Donald Trump’s Team Has Questions About Africa. Here Are Answers

Donald Trump’s Team Has Questions About Africa. Here Are Answers

WASHINGTON (Capital Markets in Africa) — President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has circulated a list of questions on Africa to the State Department and Pentagon. At the top of the list are two queries about the United States and China and their relative presence on that continent: “How does U.S. business compete with other nations in Africa? Are we losing out to the Chinese?” Peter Navarro, who will lead Trump’s National Trade Council, provided his…

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Gambia’s Jammeh Pleads for Judges as Deadline to Quit Nears

Gambia’s Jammeh Pleads for Judges as Deadline to Quit Nears

BANJUL (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh called on regional heads of state to help the country find judges so that its Supreme Court can hear his objections to losing a presidential election last month, two days after Nigeria’s president failed to persuade him to step down. Jammeh filed an injunction at the court to stop the swearing-in of opposition leader Adama Barrow due Jan. 19 and needs judges to hear the case as soon…

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Guinea Must Tighten Grip on Bauxite Industry, President Says

GUINEA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Guinea wants to get a tighter grip on its bauxite industry and keep out companies that aren’t consumers of the ore, President Alpha Conde said in a speech on state television. “We don’t want traders in Guinea. It’s abnormal that we have more than half of the world’s bauxite reserves but not even 2 percent of the market share,” Conde said. “We’re producers and we’re going to work directly with our…

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South African President Won’t Accept Third ANC Leader Term

South African President Won’t Accept Third ANC Leader Term

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Jacob Zuma said he won’t accept a nomination for a third term as head of the country’s ruling party, which is “ready” for a woman to take over the leadership. The 105-year-old African National Congress will choose a new president at a national conference in December when Zuma’s term ends. His ex-wife and the outgoing African Union chairwoman, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa are seen as frontrunners for the position. …

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Nigerian Leader to Offer Asylum to Defuse Gambia Crisis

Nigerian Leader to Offer Asylum to Defuse Gambia Crisis

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari headed to Gambia to defuse a political crisis sparked by President Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to step down after he lost elections last month. Buhari will present a plan approved by Nigeria’s lower house of parliament on Thursday to offer Jammeh asylum, as part of efforts to persuade him to leave office. The plan is intended to “prevent violence which could engulf the region,” Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesman for the…

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Army Is Ouattara Achilles’ Heel as Ivory Coast Economy Roars

Army Is Ouattara Achilles’ Heel as Ivory Coast Economy Roars

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – As Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara presides over Africa’s fastest-growing economy and leads a ruling coalition that’s just won a fresh majority in parliament, he still faces a key threat to national stability: the army. A two-day mutiny by soldiers demanding better pay and living conditions that paralyzed several cities last week was the second uprising in three years. It showed that the world’s biggest cocoa producer is still vulnerable after…

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Election Vexing Foreigners Makes Kenya Stocks Cheapest on Record

Election Vexing Foreigners Makes Kenya Stocks Cheapest on Record

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Investor trepidation seven months from Kenyan general elections has turned the country’s stocks into the worst-performers of 2017, and driven valuations to the weakest on record. The Nairobi Securities Exchange All-Share Index has fallen 6.9 percent to the lowest since September 2013, the biggest slump among 94 benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg. The looming Aug. 8 vote has prompted concerns of a repeat of violence that marked voting in 2007 and foreign investors, who…

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