Brazil took a big step back from Africa over the past seven years, but Lula da Silva's election victory is likely to launch a new era of cooperation between Brasília and African capitals. The Brazilian business community for its part is banking on the new president to help it make a comeback on the continent.
It was thanks to a cooperation between the Chadian army and a French contingent from Operation Barkhane that a French-Australian hostage was released on 30 October, after being kidnapped two days earlier. The successful collaboration stands in stark contrast with the current tensions between Chad and France, triggered by N'Djamena's bloody clampdown on protests on 21 October.
Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker is planning a trip to Kinshasa to finalise the legal terms of a deal for the renovation and management of three airports in the DRC.
The former head of Perenco's Congo subsidiary Christophe Blanc has joined the French oil group's London headquarters. He was replaced by Stéphane Barc in September.
Following on from his participation in the United Nations General Assembly in September, the former Nigerien head of state Mahamadou Issoufou will present his report on the situation in the Sahel at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in February.
The Malian junta sent a draft agreement to the Ivorian presidency at the end of October, which would have led to the release of 46 of the 49 Ivorian soldiers arrested in Bamako in July.
The US junior has finally acquired the seven offshore blocks it has been eyeing for many months, thanks to the return to power of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his new government in Somalia.
Late last month Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre requested ministers pay be temporarily cut by 20 percent and civil servants' pay by 5%.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions' pro-Ramaphosa president, Zingiswa Losi, seems to have managed to quell the discontent at the top of her organisation after her opponents wanted to split with the ruling party.
The Emirati giant wants to create a 30-hectare logistics zone near the Tunisian industrial port and has teamed up for this purpose with Franco-Tunisian businessman Mohamed Ayachi Ajroudi.
Plans for a new Libyan government drawn up by Aguila Salah Issa and Khaled al-Mishri promise political upheaval in Tripoli. Fathi Bashagha appears to be definitively out of the picture, while Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dabaiba faces increasing isolation on the domestic political scene.
