Citing resource control, the President is joining with a Belgian start-up diamond trader to challenge the De Beers empire, After 54 years in mining diamonds and 10 years in trading them, Botswana is moving downstream in the business by taking a 24% stake in Belgium s HB Antwerp, a diamond trading, cutting and polishing start-up company.
In a landmark deal with the Kinshasa government, the US-sanctioned Israeli mining oligarch agrees to close his businesses in the country, Israeli magnate Dan Gertler s near 25-year stint at the heart of Congo-Kinshasa s mining industry is drawing to a close after he confirmed his agreement to a settlement with President Félix Tshisekedi s government that marks the end of Mr. Gertler s business activities in the country .
By bringing in two former adversaries, the President is shoring up regional alliances ahead of elections due this year, Former militia leader Jean-Pierre Bemba s surprise return to President Félix Tshisekedi s government as minister of defence and deputy prime minister is all about building an election-winning coalition but could create stability problems within the country and regionally.
, Not so much a policy revamp as a public relaunch: that was the message of Emmanuel Macron s Elysée palace address on 27 February, two days before flying to Libreville, Luanda, Brazzaville and Kinshasa.
The succession dominates political discourse but if Museveni stands again the economy is less able to accommodate his electoral pump-priming, Economic woes and conflicts in Uganda s restive regions are set to escalate during the year as tensions accumulate over whether President Yoweri Museveni will stand for re-election to a seventh term in 2026, when he would be 82 years old, or whether he will step aside, die, or be pushed out (AC Vol 63 No 25).