In the utmost secrecy, Kigali and Cotonou have entered the final phase of negotiations for the deployment of several hundred Rwandan soldiers to northern Benin, a part of the Sahel region that has been seeing a spike in jihadist activity.
President Denis Sassou Nguesso's international affairs adviser, on matters such as Russia and the UAE, partly organised his Turkish holiday. Her rising influence has been the subject of much speculation in Brazzaville and led to a new equilibrium within his first circle.
The UK is outlining a new military cooperation programme for Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, dubbed the Lake Chad Support Framework. It aims to increase British influence on security projects largely dominated by the EU and the AU, and to try to stem growing Russian influence in the region.
The offshore field in Sao Tomé has recently become a hotspot for oil companies eagerly awaiting the results of drilling on block 6. If drilling is successful, negotiations over block 4, contested by ERHC, Kosmos and TotalEnergies, may resume.
Used to more conciliatory relations under former president Mahammadu Issoufou's rule, oil major China National Petroleum Corp is not being given any special treatment by Niger's current hydrocarbons minister Mahamane Sani Mahamadou, aka Abba, who is hard-set on setting aside jobs in the industry for locals.
After the Karma gold mine was raided once again by attackers on 20 August, forcing owner Néré Mining to temporarily halt its extraction operations, the firm's deputy managing director Stefan Maré was fired by its co-founders Grégory Quérel and Elie Justin Ouédraogo.
Separatist Beja rebels are threatening to take up arms to further their cause, prompting junta leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to dig in his heels about talks.
While Namibian Kalahari is now attracting miners in search of copper deposits, the Anglo-Australian giant will have to decide whether to continue its investments or sell its myriad exploration permits in the area.
At its conference in December, delegates from the ruling party will vote on a range of new national measures. Led by Lindiwe Zulu, the ANC's powerful international relations sub-committee is once again set to impose its will on the executive, with implications for Israel, Russia and Western Sahara.
A French court has ruled that the National Oil Corp (NOC) is an extension of the Libyan state, opening the way for the country's creditors to seize state assets. But Tripoli is planning a counterattack based on arbitration fraud claims.
As Ethiopia continues to fill the GERD dam, threatening as it does so to reduce the flow of the Nile River, Egypt is looking to diversify its water supply. But these projects are still marginal, and plans for desalination plants have been scaled back due to the economic crisis.
The Benghazi authorities affiliated with Khalifa Haftar are reactivating seven free zone projects in the hope of attracting investment to the Cyrenaica region.
