Africa

1. Financing health care
2. Sudan war’s third year
3. Gabon coup leader wins
4. New DR Congo mediator
5. Hotel boom
6. Record revenue
7. The Week Ahead

The women redefining hip-hop in Tunisia.

Hello! The turmoil that has roiled global markets for the last two weeks over the tariffs launched by the White House will hit Africa in less obvious ways than other regions.

South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized economy and a country with one of the most evolved trading relationships with the US, has been under fire from US President Donald Trump and his South African-born adviser Elon Musk for any number of real and imagined problems.

As we were going to press, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the appointment of Mcebisi Jonas, a former MTN executive chair, as special envoy to the US. Trade will be top of his agenda: The US is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner and billions of dollars and thousands of South African jobs are at stake: Pretoria has been hit with one of the highest tariffs among African countries, at 30%, though there is currently a 90-day pause.

While the tariffs are less drastic for others on the continent, most countries will be affected by the increasing likelihood of a global slowdown particularly given many are commodity exporters and prices are likely to be impacted. As Ken Opalo of Georgetown University notes, “there is very little potential upside for African countries in the unfolding chaos.”

Financing solutions for health care

The slashing of donor aid has increased the importance of startups, innovative financing solutions, and public-private partnerships in order to prevent the collapse of health systems on the continent, African industry leaders said.

Washington’s abrupt withdrawal of USAID funding, part of a trend of cutbacks from other Western nations, has left a nearly $12 billion shortfall in financing critical services such as maternal and child health, HIV treatment, pandemic preparedness, and disease control.

Last week the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) outlined urgent reforms to secure sustainable funding, focusing on domestic financing, health taxes, and public-private investments to close infrastructure gaps. “If we do not act now, we risk losing 20 years of progress in health security, with preventable diseases returning in force and overwhelming already fragile systems,” said Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC.

Sudan civil war faces critical juncture

Sudan’s army faces a critical “decision point” after recapturing the capital Khartoum as the country enters the third year of its civil war, argues an analyst in a new column for Semafor.

It could pursue the retreating Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary in the hopes of eliminating the militia once and for all, writes Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow in the Africa Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The other approach, he says, would be for the army to use its strategic gains to seek the legal dismantlement of the RSF through an internationally-recognized settlement. “Both choices are fraught.”

Gabon coup leader wins election

Gabon’s coup leader Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema won a presidential election with more than 90% of the vote, according to provisional results. His victory caps a seismic political shift in the central African nation where Nguema’s 2023 putsch ended 55 years of dynastic rule by the Bongo family. Strong opposition candidates were excluded from the race and there were complaints about irregularities in the voting process. Nguema — a former Bongo loyalist — had promised to hand over power to civilians at the time of his takeover, later changing the law to allow military officers to stand for election for the first time. One of the 50-year-old’s rivals questioned the result, calling the election “a stage-managed display of a power intent on clinging to authority under the guise of change.”

Togo leader new DR Congo mediator

Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé was appointed as the African Union’s mediator for the ongoing conflict in eastern DR Congo. The conflict in the mineral-rich region escalated this year after Rwanda-backed M23 rebel forces took control of major cities in the DR Congo’s east. Gnassingbé takes over from Angolan President João Lourenço, who stepped down from the position he had held since 2022, a period in which little progress was made. A senior Congolese official told Semafor they had doubts about the impact African mediators could have on Rwanda. “I’m not very optimistic about African mediation without strong US government pressure, we need this kind of pressure from Trump.”

— Yinka

Ian Bremmer, President and Founder, Eurasia Group and GZERO Media; Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, CEO, Xero; Tosin Eniolorunda, Co-Founder and Group CEO, Moniepoint; Matthew Prince, CEO, Cloudflare; Josh Silverman, CEO, Etsy; Everette Taylor, CEO, Kickstarter, and more will join the Small Business and Startups: Access and Opportunity session at the 2025 World Economy Summit. The session will focus on clearing the path for small business success — removing hurdles to capital, accessing technology, and finding the talent to sustain growth.

April 24, 2025 | Washington, DC | Learn More

Africa’s hotel boom

Marriott and Hilton are among the global chains driving a boom in planned hotel developments in Africa. Overall, 104,000 rooms across 577 African hotels and resorts were under construction in 2024, according to advisory company W Hospitality Group, the highest number in the past four years. Most of the rooms will be in high-end hotels, with Egypt emerging as the most sought-after destination by hoteliers. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of new hotels in the pipeline has grown at an annual rate of 4%, W Hospitality said, with Nigeria attracting the most interest.

AFC marks record revenue

The revenue reported by infrastructure investor Africa Finance Corporation for the 2024 financial year. The firm is the lead developer of the multi-country Lobito Corridor rail project — connecting the mineral-rich areas of DR Congo and Zambia — for which it is mobilizing half of the $1 billion financing cost. Last year marked the first time the Lagos-based AFC saw revenues reach $1 billion, with a 23% year-on-year revenue increase “driven by improved asset yields, prudent cost-of-funds management and sustained traction in advisory mandates.” AFC’s total assets increased 16% to $14.4 billion. Last year, it invested $150 million in the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex, one of Africa’s largest copper producers in DR Congo.

The Week Ahead

• Apr. 14-16: GITEX Africa tech conference takes place in Marrakech.
• Apr. 14-16: The African Union Commission holds its AU Agribusiness Youth Strategy dialogue for Island States in Mauritius.
• Apr. 15: The World Bank launches its “Unlocking Efficiency” report on creating and enforcing energy regulations.
• Apr. 16: South Africa publishes retail trade sales data for February.
• Apr. 17: IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva delivers a speech on the global economy to kick off the 2025 Spring Meetings in Washington, DC.

Business & Macro

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s credit rating was raised to B by Fitch Ratings, which cited the government’s “broad commitment to policy reforms” such as removing petrol subsidies and monetary tightening.

🇰🇪 Kenyan commercial banks’ pre-tax profits rose nearly 12% year-on-year to $1.4 billion up to August 2024, the central bank said.

Climate & Energy

🇿🇲 Construction of a $320 million World Bank-funded power line from Zambia to Tanzania will resume this month after delays related to COVID-19 and Zambia’s debt default in 2020.

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s proven natural gas reserves increased by at least 1 trillion cubic feet over the past year, with crude oil reserves at the same level of around 37 billion barrels, the country’s upstream oil regulator said.

Geopolitics & Policy

🇹🇿 Tanzania’s elections organizer barred main opposition political party Chadema from participating in October’s general elections, citing the group’s failure to sign a code of conduct document.

Tech & Deals

🇸🇴 Somalia granted an operating license to Starlink, the satellite-based internet service owned by Elon Musk.

🇰🇪 Kenya is set to terminate a $1.5 billion contract with a consortium led by French group Vinci for an 87-mile highway construction in favor of a Chinese contractor.

Women rappers are redefining hip-hop in Tunisia. They were not a prominent feature of the country’s “typically chauvinist” rap scene until the revolution that ousted then-President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, writes Jyhene Kebsi, a gender studies lecturer, in The Conversation. She highlights the work of five female rappers — Lully Snake, Medusa, Queen Nesrine, Sabrina, and Tuny Girl — who “share a strong resistance to sexism” that is evident in their songs. In Hold On, for example, Medusa, Tunisia’s most famous female rapper in the West, sings about illiteracy, political struggle, and motherhood. “Female rappers are innovating while spreading messages that empower women,” Kebsi says. “This has ultimately enriched Tunisian rap.”

The Trump administration has been turbulent for many CEOs, including Booz Allen Hamilton boss Horacio Rozanski: Cost-cutting measures led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have put almost all of the company’s roughly $11 billion of annual sales in question.

One of DC’s biggest contractors, Booz Allen is now racing to salvage its relationship with the federal government, the source of 98% of its revenues, Semafor’s Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson writes. One reason why the White House should leave his contracts intact, Rozanski said: “Our stuff works and it saves money.”

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— Preeti Jha, Alexander Onukwue, and Yinka Adegoke.