Features | - Part 150

Netanyahu Backtracks on African Migrant Plan, Then Shifts Again

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backtracked on a just-announced agreement with the United Nations to let about 20,000 African migrants remain in Israel, following an outcry from coalition partners and his political base. On Monday afternoon, Netanyahu called a news conference to disclose Israel had cancelled an earlier plan to deport all 38,000 migrants to Africa, following mass demonstrations against the policy at home and criticism from abroad. Instead, he said, he…

Credibility of Zimbabwe’s First Post-Mugabe Vote Is at Stake

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – As Zimbabwe prepares to hold its first election since Robert Mugabe was toppled after almost four decades in power, a key question is whether the government can accomplish something he failed to do: oversee a free vote. Whether the election due before Sept. 1 is regarded as fair may determine the success of efforts by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who replaced Mugabe as president in November, to attract investment to revive an economy…

Zambian Debate on Impeaching President May Not Happen Until June

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – An opposition party proposal to impeach Zambian President Edgar Lungu may not be debated until June after it wasn’t included in Wednesday’s parliamentary program as expected, and as the legislature closes this week for a two-month recess. The motion brought by Zambia’s main opposition party accuses Lungu of violating the constitution and has been dismissed by the government as frivolous. It has ratcheted up tensions in the southern African nation,…

As Election Begins, El-Sisi Ponders How Hard to Push Egypt

Posted on by The Editorial Team

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Horns blare as the car screeches to a halt near a Cairo supermarket. “Don’t you have any integrity?” the driver screams at a man erecting a poster of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ahead of this week’s elections. “Hasn’t he done enough to us?” The billboard was extolling the achievements of the former army general, who is running virtually unopposed for a second, four-year term with seemingly much to brag about. After…

The Disappearing $1.1 Billion Behind Shell, Eni Trial: QuickTake

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Eni SpA are going to trial in Italy over bribery charges involving an oil field in Nigeria. Two things are unusual about the case. One is the sheer scale of the sum involved — $1.1 billion. The other is that the defendants include Eni’s Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi, the company’s former CEO and a former top executive at Shell. Hearings resume in Milan on May 14. What…

Ethiopian Ruling Party Picks Leader From Protest-Hit Region

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ethiopia’s ruling coalition appointed a top official from the protest-hit Oromia region as leader, as the government tries to quell unrest that’s posed the biggest challenge to its rule in a quarter-century. The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front chose Abiy Ahmed, 42, a retired lieutenant general and recently appointed chairman of the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization, to succeed Hailemariam Desalegn. Abiy is now expected to be voted in by…

Shell Suspects Ex-Executive Committed Crime in Nigeria Deal

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc referred a former vice president for sub-Saharan Africa Peter Robinson to the Dutch authorities, suspecting he may have committed crimes related to an asset sale in Nigeria. The allegations of criminal misconduct by one of its employees come at a difficult time for Shell. Europe’s largest energy company and several former executives, including Robinson, are already facing a criminal trial in Milan over an alleged bribery…

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