🔅 The Mauritanian extradited to the US for Mali's 2015 terror attacks.
Today’s Issue: The Maasai Olympics, London-based Savannah Energy acquires oil fields in South Sudan for up to $1.25 billion, and 27 Ethiopians are found dead in Zambia... ☕
baobabnewsletter@substack.com
Photo of the day: Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire
Markets
🔺 Nigerian SE: 48,899.08 (+0.04%)
🔻 Johannesburg SE: 74,422.18 (-0.17%)
🔺 Ghana SE: 2,461.73 (+0.03%)
🔺 Nairobi SE: 126.46 (+0.10%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 3,955.33 (+0.53%)
🔻 Shanghai Composite: 3,179.04 (-0.87%)
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
US: If you’re in the US, you're probably worried about rising inflation, but US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen predicts it will drop substantially by the end of next year. That is, unless something unexpected happens. Yellen also commented on the possibility of a recession, saying there’s a risk. This comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s expected announcement of a smaller interest rate increase this week. The former Fed Chair is hopeful that the labour market will stay healthy, and said that the US had learned a lot about curtailing inflation since the 70s. In the country's favour, she says that shipping costs have come down, delivery lags have been reduced, and gas prices have dropped.
South Sudan: Savannah Energy just pulled off a real estate coup: On Monday, the London-listed company announced a deal to buy producing oil fields in South Sudan from Malaysia’s state energy firm Petronas for up to $1.25 billion. This follows the company’s purchase of Exxon Mobil Corp’s operations in Chad and Cameroon for $407 million last Friday. That’s a lot of cash, so the deal will be financed with a combination of Savannah’s available cash resources and debt. The oil fields have a gross output of 153,000 barrels per day.
SECURITY
Mauritanian extradited to the US for Mali's 2015 terror attacks.
What's happening?
U.S. justice just came for one of the alleged masterminds of a series of terrorist attacks in Mali back in 2015.
On Saturday, a 44-year-old Mauritanian national, Fawaz Ould Ahmed Ould Ahemeid, was arraigned in a New York federal court one day after being transferred to U.S. custody in Mali.
What's he accused of?
Ahemeid faces multiple terrorism charges for his alleged role in the attacks on a restaurant, two hotels, and a U.S. citizen, killing 38 people.
He was previously sentenced to death in 2020 by a Malian court for the same attacks but has now been transferred into the hands of the American justice system.
The charges against Ahemeid relate to three separate attacks: The first, a November 20, 2015 attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, the capital of Mali, which killed 20 people, including U.S. citizen Anita Ashok Datar, a 41-year-old public health expert from Maryland. The second was a March 7, 2015 attack on the La Terrasse restaurant in Bamako, where a masked gunman killed five people, including French and Belgium nationals. The third attack occurred on August 7, 2015 at the Hotel Byblos in Sevare, Mali, where 13 individuals, including five U.N. workers, were killed after a gunman opened fire.
Why the attacks?
The attacks are believed to be in retaliation for the French military’s 2013 intervention in Mali, which sought to oust radical Islamist groups that had taken control of the country’s northern region.
Ahemeid is also charged with helping provide support to the terrorist groups al-Mourabitoun and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a group he allegedly joined in or around 2007.
ACROSS THE CONTINENT
Other Headlines
🇰🇪 This past Saturday, hundreds of Maasai youths in Kenya participated in the 5th annual “Maasai Olympics”, a sporting event trying to replace the community’s tradition of lion killing with a less lethal way of proving one’s bravery and manhood. The games, held in Kimana Sanctuary, included spear throwing, athletics, and the high jump. The Maasai are hoping that the Olympics, which have been running since 2012, will help protect their rapidly declining lion population, which has gone from an estimated 30,000 in the late 1970s to just 2,000 today. So the next time you’re in Kenya, why not leave the safari and go watch some Olympics instead?
🇿🇲 The body of Lemekhani Nathan, a Zambian student who died while fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine for the Wagner paramilitary group, was brought back to Zambia on Sunday. According to Wagner, Nathan had volunteered to join them while serving a sentence in a Russian prison for a drug conviction. While the group hailed him as a “hero”, Zambia is still looking for answers. A family spokesperson said Nathan’s body would be taken to a morgue for an autopsy, after which a burial date will be set.
🇪🇹🇿🇲 It’s a tragic end for 27 Ethiopian migrants who were found dead in Zambia after suspected hunger and exhaustion. Police discovered the bodies on Sunday morning in a farming area on the capital's outskirts, and the lone survivor was rushed to a nearby hospital. According to the police, the victims were all male and aged between 20 and 38. It’s not uncommon for Ethiopian migrants to pass through Zambia on their way to countries like South Africa, but deaths like these are rare.
IN TECH
Zeraki raises $1.8m to provide digital solutions for school admin
Kenyan edtech startup Zeraki has raised $1.8 million in seed funding to expand its product catalogue and regional reach. They’re planning to introduce more admin tools for schools and support parents with fee loans. So what’s Zeraki up to? Well, they’ve got an interactive digital learning platform, a data analytics system to help schools manage their students’ data, and a bulk messaging service. But their star product has been the mobile-first cloud-based report card platform. With this, teachers can enter students’ grades on their phones and get report cards in no time. Zeraki’s plans for expansion are pretty ambitious. They’re aiming to enter ten new markets over the next three years and eventually move into the East Africa Community and the Anglophone region.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“An army of sheep led by a lion can defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.”
— Ghanaian Proverb.