🔅 Total's "Go" Signal in Mozambique
Plus: 🇺🇬 Uganda to Tone Down Anti-LGBTQ Law, 🇳🇬 Introducing the Edo Museum of West African Art, 🌍 Is Mauritius Africa's Only Full Democracy, ☕ And much more...
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Global Markets: Facebook's Business is Back on the Rise | Facebook, the social media giant, is having a comeback moment. After months of decline, their parent company, Meta, reported a 3% increase in revenue compared to the same period a year earlier. Their daily active users also increased 5% since March of last year. Investors are clearly feeling the hype, as Meta’s shares rose 10% in after-hours trading. Mark Zuckerberg, the firm’s CEO, deserves some of the credit for this revival. He’s declared 2023 the “year of efficiency” and, despite thousands of job cuts, it looks like his cost-cutting efforts are paying off. Other tech giants, like Microsoft and Alphabet, have also reported better-than-expected results this week. Financial markets have been keeping a close eye on the tech giants - they have a huge impact on the US stock indexes.
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NATURAL RESOURCES
TotalEnergies' "Go" Signal in Mozambique
TotalEnergies has been given the go-ahead to restart its $20 billion Mozambique LNG project, which was put on pause in 2021 due to insurgent attacks.
Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi said that the working environment and security in northern Mozambique make it possible for Total to resume its activities at any time.
Sounds GOOD - but is Total really ready to go?
TotalEnergies spokesperson Stephanie Platat said that a decision to restart the project depends on assurances of security and human rights in Cabo Delgado, as well as “a clear vision of the costs of the project after an interruption of more than two years - which must be maintained and not increase".
The decision will have to be unanimous, and TotalEnergies' position is that it is appropriate to take the time to have the expected assurances before considering a possible restart.
So what steps has Total taken?
To get the ball rolling, TotalEnergies' Chairman and Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne visited Mozambique to meet Nyusi and review the security and humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado.
The energy major then announced the appointment of Jean-Christophe Rufin, an expert in humanitarian action and human rights, to independently assess the situation in Cabo Delgado province.
This assessment will be crucial to making the decision whether conditions are right to resume the project.
But with the go-ahead from Nyusi, it looks like TotalEnergies is one step closer to resuming its work in Mozambique.
Nyusi and Mozambique are eager to get the project restarted because of the potential to take advantage of high global prices of LNG and the shift towards cleaner sources of energy. TotalEnergies' re-entry has the potential to make the country a lot of money.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇺🇬 Uganda President to Legislators: Tone Down Anti-LGBTQ Law | Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has returned a proposed anti-LGBTQ law to the legislature, asking them to make it clear that it is not criminal to merely identify as gay. The bill, which is set to become one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ laws, has drawn international condemnation and potentially imposes the death penalty for so-called “aggravated homosexuality.” In a letter to the legislature, Museveni asked them to make it clear that it is not criminal to merely identify as gay, but to actually commit homosexual acts. He also asked them to remove provisions that impose a duty on citizens to report acts of homosexuality, as it would be a source of conflict in society. Once the bill is passed again by the full House, it will be returned to the president for approval.
🇳🇬 Introducing the Edo Museum of West African Art | The London-based curator and writer Aindrea Emelife has been appointed to lead Edo Museum’s modern and contemporary art department. The museum, located in Benin City in Nigeria and designed by the acclaimed architect David Adjaye, will be home to artefacts from the kingdom of Benin—and, importantly, to the Benin bronzes, which were looted by British troops in 1897 and are now scattered in 160 museums and institutions around the world. Emelife is keen to ensure that the museum becomes part of a “true and equitable circulation of cultures,” and will also be focusing on building up a collection reflecting the development of Nigerian Modernism, spanning the 20th century to today. “Thinking locally first, it is important to highlight the achievement of Nigeria and West Africa’s private collectors,” she said.
🌍 The World's Democracy Report Card | Here’s the latest from the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index: Not too many A’s to go around. In fact, only 8% of the world’s population is living in a full-functioning democracy. 37% of people are living in a “flawed democracy”, and the rest—55%—don’t live in a democracy at all. The EIU uses a system of 60 indicators to measure democracy across five categories: Electoral process and pluralism, Political culture, Political participation, Functioning of government, and Civil liberties. Then they average the scores in each category to come up with a country’s overall democracy score. And, according to them, Africa’s got it the worst, with only five out of 54 countries scoring as some type of democracy. Mauritius is the only full democracy on the continent. Do you agree?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Teeth do not see poverty.”
— Kenyan Proverb.