The new president is keen to build on the alliances forged by his predecessor, but is also on the lookout for new international partners. However, he has limited manpower and room for manoeuvre to transform the regional map.
The Emirati firm has since 2018 been strengthening and diversifying its oil trading business, including by poaching staff from TotalEnergies. Since the invasion of Ukraine, it has been making inroads in Africa by dispatching supertankers to countries with no storage capacity of their own.
The Qatari state-owned airline and Felix Tshisekedi's government are putting the finishing touches to a contract for the renovation and management of three airports in the DRC.
Fuel shortages remain acute in Central African Republic, despite the recent arrival of barges carrying fuel supplies.
The developers of Ghana's gas import terminal keep postponing the start of the project. The war in Ukraine has been added to a long list of excuses about why it is so far behind schedule.
An investigation into money laundering involving the Société Générale Côte d'Ivoire, has spread to three other banks in Ivory Coast which are all thought to have been the victim of similar fraudulent schemes.
With Guy-Fleury Ntwari tipped to be the bloc's next legal counsel, the also-rans' backers have made their ire known to the head of the AU Commission.
Throughout September, Paris tried in vain to put the conflict in Ethiopia on the agenda of the UN Security Council, which it was chairing. But it was thwarted by African members backed by Beijing and Moscow.
In January, Pretoria takes over the rotating leadership of the non-Western bloc that groups it with India, China, Brazil and Russia. President Ramaphosa has several reasons for hesitating to admit new members.
Less known than its fellow Australians Rio Tinto and Sandfire Resources, the mining firm Noronex Resources is expanding in the Namibian Kalahari with five new permit applications in the pipeline. By early 2023, the company should have over 70,000 hectares to explore in this disputed copper region.
A second TotalEnergies well, called Venus-2, is expected to begin drilling in Namibia's Orange Basin in the coming weeks.
Discussions are underway regarding the possibility of lifting sanctions on members of the Ben Ali clan, which could make it even more difficult to recover assets from Tunisia's former presidential family.
