Kinshasa and Abu Dhabi are secretly finalising an unprecedented deal that would include major mining projects and may also have a military component.
Intrigues big and small: every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.
Law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel played an active role in the negotiations which led to the final agreement on the financing of the modernisation work to be carried out at the river port of Maatadi between Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Société Congolaise des Transports et Ports (SCTP) last month.
The Nigerian bank is due to open an office in the French capital on 11 May. The move marks a new stage in its deployment strategy in French-speaking Africa.
The French-Guinean businessman is asking the French state to give its sovereign guarantee for his alumina refinery project in Guinea. The French finance ministry's treasury department has set up an ad hoc team to examine his request.
While there are some signs that the Sudanese army is getting the upper hand against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, the conflict in Darfur is intensifying. General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF leader, has placed trusted men in charge of its units in the vast region.
To avoid being overly dependent on a single partner, the Tanzanian president has decided to divide the scheme to build a major port in Bagamoyo into different tranches.
Brazilian construction group Odebrecht has made its return to Angola with the signature of a series of major new contracts. In so doing, it has demonstrated its resilience after having been one of the main groups charged under the Lava-Jato anti-corruption programme.
Alstom is still not going to be able to deliver all of its tramway trainsets for lines T3 and T4 in Casablanca, due to the delay in the delivery of the maintenance centre, which has been postponed several times.
Members of the opposition are asking what the Moroccan government has done with the new development model, with the national pact still not signed.