Africa

The amount Benin raised with its first dollar bond offering, which its minister of economy said was more than six times oversubscribed. The West African country issued the debt for the 14-year instrument at 8.375%. The minister said the proceeds of the sale will help finance Benin’s 2024 budget. The transaction suggested robust demand for junk-rated issuers. “It is stunning how quickly sub-Saharan Africa’s Eurobond market has re-opened after being entirely shut for the whole of 2023,” said Charlie Robertson, head of macro strategy at London’s FIM Partners in a note to clients, also noting recent issues by Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya. But he cautioned that in the long term, “Benin’s eventual default is the obvious conclusion.”

From Algeria to Zimbabwe, Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief offers a weekly insider’s guide to what’s happening in African politics and how those events shape the rest of the world. Nosmot Gbadamosi, a Lagos-based multimedia journalist, will bring you the stories you won’t always find elsewhere—on questions of war, diplomacy, human rights, the environment, and sustainable development—from across the continent, delivered to your inbox weekly. Sign up for free.

Ethiopian “censorship” fight centers on IMF official’s comments

ADDIS ABABA — In a defiant move against its publisher’s decision to pull an interview with an IMF official, journalists at The Reporter, Ethiopia’s largest circulation newspaper, ran two blank pages as a public protest on Feb. 3.

The newspaper’s editor in chief, Ashenafi Endale, accused the publisher, Amare Aregawi of siding with the Ethiopia representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Tobias Rasmussen. Journalists there, who spoke to Semafor Africa on condition of anonymity, said Rasmussen sought to retract what they said were lukewarm comments about economic reform efforts by the Ethiopian government.

“This week’s interview is being published as a blank section as a result of undue pressure to withhold the piece in the hours leading up to publication,” the paper wrote following the blank page.

The Reporter’s editor told Semafor Africa he was put under pressure to pull the interview from publication.

“As we were about to go to press, Mr. Ramussen abruptly asked to change his own replies,” Ashenafi Endale said. “He threatened that he will go to the highest authorities of the Ethiopian government should he not be granted his wish.”

The IMF did not provide further details. “We are aware of the story, which appeared recently, and we do not have much to add”, an IMF spokesperson told Semafor Africa. “That said, we would like to reiterate that the IMF has an established track record of sharing information and genuinely engaging with various stakeholders, including the media.” The spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions addressing details of the dispute and Rasmussen’s role.

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The dispute comes at a sensitive time for Ethiopia. It is currently in talks with the Bretton Woods Institution to borrow more than $3.5 billion. The Horn of African nation missed a debt payment on Dec. 11 and the government hopes the IMF will play an important role as it recovers from an economy ravaged by war and restarts its three-year economic reform agenda.

In the meantime, the IMF has been pressing the government to float its weak currency, end government subsidies, and broaden the tax base — reforms already partially underway as the nation struggles with high inflation hovering around 30%.

ACCRA, Ghana — The vice president of Ghana and the presidential candidate of the ruling party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is promising to halve the size of government if voted into office in December.

Bawumia, 60, who became the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party in November, launched his campaign here on Wednesday with the theme “Bold solutions for the future.” He said an “efficient system of governance” would work with fewer ministers. “I will therefore have no more than 50 ministers and deputy ministers.” He also promised to scrap unpopular taxes and levies, including a controversial E-levy on mobile transactions.

The flagbearer of the main opposition party, ex-president John Mahama has previously said he will appoint fewer than 60 ministers if given a second chance to run the West African country.

Bawumia is trying to set himself apart from the current government of President Nana Akufo Addo, even though he is a key player in it. The administration has been criticized for an unwieldy inefficiency with some 110 ministers. And in the last year it has been blamed for high inflation, particularly food, and the general poor state of the economy, which led to the country seeking a bailout from the IMF.

In defense of his role in government as vice-president Bawumia said he has not been in control, describing himself as a “driver’s mate” rather than the driver.

— Nana Oye Ankrah

African startups announced $77 million in funding deals last month, the lowest for any January since 2019, according to deal tracking firm Africa: The Big Deal. The amount comprises 38 deals of at least $100K though three deals alone accounted for more than a third of the dollar value of the amount raised. Agriculture ($24 million, five deals), healthcare ($14 million, four deals) and fintech ($13 million, 10 deals) were the best performing sectors in the month. A quirk of startup funding announcements in January is that they could be deals done in the previous year.

Telecoms operator Vodacom was ordered to pay a former employee who invented a call back feature, marking a high point in a fraught intellectual property case that began in 2008. South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) this week set a 30-day ultimatum for Vodacom to pay Kenneth Nkosana Makate, the inventor of ‘Please Call Me’ which enables Vodacom users send a free text message requesting a call from other users. Vodacom will appeal the decision at the Constitutional Court, South Africa’s top court. Makate expects billions of rands in compensation, based on the SCA’s ruling that Vodacom pay at least 5% of revenues from the feature.

Airtel Africa launched a fibre bandwidth service that will use submarine cable systems to provide wholesale clients with internet connection and broader telecoms solutions. Airtel Africa Telesonic, as the service is to be known, comprises 75,000 kilometers of terrestrial fibre across Airtel Africa’s 14 markets, the company said in a statement. It will tap into the Meta-led submarine cable project 2Africa that connects cable landing stations in 33 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

— Alexander Onukwue

Sara Beysolow Nyanti

MONROVIA, Liberia — When Liberia’s new president Joseph Boakai nominated Sara Beysolow Nyanti as his minister of Foreign Affairs, it seemed fairly straightforward on paper. While a relative novice in Liberia’s rough and tumble domestic politics, Nyanti ticked many of the boxes you might want for the 176-year old republic’s top diplomat.

Nyanti offers over 20 years of experience in international development, with more than 15 years spent at the United Nations in senior high profile roles including her time as deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan overseeing humanitarian efforts.

And yet Nyanti’s nomination has been disrupted by allegations that she does not possess an undergraduate degree. Her first confirmation hearing at the senate committee on foreign relations was attended by numerous women and political groups in support of her nomination. So much so, the hearing was eventually postponed with the committee chair citing a “security breach” and “overcrowding.”

In political circles, opposition to Nyanti’s nomination is believed to be due to internal jostling for key cabinet roles from within the ruling party and its coalition. Top allies of the president have publicly expressed dismay at key appointments as they believe core party loyalists are being sidelined.

Nyanti, who is in her mid-fifties, is largely an outsider to the ruling Unity party, as she only emerged on the political scene in 2023 when she ran for the presidency. Most analysts think her 2023 presidential run might have been a play to position herself for a future presidential run in 2029, when Boakai would be 85. In the second round of the 2023 elections, she endorsed current president Joseph Boakai and subsequently served on his transition team.

Notwithstanding the allegations, Nyanti is said to have the support of western powers including senior UN and U.S. officials who have quietly intervened to put pressure on the Boakai team to stay the course, according to people familiar with the conversations. Indeed, Boakai has said publicly he has no plans to recall her nomination.

If, as expected, Nyanti is confirmed by the full senate plenary, Boakai will be counting on her experience and network to attract international aid and investment and resetting Liberia’s relationship with the United States. That relationship had become strained during the last administration.

— Dounard Bondo

🇨🇩 DR Congo hopes to revamp the artisanal mining of cobalt in the world’s top producer after its state-owned mining company Gecamines granted exclusive mining rights in five regions to subsidiary Entreprise Generale du Cobalt (EGC). Artisanal miners, who dig cobalt using rudimentary means, are the second largest source of cobalt worldwide after the DRC’s industrial mines. Gecamines also entered a deal late Tuesday with the multinational Mineral Security that will expedite European and Japanese investment in the mining sector in the DRC.

🇿🇲 Zambia’s investment arm said it has agreed to restructure a $1.5 billion debt owed by its Mopani Copper Mines to Glencore, the Swiss commodities giant. Glencore had in 2022 written down the Mopani debt to $596 million as the copper miner struggled to meet production targets owing partly to insufficient funding. To address the challenges, Zambia selected the United Arab Emirates’ International Resources Holdings (IRH) as the new strategic equity investor in Mopani last November.

🇰🇪 Toyota has agreed to set up a vehicle manufacturing plant in Kenya, President William Ruto announced after signing a deal in Tokyo. The company has committed an initial investment of 800 million Kenyan shillings ($4.9 million) in Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KVM), a car maker in Thika, about 25 miles northeast of Nairobi. Ruto said the move would discourage secondhand car imports by making more affordable, locally manufactured cars available. The deal will also see Toyota invest in renewable energy development in Kenya.

🇸🇳 Senegalese opposition candidates formed a group called FC 25 to contest the delay of the presidential election by ten months to December. The group said on Wednesday its intention is to ensure the election is held on Feb. 25 as initially scheduled, and that President Macky Sall leaves office by April 2 when his tenure is due to end. The group called for demonstrations to be held on Friday. The move follows criticism of parliament’s vote to postpone the elections, notably from the U.S. State department. The vote to postpone the polls “cannot be considered legitimate given the conditions under which it took place,” it said in a statement, referring to the forcible removal of opponents of the bill from parliament chambers late Monday.

DR Congo’s AFCON squad drew attention to the deadly conflict back home in the eastern parts of the country on Wednesday ahead of their semi-final match with Côte d’Ivoire. Members of the squad wore black armbands for the game in honor of the victims of the conflict, where 6.9 million people have been forced to flee their homes to escape fighting between M23 rebels and government-allied groups. As their national anthem played the squad made a gesture covering their mouths and putting two fingers to their temples, in reference to the violence. On social media, striker Cedric Bakambu urged fans to use “the same energy that you put into talking about the Nations Cup to highlight what is happening with us.” DRC lost the match 1-0 and were knocked out of the competition.

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— Yinka, Alexis, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, and Muchira Gachenge