Africa

1. Climate finance risk
2. Cleaning up
3. Ethiopia woos investors
4. Kenya’s protests continue
5. Sahel security

Also, fighting poachers with radioactive rhino horns.

Hello! The eyes of the world are on Kenya this week, and we have been following closely as regular readers would have noted. Some see this last fortnight of anti-government demonstrations as a turning point for President William Ruto’s administration. Domestically, the government has struggled to convince many Kenyans that its economic reforms, leading with tax hikes and new levies, was the best approach during a difficult economic time. The demonstrations forced a reversal of the plans, but there are still lingering concerns.

Ruto had burnished a positive reputation internationally leading on climate talks and a successful state visit to Washington DC last month. Kenya stepped up to lead the international security force to support Haiti and was designated by the White House as a major non-NATO ally. But the split screen images of demonstrators being shot and tear gassed in the streets by security forces in Kenya while Kenyan special police land in the potential chaos of Haiti is an irony too far for some.

It feels like something was broken this week. We can only hope for the future of Kenya that it gets fixed. Keep following Martin and Muchira’s coverage in Nairobi as we watch how this plays out.

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South Africa counts the cost of clinging to coal

The value of a climate finance pact that South Africa could lose if it delays the closure of five of its most-polluting coal plants. The sum came from loan and grant pledges made by some of the world’s wealthiest nations in 2021 under the Just Energy Transition Partnership. A report commissioned by South Africa’s environment minister warned that JETP partner nations — which include the US, UK, and the European Union — are unlikely to tolerate plans to reverse agreements made towards decarbonization.

Fighting the continent’s waste problem

Nigeria announced a ban on single-use plastics in government offices this week, ahead of a nationwide ban due to begin in January. It joins the growing list of African countries aiming to tackle one of the world’s biggest pollution problems. Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest share of “uncontrolled” municipal solid waste disposal, at 87%, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). Much of the waste generated in Africa, including plastics, is indiscriminately littered on dumpsites located near coastlines or burned in open fields. “The risks associated with these dumpsites are exacerbated by climate change,” says UNEP, referring to research that suggests such fires expose millions of people to “dangerous levels of pollutant emissions.”

Ethiopia says it’s ready for foreign firms but investors seem reluctant

The Ethiopian parliament is widely expected to approve a new bill in coming months that would pave the way for increased foreign ownership of its banking sector, allowing international players to take a more significant stake in Africa’s second-most populous country.

Once approved, the National Bank of Ethiopia would raise the maximum permitted direct stake in a local bank to 40% — from 30% — for “strategic” foreign investors, such as large global banks, and an aggregated foreign ownership capped at 49%.

But it’s unclear if there is a strong appetite for these investments at this time.

When the Ethiopian government tried to partially privatize Ethio Telecom earlier this month, the interest from international investors was lukewarm. The firm should have been an attractive investment: The former mobile monopoly has more than 64 million users and more than 40 million mobile money users, making it one of the largest mobile operators on the continent.

Investors have been deterred by everything from ongoing regional conflicts in different parts of the country to a chronic shortage of foreign currency, say local analysts.

That reality has forced the government to sell up to 10% of the shares in the highly profitable Ethio Telecom to locals, in a desperate bid to generate revenue. It hopes the liberalization of its banking sector will have a different outcome.

— Samuel Getachew in Addis Ababa

Calls for Ruto’s resignation as protests continue in Kenya

NAIROBI — Protests continued in major cities and towns in Kenya, even after President William Ruto withdrew the unpopular finance bill that triggered the deadly demonstrations.

Some protesters have turned their attention to Ruto’s resignation, and are calling for the president to step down. Chants of “Ruto must go!” featured heavily in Thursday’s protests.

Military vehicles were seen passing through the streets of Nairobi as protesters marched peacefully alongside them.

The killings of at least 23 demonstrators, and a series of abductions, have fueled negative sentiment against Ruto within the protest movement, which is made up primarily of Gen Z and millennial Kenyans. The Kenya Human Rights Commission has called for an inquiry into the deaths.

Opposition lawmaker Daniel Manduku has called for the reconstitution of the electoral commission, Ruto’s resignation, and the dissolution of parliament, which would pave the way for fresh elections within 90 days. Ruto came to office in 2022 to serve a five-year term. The opposition coalition Azimio had previously called for Ruto’s resignation on Tuesday.

“On Tuesday, they came to take back their power,” Manduku said of protesters who stormed parliament earlier this week. “We must call a spade a spade. I want to ask Kenyans not to allow their elected leaders to go back there, even myself included.”

US security chiefs issue warning on Niger withdrawal

The withdrawal of American troops from Niger means the United States will lose access to a key drone base — making it more difficult to monitor security threats in West Africa, say US officials. Niger’s military government gave Washington a Sept. 15 deadline to remove its remaining troops from the country, and representatives from the military have said they are on track to exit the country by then.

Airbase 201, located in the city of Agadez, offers key intelligence about Islamist insurgent groups in the Sahel, a region that has seen increased volatility in recent years. Military coups in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso arose out of anger over increasing militant operations in the countries — but once they gained power, ruling juntas have ended security contracts with the US and France, and opted instead to agree deals with Russia, which looks set to become the de facto security force in the region.

Washington’s concerns come as Niger grapples with anti-junta rebel organizations. The Patriotic Liberation Front, an organization that is trying to secure the release of former President Mohamed Bazoum, this month targeted an oil pipeline that ships crude to neighboring Benin. Relations between Niger and Benin have been tense for months, as the two countries have traded accusations over alleged attempts to destabilize each other.

— Jenna Moon

Justice

🇲🇱 Mali’s former head of the Islamic police in Timbuktu was convicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes carried out in 2012 when the city was overrun by jihadists.

Health

🇿🇦 South Africa faces a scarcity of insulin pens for diabetic patients after Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk declined to renew a contract under which it supplied 14 million units of the pen over the last three years.

Deals

🌍 African investment firm Africa50 pledged up to $100 million to fund renewables-based energy transition projects and infrastructure across Africa in partnership with the International Renewable Energy Agency.

🇺🇬 Uganda is set to receive its first consignment of directly imported petroleum products as part of a deal between Uganda National Oil Company and Vitol Bahrain aimed at lowering pump prices below rates offered by dealers in Kenya.

Geopolitics

🇸🇴 Somalia’s ambassador to the United Nations accused Ethiopian troops of illegally crossing into the country’s Hiraan region to monitor threats from al Shabaab over the weekend.

Climate change

🇿🇲 Zambia and the World Wide Fund for Nature announced a partnership on two climate adaptation projects in the country over the next five years.

Tech

🇰🇪 Satellite internet provider Starlink has unveiled a new cheaper data plan for Kenya, stoking competition with the country’s leading telcos Safaricom and Airtel.

Researchers in South Africa are set to inject the horns of 20 rhinos with radioactive chips in a bid to curb poaching. South Africa has one of the world’s largest rhino populations. Poachers who smuggle rhino horns — which are thought to have healing properties in some traditional medicines — often target the country. Researchers hope the radioactive chips will make consuming the horns poisonous to humans, and undermine black market trading by making them easier to detect at the border. The chips contain a low dose of radioactivity and are not harmful to the animals.

• House Republicans weigh punishing a member.
• Top reporters leave Politico.
• Brazil’s top court votes to decriminalize marijuana possession.

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