Jacob Zuma and the French defence firm are due back in the dock on 11 April for the resumption of their corruption trial. The former president may have been a dab hand at throwing spanners into the legal works, but he has also faced some setbacks.
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Politics 
Though constitutionally speaking the role of first lady does not exist in Gabon, over the past two years Ali Bongo's wife has taken a much larger role. Her influence, albeit invisible and never mentioned in public, can sway public appointments from within the presidential office and key ministries through to the service providers to the regime.
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Politics 
The Nigerian billionaire Benedict Peters' Aiteo is being hounded by its creditors wanting payment on a massive loan it took out in 2014 to purchase OML 29. All attempts at an amicable settlement have failed after many lengthy delays, mostly due to the pandemic.
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Energy Private investors keen to purchase shares in the capital of French bank BNP Paribas's lucrative subsidiary in Ivory Coast, the Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie de Côte d'Ivoire (BICICI), are readying themselves for battle.
The Nigerian Army, in addition to acquiring attack helicopters, wants to build up a fleet of transport aircraft. The US manufacturer Bell, represented by Robert Prentice of Africair, looks more likely than its competitors Leonardo and Airbus to bag the contract.
The interim prime minister and his staff want to improve the extractive sector's respect for the environment through stricter enforcement of relevant contractual obligations.
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Mining A handful of Malian officers are still being trained in France despite the fact that all military cooperation between the two countries has been frozen.
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Diplomacy Equatorial Guinea vice-president Teodorin Obiang Nguema has been summoned to appear in court in Paris on 20 April in the latest episode of the long-running so-called "ill-gotten gains" affair.
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Diplomacy 
The presidential candidate is facing pressure from Mombasa County's business leaders, who want assurances that one of them will become a governor there, putting Odinga, who wants to avoid having to choose between long-time political and financial supporters, in a bind.
Reconciled in 2019 by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, several Muslim religious leaders are again at daggers drawn over control of the Islamic Affairs Supreme Council.
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Politics Prominent Afar figures Eritrean naval commander Houmed Mohamed Ahmed and the Sultan of Rahaita, Abdoulkader Daoud have just been to Ethiopia to meet Afar's council of elders.
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Diplomacy 
Cosme Jacinto Nyusi, President Filipe Nyusi's little-known brother, is quietly expanding his mining investments in the rich subsoil of northern Mozambique.
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Mining 
The Texas-based Turkish-US businessman wants to get into sugar beet cultivation alongside the state-owned Cosider. Ankara will keep a close eye on developments since Dogan is reputed to support Imam Fethullah Gulen, bête noire of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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Business 
