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Palace Intrigues
Alassane Ouattara, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Félix Tshisekedi, Mahamat Idriss Déby

Intrigues big and small: every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

Ivory Coast Ouattara and Sassou neatly avoid the Soro issue

DRC Tshisekedi calls up Israeli counterpart for support

Cameroon Did the Chadian ambassador stay or go?

Chad
Rome plans to open an embassy in N'Djamena

Continuing to strengthen its diplomatic network in the Sahel, Rome has agreed to open an embassy in N'Djamena. The official opening is scheduled for 2024.

DRC
China's CREC-8 wins contract to restore Kwango bridge

Chinese construction giant CREC-8 has won the contract to restore DR Congo's strategic Kwango bridge. The company submitted a $5.3m bid, which was lower that its two Chinese competitors.

Ivory Coast
Local companies say government ignored their demands in tobacco traceability tender

Angry Ivorian companies believe the government has ignored their complaints about the tender to design a traceability system that they say favours international players such as the Swiss firm SICPA at the expense of local firms.

West Africa
Nigerian President Tinubu favourite for ECOWAS chair

Bola Tinubu, Nigeria's new head of state, has emerged as favourite to take the chair of the West African regional organisation as negotiations continue before a decision due on 9 July.

Kenya
Ruto orders interior minister to go easy on churches close to government

The Kenyan government is treading carefully in dealing with the excesses of some of the country's religious institutions. The security agencies are scrutinising the country's most suspect pastors, but have had orders from on high to spare those close to the government.

Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania
EU to fund EAC's ballistic expertise

On 19 June, the European Union invited service providers to bid for a contract to support the East African Community (EAC) in its ballistics investigations.

Zimbabwe
Nigerian billionaire Benedict Peters wavers between platinum and lithium in Harare

The oil-and-gas tycoon's enthusiasm for a platinum mine development project in Maflox Claims has dampened since his arrival in Zimbabwe in 2019, a few months before Emmerson Mnangagwa's election. His local company Bravura has not stuck to the regulatory requirements nor its promises to the authorities to invest.

Libya
NOC boss Farhat Bengdara under fire over his management of the company's finances

Disagreements emerged between Abdelhamid Dabaiba and the National Oil Corporation (NOC) boss at a recent meeting to discuss the company's budget allocation. Bengdara has been accused of a lack of transparency in his management of government funding.

Africa
Italy readies for major African gathering

Scheduled for October, the next Italy-Africa conference could see the unprecedented participation of African heads of state. Previously the event has been limited to representation at ministerial level.