market as the foundation of Hadija Nakimuli’s life for close to thirty years. As a widowed shopkeeper, it has been instrumental in her journey to building a home and raising twelve children. Click here to read…
Libyan militias ‘making a killing’ off kidnapping refugees for ransom
Salem Doma never imagined that, after escaping government oppression at home in Eritrea, his greatest hardship still lay ahead, in the town of Bani Walid in northwest Libya. Click here to read…
Attack on Red Cross convoy in Sudan kills at least two, injures seven
An attack on a humanitarian convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Sudanese capital has killed two people and injured seven, says the group. Click here to read…
West Africa Leaders Meet as Region Struggles With Coups
West African leaders met in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Sunday for talks on their region in deepening crisis, after four countries fell under military rule and with risks growing from Sahel jihadist conflicts. Click here to read…
Nigeria’s Tinubu urges re-engagement with regional juntas to promote democracy
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said on Sunday the West African bloc ECOWAS should try to re-engage with regional countries under military rule and support them to achieve “realistic and short” transitions to democracy. Click here to read…
Chad, Mauritania pave way for dissolution of G5 Sahel alliance
The G5 was created in 2014 but has secured only meagre results, even as insecurity remains a major issue across the Sahel. Click here to read…
Niger, Togo vow stronger ties amid coup sanctions
The Niger general who has ruled the country since a July coup met Togo's president on Friday to strengthen ties as international sanctions hammer Niamey's military leaders following the putsch. Click here to read…
Algeria eyes 4bcm jump in gas production – minister
Algeria's gas production looked set to rise 4bcm this year thanks to new fields starting operations, energy minister Mohamed Arkab said on Sunday. Click here to read…
Niger aims to start oil exports from Benin pipeline in January, leader says
Niger expects to export its first barrels of crude oil through a new Niger-Benin pipeline in January, the country's military leader Abdourahamane Tiani said on state television. Click here to read…
Ethiopia is about to become Africa’s next debt defaulter, after Zambia, Ghana
Ethiopia is set to join Zambia and Ghana as a sovereign defaulter, with an interest payment falling due to its bondholders on Monday that the state says it won’t meet. Click here to read…
Nationwide Power Outage Leaves Kenya in Darkness
A nationwide power outage hit Kenya on Sunday evening, causing widespread disruptions across the country. Click here to read…
UN’s footprint in Africa shrinks again, courtesy of Sudan
With Russia abstaining, the UN Security Council voted unanimously on Friday to wind down its 245-person Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, aka UNITAMS, starting Dec. 4. Click here to read…
United Nations mission in Mali officially ends after 10 years
The United Nations mission in Mali officially ended a 10-year deployment in the country on December 11, its spokesperson said, in a pull out ordered by Mali's military leaders. Click here to read…
Western Sahara: US Renews Call for Algeria to Engage in UN-Led Political Process
The US official emphasized Washington’s support for the Autonomy Plan as a serious, credible, and realistic basis to end the dispute and satisfy the aspirations of people in Western Sahara. Click here to read…
Burkina abandons French as an official language
The Burkinabè government adopted on Wednesday a bill revising the Constitution and henceforth enshrining national languages as official languages in place of French which is relegated to the rank of "working language". Click here to read…
Niger’s junta terminating its partnership agreement with the EU - a sign of increasing Russian influence in Africa?
We must understand how Africans feel about Russia if we want to minimize the impact of Russian propaganda in Africa and around the world. Click here to read…
Why Wagner is winning hearts in the Central African Republic
A welcoming atmosphere greets congregants shuffling into the Russian Orthodox Church, tucked away on an unassuming but badly pot-holed side street in the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). Click here to read…
US makes US$2 billion commitment to Angola as oil-rich nation eyes move beyond Chinese funding model
The United States is set to invest more than US$2 billion in Angola as it seeks to pitch itself as a better alternative to China, which has bankrolled most of the country’s reconstruction for the past two decades. Click here to read…
China grants tariff-free access to 6 African countries in bid to boost food imports and rebalance trade
Beijing has granted six African countries zero-tariff treatment on 98 per cent of products entering the massive Chinese market. Click here to read…
BRICS: $2 Billion Copper Trade to Be Paid in Chinese Yuan, Not US Dollar
BRICS member China is convincing African nations to ditch the US dollar and trade in the Chinese Yuan for cross-border transactions. Click here to read…
China’s lunar base: major African nation joins Beijing’s international moon project
Space cooperation between China and Egypt has reached a new milestone, with the Arab nation joining the construction of a China-led moon base that is expected to be up and running by 2035. Click here to read…
China helps launch Egypt's MISRAT-2 satellite
Egypt's space agency chief has hailed cooperation with China in the field of space technologies, following the launch on Monday of a remote-sensing satellite into orbit from a launch centre in northwest China. Click here to read…
EU should join Africa on WTO reform to counter China -IW study
The EU should join forces with African countries to reform the World Trade Organization's (WTO) subsidy rules as a way to counter Chinese market distortions and diplomatic influence, the German Economic Institute (IW) argued in a paper on Wednesday. Click here to read…
The U.K. Government Is Facing Pushback to Its Rwanda Migrant Plan. Here’s What to Know
U.K Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is experiencing pushback over his government’s costly and controversial Rwanda asylum scheme. Click here to read…
Ghana court jails and fines Chinese national over illegal gold mining
A Ghanaian court has sentenced a Chinese national to prison for illegal gold mining in the West African nation, her lawyer said on Monday, ending a case that started in 2017 and shed light on Chinese involvement in the activity. Click here to read…
Turkey issues arrest warrant for Somali president's son over fatal traffic crash
Turkey has issued an international arrest warrant for the son of Somalia's president, after he allegedly ran over a motorcycle courier, who later died. Click here to read…
Morocco to build surveillance satellite with Israel Aerospace Industries
Morocco is seeking to build a new surveillance satellite in cooperation with Israeli companies, reported French media La Tribune. Click here to read…
Indonesia’s Pertamina says Mozambique LNG deal terminated
Indonesia’s state-owned energy firm Pertamina said its 20-year LNG sale and purchase agreement with the Mozambique LNG project was terminated. Click here to read…
Hungary completes ‘largest ever’ economic development scheme in Africa
The Hungarian government has completed its “largest economic development programme in Africa ever” in Uganda, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Kampala on Friday. Click here to read…
Sudan Orders 15 UAE Diplomats to Leave Country; No Reason Given
Sudan declared 15 diplomats working in the United Arab Emirates’ embassy persona non grata, giving them 48 hours to leave the war-torn country. Click here to read…
Lukashenko: Africa's time has come, the continent's states need to gain economic independence
Africa's time has come, but the countries that have gained political independence have yet to free themselves from economic dependence, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said. Click here to read…
Anthrax is Spreading in Zambia and Neighbouring Countries
Zambia is experiencing its worst anthrax outbreak in a decade, while four neighbouring countries – Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe – have also reported outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Africa region. Click here to read…
West Africa counts on chemicals to curb new cotton pest
Without pausing to wipe the sweat from their brows, workers in northern Ivory Coast picked cotton by the handful. Click here to read…
Dozens of Zimbabwe elephants die as climate change dries up park
Dozens of elephants have died of thirst in Zimbabwe’s popular Hwange National Park, and conservationists fear losing more as a drought caused by climate change and the El Nino global weather pattern dries up watering holes. Click here to read…
India in Africa
Friendship between India & Kenya has matured into robust bilateral relationship, says President Droupadi Murmu
President Droupadi Murmu has said that friendship between India and Kenya has matured into a robust bilateral relationship, underpinned by significant economic collaboration across various sectors including trade, education, and technology. Click here to read…
India extends $250 mn line of credit to Kenya, 5 bilateral deals signed
Bilateral trade is valued at $3.3 billion with Indian exports making up a significant part of the figure, while Indian investments in Kenya were worth $3.2 billion. Click here to read…
Digital Diplomacy: Kenya's Tribute To India's Tech Prowess & Partnership In The Digital Revolution
Terming India and Kenya as “great friends,” visiting Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto has called for the need to consolidate the relationship between the two countries, which had diplomatic engagement at different levels since 1948. Click here to read…
“Defence forces of India, Kenya to work together” says Kenyan President William Ruto
Kenya's President William Ruto emphasized the mutual concern of terrorism for both India and Kenya, announcing a collaborative effort between their defense forces. Click here to read…
India seeks Cheetahs from Kenya after reintroduction programme runs into hurdles
India on Tuesday officially proposed the import of cheetahs from Kenya, even as 15 surviving animals brought from Namibia and South Africa continue to stay inside enclosures at Kuno National Park. Click here to read…
Kenya: INS Sumedha marks maiden entry by Indian Navy at Port Lamu
Indian Naval Ship Sumedha arrived at Port Lamu in Kenya on Saturday as part of India’s ongoing long-range deployment to Africa in resonance with the SAGAR vision, the Ministry of Defence said in a press release. Click here to read…
Raksha Rajya Mantri participates in the United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting in Ghana
Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Ajay Bhatt participated in the 2023 United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting in Accra, Ghana from 5-6 December 2023. Click here to read…
Tejas LCA to be exported? India eyes deal with Nigeria, others
Tejas LCA is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments to carry out missions on air defence, reconnaissance and strike roles. Click here to read…
India's quest for Assumption Island: How New Delhi's military base aspirations in Seychelles are at a crossroads
Seychelles has not officially cancelled the Assumption Agreement and the Assumption base could become a stellar achievement for Indian diplomacy before the 2024 elections. Click here to read…
Govt allows non-basmati rice exports to 5 African countries
The government on Thursday allowed the export of essential food items to five African nations overriding an existing ban. Click here to read…
Solar mini-grids offer clean-power hope to rural Africa
Solar mini-grids are not a low-scale solution: the World Bank and IEA see them as one of the most viable ways to get fossil-free access to electricity for rural sub-Saharan Africa. Click here to read…
Gravita India shares gain as firm starts plastic recycling plant in Tanzania
The plastic recycling plant in Tanzania has an annual capacity of nearly 1,800 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA). Click here to read…
The India–Mauritius grandfathering clause: is converted equity eligible?
Mauritius and Singapore have historically been attractive routes for investments into India owing to favourable capital gains tax treatment under tax treaties. Click here to read…
Watch: African Priest Recites Sanskrit Shlokas Performing Car Puja; Internet Impressed
The video opens with the African pandit doing the ritual and reciting the Sanskrit shlokas with proper articulation as he seeks blessings from god for the new car as goodwill. Click here to read…
Business Conference on Central and West Africa Region
With the support of the Ministry of External Affairs, the Millennial India International Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MIICCIA) is organizing a Business Seminar on “Business Opportunities and Trade Facilitation in Central and West Africa region” on 29 January 2024, New Delhi. Click here to read…
