US oil junior Kosmos Energy hopes to convince the Ghanian government to allow it to become the country's leading oil company. It is currently well placed to acquire Occidental Petroleum's assets in Ghana but needs government approval for the operation.
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Energy 
The seeking of around $40bn from the Congolese state by four companies in compensation for the recent cancellation of their iron mining permits has placed the country's mining industry's movers and shakers in the spotlight, not least the powerful minister of mines Pierre Oba who is an essential cog in President Denis Sassou Nguesso's machine.
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Mining In winning a new round for its contract to provide security to the UN mission MINUSCA, Croisement SA, a subsidiary of Burkinabe businessman Arouna Nikiema's holding company BBS, has secured its presence in Central African Republic on top of an active network in West Africa.
After having been a highly influential figure during the presidency of Blaise Compaoré until his downfall in 2014, Alizéta Ouédraogo went into exile. She did not drop her business activities, however, and has just set up a company in Guinea's prolific mining sector.
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Mining Paris Europlace, the body which promotes Paris as a financial centre, is setting up a training programme for West African financial regulators and civil servants. It will be run in partnership with Paris Dauphine University and the World Bank's International Financial Corporation.
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Business France has exerted pressure to block Chad and Niger's hopes of modifying the statutes of ASECNA, the regional air traffic control and safety agency which is active at numerous African airports.
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Diplomacy For the past few months, India's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has been laying the groundwork for the opening on an embassy in Mauritania in the first half of 2022.
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Diplomacy 
President Salva Kiir's toughest rival, South Sudan's first vice-president, has been fiercely challenged by both the military and political branches of his own party and is now but a shadow of his former self.
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Politics 
Having successively lost its last African bastions to Beijing, Taiwan is trying to keep a foot in the continent through its trade centres, one of which is set to open in Maputo shortly.
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Business 
Joe Biden's nomination of a new ambassador to Algiers has done little to weaken Algeria's growing ties with Russia, with which it has signed several arms deals while letting go of a lobbying contract in the US.
The Egyptian Exchange is continuing to seek out foreign investors and major corporations to list with a focus on wealthy Egyptians living abroad.
