Putin prepares Africa summit | Cabo Delgado: Nyusi negotiates help | UPDF protects Total & CNOOC assets

Power Brokers and their Connections

Daily issue Monday 24 May 2021 SPOTLIGHT  AFRICA _ _   Putin diligently prepares Russia-Africa summit     Moscow is working hard to ensure that the second Russian-African summit, scheduled for 2022, is a success. Picking the country to host it, organising a committee of experts, and deciding who should sit at the round tables are all being meticulously planned.  [...] CENTRAL AND WEST AFRICA  IN FOCUS _ _  GABON _ _   Private jets, offshore fields, football, magazines: the presidential palace's untraceable holdings     A string of offshore companies with no identified owner have been linked to transactions within the presidential couple's entourage. All were incorpoated by the same financiers who also happen to be associates of Gabon's sovereign wealth fund.  [...]  NIGER _ _   Arms broker Aboubacar Hima makes a fresh start in Niamey   At the beginning of May, military equipment broker Aboubacar Hima, known as "Petit Boubé", took the helm of a new Niamey-registered company called Privinvest. It's his way of getting back on his feet after having had a run-in with the Nigerien courts.  [...]      IVORY COAST _ _   NGO African Parks to begin working in Ivory Coast   The South African NGO, already active in a score of African countries to protect their national parks, sometimes with weapons, is in negotiations with Ivorian authorities over the management of part of Taï National Park, home to one of Africa's last primal forests.  [...]      CONGO _ _  CENTRAL AFRICA _ _   Sassou Nguesso and ECCAS seek to regain upper hand on Chad   ECCAS President Denis Sassou Nguesso is timidly trying to play a part in managing Chad's transition. But the international community would clearly prefer the African Union to oversee the next stage.  [...] EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA  RUNNING STORY _ _  MOZAMBIQUE _ _   Nyusi negotiates details of EU, SADC military contributions to Cabo Delgado conflict   The Mozambican president, under pressure from the ruling Felimo party's leadership, is accepting a drip-feed of military aid from his European and African partners.  [...]      SUDAN _ _   Hamdok sends his foreign minister to defuse Russian naval base row   A contretemps in early May over Russia's naval base in Port Sudan has brought an unwelcome chill to relations between Moscow and Khartoum. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi is due to meet her counterpart Sergei Lavrov in early June to patch things up.  [...] NORTH AFRICA  TUNISIA _ _   Sall, Ouattara, and Tshisekedi confirm OIF summit attendance   Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed left his 18 May meeting in Paris with confirmation from three heads of state they would attend the summit of the francophone organisation OIF in Djerba in November.  [...]      MOROCCO _ _   Mohammed VI still on the lookout for a chief lobbyist in Washington   Morocco is taking its time to find the right person to coordinate its influence networks in the US. Meanwhile, Mohammed VI's cousin and ambassador Lalla Joumala Alaoui has kept close ties with the Republican Party and with the controversial lobbyist Richard Smotkin.  [...]  ALGERIA _ _   Cherchell Port link to motorway to cost €150m OIL & GAS  UGANDA _ _   Museveni deploys yet more troops to protect Total's oil   Uganda's counterterrorism support for neighbouring DRC is primarily aimed at protecting Lake Albert's nascent oil infrastructure.  [...]      TUNISIA _ _   Shell tries to pressure the government into a new agreement on Miskar   With the country in a difficult social situation, Shell is pulling out all the stops to get the Tunisian government to extend its permit on the field ahead of its projected departure from the country in July 2022.  [...] MINING SECTOR  GREAT LAKES _ _   How more responsible mining can mean more profit   Praised by those advocating more ethical business, decried by others for their prohibitive cost, the accountability and traceability measures presented at the OECD Forum on Mineral Supply Chains are seen as key to profitability by some miners.  [...] Discover our subscription offers

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