The conflict in Ukraine will completely block Russian oil companies' access to European, American and Asian lenders. Finding alternative funding, in particular from China, will be difficult.
The inter-Chadian preliminary dialogue, which had been postponed several times, finally got underway on 13 March. A host of key protagonists, curious to see how Qatar would find the means to reach a deal, came to the meeting.
To win the next contract for Cameroon's biometric identity cards, fledgling German company Augentic, in partnership with French firm IN Groupe, is relying on the intense lobbying of Israeli securocrat Eran Moas, an adviser to President Paul Biya's praetorian guard.
The trading giant, which last month said it had set aside $1.5bn to settle US and UK investigations into its activities, is trying to negotiate a compromise with the US Department of Justice, in particular on the Congolese part of Washington's probes.
French diplomat Bruno Foucher has returned to working on diplomacy regarding Chad. He is currently in Doha where a pre-dialogue with more than fifty armed groups began on 13 March under the auspices of Qatari diplomacy.
The European Union has not ruled out resuming financial support for Central African Republic. An EU delegation was in Bangui last week to discuss how it might resume the payment of budgetary support, estimated at €30m.
Breaking news published on 14/03/2022 at 11h45 : For a long time Ali Bongo's eyes and ears, the Republican Guard's former head of intelligence Frédéric Bongo is being sidelined, as tensions between the president's family and Omar-Denis Bongo Jr, the son of former President Omar Bongo rise.
Five years after SAF Cacao went bankrupt, its accumulated €158m in debt owed to 11 banks remains outstanding. The creditors have formed an underwriting banking syndicate but have struggled to mortage SAF's new owner SACC's assets.
Redeployed to reinforce NATO's eastern flank, Ukrainian operator Antonov Airlines' surviving fleet of An-124s are also backing France's military efforts in Africa. But the clock is ticking...
Arabian Peninsula funds are preparing to embace a dynamic Kenyan market and the opening up of Tanzania by Samia Suluhu Hassan. The heads of state of both these African countries recently visited the Gulf.
The gas-producing emirate rolled out the red carpet for Somali leader Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed when he visited Qatar in early March. Relations between the two countries had cooled recently following repeated postponements of the elections in Somalia and the subsequent political crisis there.
Following two years that have been marred by the Covid-19 pandemic and the state-owned railway operator's logistical problems, the South African coal sector is suddenly being courted by European consumers. In an European market previously dominated by Russia, it now plans to regain a slice of the pie.
The two French defence giants are doing business with Russia to kit out Algerian combat aircraft. Sanctions are set to complicate those arrangments.
After being stalled for several months, one of the "war crimes" trials against Khalifa Haftar has resumed. On 11 March, judges decided to continue proceedings, in which Haftar faces Canadian-Libyan plaintiff Ali Abdallah Hamza. The legal case has been suspended since 4 Nov last year.
