Your daily edition of Africa Intelligence

Power Brokers and their Connections

Daily issue Thursday 20 May 2021 SPOTLIGHT  AFRICA _ _   Total execs jockey for firm's number two job     The eight seats on Total's executive committee represent the Holy Grail for the French oil major's top executives. Various contenders are currently jockeying for the exploration and production position - equivalent to the CEO's right-hand man - that is due to become available by 2022.  [...] CENTRAL AND WEST AFRICA  CENTRAL AFRICA _ _   CEMAC leaders brood over exclusion from Paris summit   Denis Sassou NGuesso, much to the irritation of his fellow Central African heads of state, was the only one among them who managed to get himself invited to the Paris summit on the financing of African economies. The CEMAC zone appears to be paying the price for playing junior partner over the past decade to UEMOA, its West African twin.  [...]      IVORY COAST _ _  FRANCE _ _   Ouattara's evening at the Elysée   Invited by the French president to attend a ceremony in honour of the ex-MD of the IMF Michel Camdessus, to whom he is very close, the Ivorian president will try to raise the issue of budgetary cooperation, which has been the source of recent frictions between Paris and Abidjan.  [...]  IVORY COAST _ _   Ex-minister and Gbagbo advisor Ahoua Don Mello to return after ten-year exile      GABON _ _  RUSSIA _ _   Michael Moussa in Moscow EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA  UGANDA _ _  RWANDA _ _   Kagame and Museveni eye each other warily and up their military budgets   Rwanda and Uganda will be presenting their 2021-22 budgets to their respective parliaments on the same day, 10 June. Both have earmarked substantial sums for defence spending.  [...]      DJIBOUTI _ _   IOG gives green light for regeneration of Djibouti's old port   Already the leading player in the Djiboutian maritime sector, China Merchants is set to build a new business district on the site of Djibouti's old port.  [...]      DJIBOUTI _ _   IOG's entourage ousts CEO and takes control of sovereign fund   Before it even hits its stride, Djibouti's new sovereign wealth fund, launched by President Ismail Omar Guelleh (IOG) in September 2020 to better manage the country's revenue, is facing a leadership crisis.  [...] NORTH AFRICA  TUNISIA _ _   Washington gives Borj Erroumi prison a radical makeover   In the hope of curbing the radicalisation of the most dangerous prisoners, the US State Department is to modernise the Borj Erroumi penitentiary where the Ben Ali regime kept its political opponents under lock and key.  [...]      LIBYA _ _   Dabaiba appoints militia leaders to foreign ministry   Amid threats and increasing calls for foreign minister Mangoush to resign in recent days, the Libyan prime minister Abdelhamid Dabaiba has appointed militia leaders as under-secretaries within her ministry.  [...]  LIBYA _ _   Ukroboronservice beats off Western giants to land Tripoli mine clearance contract OIL & GAS  WEST AFRICA _ _   Changing tides for Norway's Aker in West Africa   The Røkke family company quickly took West African oil services and exploration by storm but its future there is not looking so rosy.  [...] MINING SECTOR  DRC _ _   Glencore close to settling tax dispute with Kinshasa   Congolese tax authorities and Glencore are currently in discussions over the hefty tax adjustment demanded for 2017 and 2018.  [...]      DRC _ _   Presidential envoy and mining entrepreneur Luc Gérard Nyafé set to buy Banro's gold   Luc Gérard Nyafé, the ambassador-at-large who runs Auplata, looks to be on the verge of clinching the purchase of the Namoya goldmine that Banro has been trying to offload for months.  [...] Discover our subscription offers

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