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Africa Macro & Business Briefing
Compiled for professionals tracking political risk, economic shifts, and corporate activity across the continent.
Business & Macroeconomy
- 🇦🇴 Angola: The IMF has lowered Angola’s 2025 growth forecast to 2.1%, down 30 basis points, citing weaker oil exports as the key driver behind the revision.
- 🇰🇪 Kenya: Jubilee Holdings is set to receive $35 million from the sale of its stakes in several African insurance subsidiaries to SanlamAllianz Africa, as part of an ongoing strategic realignment.
Climate & Energy
- 🇿🇦 South Africa: The national energy regulator has approved a Cape Town company’s plan to construct a petroleum storage facility and a 3 km pipeline, advancing the government’s efforts to strengthen infrastructure in the oil and gas sector.
Tech & Investment Deals
- 🇿🇦 Old Mutual Private Equity has acquired a majority stake in Honoris United Universities, a leading private education provider with a footprint across Africa.
- 🇳🇬 Nigeria: Clean tech firm Koolboks has raised $11 million to establish a solar refrigeration assembly plant, supporting energy-efficient solutions for cold storage.
Geopolitics & Security
🇲🇱 Mali: Jihadist Blockade Targets Junta
Militant group JNIM has declared a blockade in western Mali’s Kayes and Nioro regions, disrupting fuel and goods transport from Senegal and Mauritania. Hauliers have been threatened, trade routes attacked, and access to key towns like Nioro du Sahel cut off. The blockade is part of a broader strategy to undermine Mali’s junta, which seized power in 2020–2021.
- 🇸🇳 Senegal: Six Senegalese truck drivers kidnapped by JNIM during the blockade have now been released, according to their transport union.
🇳🇬 Nigeria: Free Speech Under Fire
The Department of State Services (DSS) has threatened punitive measures against X (formerly Twitter) for failing to remove a viral post referring to President Bola Tinubu as a criminal. The warning underscores the government’s growing scrutiny of digital platforms.
🇸🇸 South Sudan: One of eight people deported from the US in July, Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez, has been repatriated to Mexico, South Sudanese authorities confirmed.
Governance & Political Risk
🇺🇬 Uganda: Opposition Crackdown Intensifies
Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro, deputy spokesperson for the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP), was reportedly abducted by the military while attending a court case involving the party’s security staff. NUP leader Bobi Wine and his team have faced ongoing harassment, raising fresh concerns about political repression.
Separately, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of President Yoweri Museveni, has drawn controversy over comments admitting to torture, while hinting at presidential ambitions.
🇬🇳 Guinea: Security forces have tightened controls in Conakry ahead of a contentious constitutional referendum. The opposition alleges the vote is a ploy by junta leader Mamady Doumbouya to entrench power.
Conflict & Human Rights
🇸🇩 Sudan: UN Warns of ‘War of Atrocities’
A UN fact-finding mission has found evidence of widespread war crimes by both the army and the RSF militia. Civilians have been executed, raped, and tortured, with 12.1 million people displaced since the conflict began. The report accuses both sides of targeting populations based on ethnic and political affiliations.
🇳🇬 Nigeria: Jihadist Massacre
At least 63 people, including five soldiers, were killed in an attack on the border town of Darul Jamal in Borno State. The victims were mostly returnees from closed displacement camps, prompting questions about the security of resettlement programs.
- In a separate incident, eight security officers were killed during a kidnapping attempt targeting Chinese workers at a cement project in Edo State.
