🔅 France's 'Françafrique' System in Question, Putin Takes Control

Plus, India Rice Restrictions, Nigeria's $823 Blunder & South Sudan's Plan B

Sep 05, 2023

Djibouti

a lone tree in the middle of a rocky area — Photo by Abdelrahman Ismail on Unsplash

Markets: Year-to-Date

🟢 Nigerian SE: 67,527.19 (+31.76%)

🟢 Johannesburg SE: 74,786.79 (+2.38%)

🟢 Ghana SE: 3,051.37 (+24.86%)

🔴 Nairobi SE: 98.14 (-23.01%)

🟢 US S&P 500: 4,515.77 (+18.09%)

🟢 Shanghai Composite: 3,133.25 (+0.54%)

South Africa’s Wallet is Looking a Bit Worse for Wear | The country recorded its biggest monthly budget deficit yet in July, with a 143.8 billion rand shortfall. The news isn’t all bad though—producer inflation has eased to the slowest pace since the early days of the pandemic. That’s a plus, but it’s still not enough to make up for the gaping hole in the country’s finances, which will result in a number of cost-cutting measures to rein in government spending, including a hiring freeze.

*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent

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Brief & Bright: Africa's Top Five

Africa's Coups: A Setback for France

Most of the coups in Africa over the past couple of years have been former French colonies (blue).

When French President Macron visited Gabon earlier this year, he was pictured clasping hands with its then-president Ali Bongo and praising France’s strong ties with the “dynamic and creative” nation. But now, Bongo is under house arrest after being ousted in a coup, leaving Macron to answer the question: What went wrong? It’s part of a larger trend of French-aligned African leaders being overthrown in former colonies—and many say it’s the result of France’s “Françafrique” system of propping up locally despised leaders in exchange for strategic interests. As Macron tries to recalibrate the relationship with Africa, he’s facing a challenge from the younger generation, who still feel the stain of colonialism, and new rivals, like China, Russia, and Turkey. He’s called for a “pivot” away from military dominance, and towards economic activity, cultural exchanges, and soft power. But his efforts to do this, like renaming the CFA franc, haven’t taken off. He himself admitted: “If we’re taken by surprise lately on the African continent, it’s because we had a fixed approach that was so based on proximity and intimacy with those in power that we ended up not seeing the rest of society.” Will Macron be able to “start over from scratch” and build a better relationship with Africa?

Vladimir Putin Takes Control After Renegade Protege's Death

Wagner Group’s sphere of influence extends across large swathes of Africa

Vladimir Putin is getting a jumpstart on the post-Yevgeny Prigozhin era. After the Russian President’s renegade ex-protege died in a mysterious plane crash, Putin wasted no time in taking control of Prigozhin’s sprawling operations in Africa and the Middle East. A Defense Ministry-affiliated armed contractor is set to take the helm of the group’s operations in the Central African Republic, and all of Wagner’s overseas network will now be under effective Russian military command.

India's Rice Restrictions: Keeping Prices Low, But Nations Hanging

white rice grains on brown wooden table — Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash

India has some of the tastiest rice around, and many countries rely on it for their food security. But, in an effort to control domestic prices, India had imposed export restrictions on the grain, causing some nations to panic. Mauritius is one of the lucky recent ones, though, and has received the go-ahead for some rice shipments. Other countries like Guinea have sent their trade minister to India to plead their case. Some of India’s top buyers include Benin, China, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Togo—and they’re all waiting with bated breath to see if they’ll get the nod.

South Sudan's Plan B: Trucking Oil Through Kenya and Ethiopia

File:Juba locator map.svg — Juba wants to find an alternative oil-shipping route to end its reliance of Khartoum in the north.

South Sudan is trying to come up with a plan B in case of any oil disruptions. The East African nation is in talks with Kenya and Ethiopia to truck its oil to the coast for export—that way, it won’t have to rely on pipelines running through its war-plagued neighbor-to-the-north, Sudan. If the plan goes through, oil could leave for the port in Mombasa and then travel through Ethiopia to a Red Sea port in Djibouti. Talk about an ambitious plan B.

Nigeria's $823 Million Blunder: What Happens When You Build Before You Plan

brown rail train — Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari was feeling pretty proud of himself in 2018 when he opened the Abuja Light Rail, the first of its kind in West Africa. Little did he know that this $823 million project was doomed from the start—it was shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic, and hasn’t reopened since. Apparently, there was no plan on how to run the operations before they built it.