Africa

1. US to host peace signing
2. Protests rock Kenyan cities
3. Afreximbank set for change
4. S. Africa’s infrastructure loan
5. Afrikaners hold DC talks
6. Power line attracts investment
7. Takealot revenues grow

A peace campaigner is cycling from Goma to Cape Town.

Trump to host DRC-Rwanda peace deal

US President Donald Trump expects to host the heads of state of DR Congo and Rwanda in the “coming weeks” to sign a peace agreement to end a decades-long conflict in eastern Congo, his senior Africa adviser said on Tuesday. The foreign ministers of both countries will also be in Washington on June 27 for a signing ceremony after the text of the agreement was agreed last week, said Massad Boulos.

Boulos, who was speaking at the US-Africa Business Summit in Luanda, Angola, championed the prospect of lasting peace creating an environment where US businesses would be more willing to invest. He said conflict had hindered the Great Lakes region from unlocking the “full potential of its people and natural resources.”

The eastern Congo region in particular has many valuable resources, including rare minerals such as tantalum and tungsten. Access to those minerals has driven some of the conflict, which has displaced millions of people and killed thousands of others. The Trump administration has dangled the prospect of a minerals deal with Kinshasa as part of its push for peace in the region.

— Yinka Adegoke 

Protesters fill Nairobi’s streets

Protests rocked Nairobi on Wednesday, exactly one year since thousands of Kenyans stormed Parliament in opposition to proposed tax hikes. Demonstrators also took to the streets of other cities including Mombasa. The government ordered TV and radio stations to stop broadcasting protests on Wednesday, reported AFP. The protests come amid growing anger at alleged police brutality. Three Kenyan police officers have been charged with the murder of a blogger in police custody that sparked fresh anti-government protests in recent weeks.

Protesters in Nairobi chanted against President William Ruto and extra-judicial killings, with a section vowing to march to his official residence: Chants included “Ruto must go.” Eric Muriuki, a Nairobi-based lawyer who took part in the demonstration, told Semafor that young Kenyans were in the streets to demand justice for those killed in last year’s protests. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has said that at least 60 people were killed in those demonstrations, with many more injured.

— Martin K.N Siele

Afreximbank prepares for new leadership

The African Export-Import Bank will this week appoint a new president after a credit downgrade by Fitch Ratings this month sparked heightened scrutiny of the way the continent’s main trade lender operates.

Shareholders will pick a new leader on Saturday, at the end of this week’s gathering in Abuja. The outgoing president, Nigerian banker Benedict Oramah, has led the institution since 2015, after rising to the top job over a two-decade career. He helped to raise Afreximbank’s assets to $40 billion last December, from under $6 billion at the end of 2014.

The next leader will face the challenge of restoring confidence in the lender after a scathing Fitch assessment that said it had “weak risk management policies” and faced “high solvency risks.” The downgrade to a notch above junk was based on loans extended to countries that have defaulted on their obligations. The bank said Fitch’s analysis was “erroneous.”

— Alexander Onukwue

S. Africa secures $1.5B loan

The World Bank has granted a $1.5 billion loan to South Africa to upgrade transportation infrastructure and help it transition to a low-carbon economy. Pretoria plans to use the loan to address longstanding challenges in its energy and freight logistics sectors. State-run ports and rail company Transnet has struggled with inadequate operational facilities in recent years, stymying growth in Africa’s biggest economy.

Transnet’s problems have been compounded by the inefficiency of South Africa’s other major utility — the power company Eskom. The World Bank loan will help to solve “pressing economic challenges of low growth and high unemployment,” South Africa’s Treasury said. The loan has been granted with a three-year grace period for repayment and “favorable interest rates,” it added, describing the terms as in line with the country’s goals of easing debt service costs.

Afrikaner delegation holds DC talks

A group of prominent Afrikaners is in Washington DC this week for meetings with officials at the White House, State Department, and Congress, to discuss the treatment of South Africa’s white minority. They are seeking to capitalize on the attention the Trump administration is paying to Afrikaner communities.

Ties between Pretoria and Washington have been tense since US President Donald Trump took office and further deteriorated after he confronted President Cyril Ramaphosa with allegations that Afrikaners were facing mass killings and land seizures — claims the South Africa leader rejected. Corné Mulder, leader of the conservative Freedom Front Plus party and a member of the delegation, told Semafor that he welcomed the Trump administration’s focus on Afrikaner issues and believed reforming land expropriation laws and improving protections for farmers were “non-negotiables” for Washington. “Are we asking for sanctions? Of course not,” said Gerhard Papenfus, another delegation member. “But there needs to be a bit of stick.”

— Mathias Hammer

US investor backs power line

The value of a deal for US energy investor Hydro-Link to build an electricity transmission line between Angola and DR Congo. A memorandum of understanding to build the 1,150-kilometer line was signed on Thursday at the Corporate Council on Africa’s US-Africa Business Summit in Angola’s capital, Luanda, between representatives of the southern African government and the investor. The new transmission line, which is scheduled for completion in 2029, will connect hydropower sites in Angola to critical mineral mines in southeastern DR Congo which are often hampered by an unreliable power supply. The line will “support the development of industrial hubs for local manufacturing and mineral processing,” said Hydro-link CEO Paul Hinks.

Takealot grows revenue amid competition

South African online retailer Takealot reported year-on-year group revenue growth of 15% to $872 million. The company’s main services, e-commerce site Takealot.com and food delivery app Mr D have both faced increased competition in the past year with the arrival of American giant Amazon in May 2024 and Chinese retail site Temu months earlier. Chinese fast fashion retailer Shein has also been a strong competitor since launching in South Africa in 2020.

Takealot’s revenue growth was “ahead of our expectations,” said Nico Marais, an executive at Naspers, the investment holding company that owns Takealot. The company’s performance benefited from Amazon being “probably not at the speed that we originally expected,” the executive said.

Business & Macro

🇬🇭 Ghana’s Parliament approved a plan to restructure the repayment of $2.8 billion to 25 creditor nations including the US, UK, China, and France.

🇿🇦 South African banks Absa, Nedbank, Standard Bank, and FirstRand Bank are the subjects of a $3.4 billion lawsuit by homeowners who allege that the companies unlawfully sold their properties below market value.

Climate & Energy

🇰🇪 Kenya’s Treasury will receive a $127 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development for an environmental conservation project in rural communities.

🇳🇦 Namibia’s energy utility NamPower has begun constructing a 100 megawatt solar project and will invest $88 million. It is expected to open in 2026.

Geopolitics & Policy

🇲🇱 Mali signed a trade pact with Russia that will include cooperation on nuclear energy, strengthening ties between both countries.

Tech & Deals

🇿🇦 South Africa’s Competition Tribunal ruled that a proposed merger between telecom companies Vodacom and Maziv would produce “permanent” anti-competitive effects and so has no public interest justifications.

🇨🇮 Private equity firm AfricInvest achieved an exit from Ivorian group AFG Holding which owns commercial banks in six African countries.

A 23-year-old athlete from the conflict-hit city of Goma in eastern DR Congo is cycling around 6,000 kilometers from his hometown to Cape Town to spread a message of peace. Miguel Masaisai told RFI that his project aimed to showcase a different side of DR Congo. “I wanted to show the world that in our region, in our country, there isn’t only war, we also have very strong, very dynamic young people,” he told the French broadcaster in Zambia.

Masaisai, who is traveling alone and cycles for around six hours a day, has covered around half of his journey and expects to reach South Africa in July. The cyclist, who expressed gratitude for the kindness of strangers who give him food and places to sleep, said he was spurred on by his community: “All my pedalling is for peace, for the displaced mothers and children. It’s for them. I cannot give up.”

The US music charts are awash with songs that can best be categorized as “tradpop” hits, reflecting a broader cultural shift, Semafor’s J.D. Capelouto reported.

The No. 1 song in the country, Billboard announced Monday, is Alex Warren’s Ordinary, a folksy, melodramatic ballad about faith and love, while country-pop star Morgan Wallen reigns atop the US album charts for a fifth straight week: “Conservatism is selling sexy in all aspects,” one right-wing influencer said. “We are pop culture now.”

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— Alexis Akwagyiram, Preeti Jha, Alexander Onukwue, and Yinka Adegoke.