Tripoli is quietly lobbying the UN to allow delivery of armoured vehicles from the Emirates, despite an arms embargo on Libya. The plea comes after a ship carrying Emirati armoured vehicles to eastern Libya was seized in October, the latest in a series of violations of the international embargo.
Bolloré Africa Logistics, now a subsidiary of MSC, is to go to the French Court of Cassation over a 10 January Paris appeal court judgement quashing a 2020 arbitration ruling against the Port of Douala.
Subscribers only
Infrastructure One of the biggest oil deals in Africa in 2023, involving 50,000 bpd, has the industry in a tizzy. Carlyle has chosen Citibank to handle the sale, and the bank has selected three potential buyers.
Subscribers only
Energy 
Mauritania's historical supplier of petroleum products, Addax Energy, and a newcomer to the African market, Coral Energy, are both bidding for a deal to refuel vessels off the country's coast.
Subscribers only
Energy Céréalis, the leading French wheat trader south of the Sahara, has been granted a new credit facility by a subsidiary of France's AFD development agency. West and Central African millers, who have turned increasingly to French wheat because of the war in Ukraine, had lobbyied for the measure.
Barely a year after a thwarted schism over the war in Tigray, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is confronted with new divisions driven by the linguistic demands of the Oromo community. A public intervention by the prime minister could exacerbate tensions.
Subscribers only
Politics The runner-up in last year's presidential election has ignored his top supporters' pleas to accept William Ruto's offer of becoming Kenya's official leader of the opposition. But Odinga's own calls for mass demonstrations to push for Ruto's resignation could well backfire.
Subscribers only
Politics 
Major French traders are up in arms about the latest measures put in place by Madagascar's vanilla regulatory board, and have written to French Trade Minister Olivier Becht to ask for his help.
Subscribers only
Commodity traders The official commission of enquiry into the 2018 explosion at the Rheinmetall Denel Munition plant in the suburbs of Cape Town, in which eight people died, has concluded that the group breached regulations, opening the way to possible prosecution.
Subscribers only
Defence 
The Russian foreign minister's trip to Tunis scheduled for the beginning of February has been put off indefinitely. This is the second time Sergei Lavrov's has had to cancel a visit to Tunisia.
Subscribers only
Diplomacy 
