Welcome to Africa Now, your weekly newsletter for Africa, presenting the most important developments in the continent - news that matters.
Week 1, 2023
COMMENTARY
Focus on Africa, the heart of the Global South
For India to be remembered as the voice of the Global South through the G20 presidency, it needs to understand the mood and changes in AfricaClick here to read...
US, Europe, China in race for Africa, scramble for continent begins
On Sunday, August 14, 2022, U.S. Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken, began a five-day three-nation trip to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Click here to read...
Will Africa’s 2023 elections strengthen democracy?
Africa will hold state or parliamentary elections in 17 countries in 2023. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, these elections will significantly impact the continent. Click here to read...
NEWS
Two Gambian Military Officers Arrested in Connection with Failed Coup
Two Gambian military officers linked to an alleged plot to overthrow the government of President Adama Barrow have been arrested over the weekend. Click here to read...
Tunisian president extends state of emergency until Jan. 30
Tunisian President Kais Saied extended the state of emergency until Jan. 30, 2023, the official gazette said on Friday. Click here to read...
Tripoli-based Libyan govt swaps prisoners with pro-Haftar forces
Libya's Tripoli-based unity government and the eastern-based rival forces carried out a prisoner swap, involving the release of a pilot captured during putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar's 2019 offensive on the capital Tripoli. Click here to read...
El Burhan calls for inclusivity in Sudan’s political negotiations
The head of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, warned that exclusion, minimising the role of others, not listening to their demands, and imposing the will of specific groups will lead to wasting the current opportunity, and will put the unity and security of the country in great danger. Click here to read...
Mediators meet to bolster Ethiopia truce amid signs of détente
Mediators between Ethiopia's federal government and authorities in the Tigray region, embroiled until last month in a brutal war, are stepping up efforts to enforce a truce as relations between the two sides inch closer towards normality. Click here to read...
Mozambique about to join UN Security Council
From January 1st, Mozambique replaces Kenya as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. Click here to read...
Senegal's opposition calls for protests after Covid funds "mismanaged"
Senegal's main opposition coalition Yewii Askan Wi has called for a "concert of pans" on New Year’s Eve, as the president addresses the nation. Click here to read...
Angola court orders dos Santos’s assets seized
Angola’s Supreme Court has ordered the “preventive” seizure of assets worth about $1bn held by Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of its former president. Click here to read...
DRC dismantles Rwanda-backed spying network
The Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, has announced to have busted a spying network in capital Kinshasa, working for neighbouring Rwanda considered by authorities as enemy. Click here to read...
Exiled Former Botswana President Khama Faces Arrest
A Botswana court has issued an arrest warrant for former President Ian Khama, who is facing 14 charges ranging from unlawful possession of firearms to money laundering. Click here to read...
Eritrean soldiers leave major towns in northern Ethiopia – eyewitnesses
Eritrean soldiers, who fought in support of the Ethiopian federal government during a two-year civil war in the northern Tigray region, have pulled out of the major towns of Shire and Axum, three eyewitnesses told Reuters. Click here to read...
30,000 Displaced In South Sudan After Ethnic Violence
Armed raids in a region of South Sudan plagued by ethnic clashes have forced around 30,000 civilians to flee their homes. Click here to read...
Eritrean Catholic bishop is freed after two months in detention
After more than two months in detention in Eritrea, Catholic Bishop Fikremariam Hagos Tsalim and Father Mehereteab Stefanos have been released from prison, several sources have reported.Click here to read...
Zambia Becomes 25th Sub-Saharan African Nation to Abolish Death Penalty
Fulfilling a pledge made while campaigning for office, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on December 23, 2022 signed legislation abolishing the nation’s death penalty. Click here to read...
9 killed in stampede in Uganda shopping mall
At least nine people have been killed in a stampede in a shopping mall in Uganda on Sunday. People were gathered at the Freedom City mall in Kampala for New Year celebrations when the stampede occurred. Click here to read...
Al-Shabab militants kill two men near Kenya’s east coast
Al-Shabab Islamist militants attacked Taa village in the Pandaguo area of Lamu county on Christmas Day - a Christian religious holiday - and killed two local men. Click here to read...
Mali sentences 46 Ivory Coast soldiers to 20 years in prison
A court in Mali has sentenced 46 soldiers from Ivory Coast to 20 years’ imprisonment for conspiring against the government, and three others to death in absentia. Click here to read...
Namibia Halts Russian Uranium Exploration Over Environmental Concerns
Namibia has halted Russia’s state atomic energy agency’s uranium exploration over concerns about potential contamination of underground water. Click here to read...
Somalia rejects Genel Energy's "illegal claim" to oil permits
Somalia rejected on Wednesday what it called an "illegal claim" by Genel Energy (GENL.L) to oil exploration and exploitation rights in the country's northern breakaway region of Somaliland, the country's oil ministry said. Click here to read...
Zimbabwe bans raw lithium exports as demand, prices soar
Zimbabwe has banned the export of raw lithium from its mines so it can cash in on value addition and stop losing billions of dollars in mineral proceeds to foreign companies. Click here to read...
Chinese, foreign consortiums reach deals with Guinean government on Simandou iron ore project’s infrastructure buildup
China Baowu Steel Group Corp and the joint ventures formed by Chinese and foreign enterprises SMB Winning Consortium and Simfer, have signed an infrastructure buildup agreement with Guinean government, reaching important cooperation consensus on joint investment and development of railways and ports of the Simandou project in Guinea. Click here to read...
Madagascar seeks Moroccan fertiliser investment -President
Madagascar is seeking an investment from Morocco in the fertiliser sector as part of its efforts to achieve farming self-sufficiency, President Andry Rajoelina said. Click here to read...
Algeria sets reference price for oil at $60 barrel through 2023/2025
Algeria has set the reference price for crude oil at $60 a barrel through 2023-2025, state news agency (APS) said on Sunday, citing the 2023 budget approved earlier in the day by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Click here to read...
UN chief slams Burkina Faso for expelling top envoy accused of discrediting country’
Burkina Faso had no grounds for ordering senior UN official Barbara Manzi to leave the country because the doctrine of “persona non grata” could not be applied to her, the United Nations has said in a statement after the military government ordered Manzi to leave Burkina Faso immediately. Click here to read...
Ivory Coast hands down 11 life sentences in 2016 resort attack
Eleven people have been sentenced to life in prison in Ivory Coast after being convicted of abetting an attack that killed 19 people and injured dozens on a tourist beach nearly seven years ago. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/28/ivory-coast-hands-down-life-sentences-to-11-in-2016-resort-attack " target="_blank">Click here to read...
Tanzania Starts Filling the Julius Nyerere Dam For 2115 MW Hydropower Plant
Tanzania has started filling the Julius Nyerere Dam for the new 2,115 MW hydropower plant. The project cost is said to be about $3 billion. Click here to read...
China’s new approach in Africa to focus on FDI over loans
China is taking a new approach to Africa which prioritizes FDI over loans, small and medium-sized businesses over large ones, and green development over carbon emissions. Click here to read...
Chinese provinces boost China-Africa economic, trade cooperation
Although the next China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo is still six months away, an economic and trade delegation from central China's Hunan Province has finished its trips promoting the expo to several African countries in mid-December. Click here to read...
Ukraine's aim to deepen ties in Africa leaves open questions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently announced that new embassies would be opened on the African continent in first quarter of 2023. Click here to read...
Senate gives final approval for establishing Digital Egypt Fund
The 18-article bill, approved by the cabinet in October 2021, got a preliminary approval from the Senate on 12 December, and will find its way to the House of Representatives to be finally discussed and voted. Click here to read...
Africa Has Potential to Produce €1trn Worth of Green Hydrogen by 2035
Africa has the potential to produce €1 trillion worth of green hydrogen a year by 2035, allowing it to export the fuel and boost local industry, a study backed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) has revealed. Click here to read...
Port of Berbera: Dubai invests in Horn of Africa shipping
Dubai-based DP World is expanding its operations in Somaliland as part of a plan to turn the breakaway region into a major trade hub. Even though Somaliland relinquishes commercial power, it may gain political weight. Click here to read...
Delays, extortions, and voter exclusion: Cameroon’s national biometric ID card conundrum
Ashu M. just clocked 20 years this November, the legal age for voting in the central African nation of Cameroon.Click here to read...
Rights watchdogs condemn Algeria’s closure of Radio M
Algeria has arrested independent journalist Ihsane El Kadi and shut down his Radio M, in a move that was decried by international media and free speech watchdogs. Click here to read...
Four killed in attack on police checkpoint in Egypt’s Ismailia
ISIL claims responsibility for the attack in Ismailia city on the western side of the Suez Canal. Click here to read...
A Christmas Day Killing in Lagos
Fatal shooting of Lagos lawyer by police refreshes clamour for law enforcement reform in Nigeria. Click here to read...
Jihadi violence hits Benin, shows spread across West Africa
It’s been more than a year since jihadis first stormed Igor Kassah’s town in northern Benin but the priest still lives in fear. Click here to read...
Abduction, Torture, Rape: Conflict in Congo Worsens, UN Says
The accounts are haunting. Abductions, torture, rapes. Scores of civilians, including women and children, have been killed by the M23 rebels in eastern Congo, according to a U.N. report. Click here to read...
Niger: Military helicopter crashes, three crew members killed
Niger’s ministry of Defense announced Monday the crash of a military helicopter and the death of three members of the crew, during a drill. Click here to read...
South Africa Passes 200 Days of Power Cuts as 2022 Draws to a Close
SA passed 200 days of power cuts in 2022 on Tuesday, with more to come. Eskom ramped up load-shedding from stage 1 to stage 3 from 4pm until 5am for the rest of the week. The power utility has implemented record rotational blackouts this year, because its old and poorly maintained power stations continually break down. Click here to read...
Ghana warns against alarmist New Year prophecies
For many Ghanaian Christians, listening to their pastors make predictions during the New Year's services has become an annual ritual. Ghana's police want to stop proclamations that create fear and panic among the public. Click here to read...
INDIA IN AFRICA
Egypt’s President to be Republic Day Chief Guest as India expands Arab relations
This year both countries have celebrated the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, and the invitation to El Sisi, who has been the president of his country since 2014 is being seen as India’s plans to deepen relations in the region. Click here to read...
Ethiopia, India Agree to Strengthen Investment Cooperation
Ministry of Planning and Development Dr. Fitsum Asefe discussed with Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia Shri Robert Shetkintong on the need to strengthen the relationship between Ethiopia and India in the field of education and investment. Click here to read...
India Madagascar Trade Conference was organized by the Indian Economic Trade Organization and the Embassy of Madagascar on DECEMBER 27, 2022
India Madagascar Trade Conference was organized by the Indian Economic Trade Organization and the Embassy of Madagascar on DECEMBER 27, 2022. Click here to read...
Elista India expects Rs 1,500 cr revenue by 2025, to invest up to Rs 400 cr
Electronics manufacturing company Elista India expects a revenue of Rs 1,500 crore by 2025 on the back of increased exports to the CIS countries, Middle East and Africa Click here to read...
RBI eases payment concerns involving large pulses suppliers
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stepped in to address concerns of banks in clearing payments to India’s major pulses suppliers, such as Myanmar, Mozambique and Tanzania. Click here to read...
Gambia deaths: Drug regulators launch nationwide inspection
Weeks after a tragedy in The Gambia where children died reportedly after consuming made-in-India cough syrups, India’s drug regulating agencies have launched a nationwide inspection of production units manufacturing sub-standing medicines Click here to read...
