Alexis Akwagyiram
Managing Editor, Semafor Africa
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@alexisakAlexis has covered African news and current affairs for more than a decade at the BBC, Reuters and Financial Times. He was a BBC Africa reporter and led a multimedia team as the Reuters bureau chief in Nigeria. Alexis shaped the FT’s pandemic coverage as its health and science editor.
African energy’s ‘Big Bang’ moment
Dangote’s mega-refinery has upended conventional thinking by showing that African refineries can supply markets in Europe and Asia.
Kenya’s President William Ruto, Aliko Dangote, and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Monicah Mwangi/Reuters
Mercenaries suffer losses in DR Congo
A battlefield clash highlights the role of US private security contractor Erik Prince as his country seeks greater access to minerals.
Blackwater founder Erik Prince. Santiago Arcos/Reuters.
Bridging Africa’s data gap
For decades, a lack of data has held back economic development in countries across Africa.
Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
AfDB in talks to plug $400B financing gap
The bank has held talks with financiers to find ways to mobilize around $4 trillion in untapped domestic capital to fund Africa’s development needs, its president said.
African Development Bank President Sidi Ould Tah. Roch Bouka/Reuters.
African Union urges restraint as Ethiopia tensions grow
Ethiopia has accused Egypt, Eritrea, and Sudan of supporting armed opposition groups that have fought its federal troops.
An armed fighter in Ethiopia’s Afar region in 2022. Tiksa Negeri/Reuters.