As the jihadist insurgency's attacks approach its gas facilities, Total has turned to the country's armed forces. For their part, the Mozambican authorities have been using foreign mercenaries.
The royal Moroccan mining company Managem and Chinese group Wanbao have plans to launch a sulphuric acid production line at their Congolese mine Pumpi, where they already extract copper and cobalt.
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Mining Though technically the highest-ranked minister, Joseph Dion Ngute is only the head of government in name and it is Paul Biya's advisors who manage the executive's day-to-day actions.
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Politics 
The "Africa agroecology initiative" to be launched on 11 January in Paris by Emmanuel Macron, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani and Prince Charles has been put together behind the scenes by Geocoton's deputy general manager Karim Aït Talb and the lobbyist Hamza Hraoui, who have brought several leading agribusiness players on board.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold a vast summit of its member heads of state in Abuja on 23 January under the high patronage of President Muhammadu Buhari.
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Diplomacy With its bid of $23.3m, China's TBEA has pipped to the post its only other shortlisted rival, France's Eiffage, whose subsidiary had put in a bid costed at $24,7m for the contract to renovate a power line.
In landing an $8m contract to protect UNSOS personnel and facilities, the Somalian firm Duguf has established itself as a major player in the private security sector.
On 7 and 8 January, the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi will be trying to persuade Tanzanian president John Magufuli to resume construction works on the huge Bagamoyo deepwater port. Since he came to power, the project has been more or less constantly on hold.
Despite the disastrous impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism industry, Kasada, an African fund spawned by the union of French hotel giant Accor with Qatar, has set up a new funding structure in Mauritius.
Djiboutian president Ismail Omar Guelleh should officially be designated candidate of the Rassemblement Populaire pour le Progrès (RPP) on Saturday 9 January.
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Politics 
South Africa's "oilgate" - the conflict pitting state-owned Central Energy Fund against several international traders - is moving to the Supreme Court.
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Energy 
Abed Yacoubi Soussane, the long-serving chairman of mutual agricultural insurance group Mamda-MCMA and stalwart of royal holding company Al Mada, is to become a key supplier to the new PSA-Peugeot-Citroën plant in Kenitra.
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Business Groupement Tin Fouyé Tabankort (GTFT) has hired private security firm Vigil Grup to provide armed security its the offices and sites through a €3.1m contract signed on 17 December.
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Energy 
