Africa

1. Breaking bad
2. Road safety
3. Fighting cancer
4. US-Africa trade
5. Nigeria v Meta

Also, the rainforest shrub that could revolutionize the treatment of brain injuries.

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa. I’ll be in Washington DC all week and I’m looking forward to catching up with sources and contacts. But this visit will be unlike any other recent trip because it comes so soon after US President Joe Biden announced he would no longer be running for reelection. That news has undoubtedly sent shockwaves through US domestic politics but it has all kinds of implications for foreign policy as well including, of course, US-Africa policy.

Among long-time watchers, there’s a tendency towards ambivalence when it comes to the impact a change of US administration might mean for Africa policy. In fact, in an extended version of my podcast with Limitless Africa, I make the point that there’s often very little difference in the substance of the policy approach between administrations. This is regardless of whether it’s Republican or Democrat. But there’s definitely a difference in tone and emphasis.

We’ll be getting into the details of what this all means over the coming days and weeks as we all try to better understand the implications of a Harris or Trump administration for Africa.

🟡 Semafor’s newsroom is expanding into the Gulf! The thrice-weekly newsletter will be weaving together the narratives of economic power, innovation, and cultural evolution shaping the Arabian Peninsula, and the deepening Gulf-Africa business ties. It’s a perfect complement to the stories we cover — sign up for Semafor Gulf here.

South Africa’s meth lab discovery

The value of chemicals — including acetone, used in the manufacturing of illicit drugs like crystal meth — seized by South African police in one of the country’s biggest-ever drug busts. In a statement on Saturday, local authorities said they uncovered the industrial-scale meth laboratory on a farm in the northeastern Limpopo province. Four suspects were arrested during the raid. The United Nations said in its 2023 World Drug Report that trafficking of methamphetamine, a powerful and highly addictive stimulant, is on the rise in Africa.

Tackling road safety

Road traffic fatalities increased in Africa in the decade up to 2021, but declined in the rest of the world, suggesting a need to strengthen road safety on the continent. A World Health Organisation survey shows that Africa’s road traffic fatality rate — 19.4 deaths per 100,000 people — exceeds the global rate of 15 per 100,000. Safety strategies should be tailored for the region to address Africa’s disproportionately high road fatality rate, the WHO recommends. It says the region only accounts for 3% of the global vehicle fleet but experiences 19% of fatalities.

Africa bets on early detection in cancer care

NAIROBI — Global pharmaceutical companies are ramping up a push for early cancer detection as a key step to enhance treatment of the disease across Africa.

AstraZeneca, Chinese genomics firm BGI Genomics, and the World Health Organization (WHO) have all rolled out major early detection programs on the continent in recent months.

Africa faces one of the world’s highest cancer mortality rates with 88.9 deaths per 100,000 incidences, according to the WHO. The number of annual cancer deaths in Africa is projected by the organization to double to more than 1 million by 2030, unless urgent action is taken.

The cancer care burden in Africa is worsened by limited public spending on health compared to high-income countries. African governments spend, on average, less than $100 per capita on health costs, compared to about $8,000 in the United States. Chemotherapeutic medicines in Africa cost between three and six times more than international reference prices, putting them out of reach for many cancer patients.

The AstraZeneca program, launched in May in Kenya, aims to screen 1 million people in the East African country for lung, breast, and prostate cancer.

In January, the WHO launched a three-year initiative to promote early breast and cervical cancer care detection in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Trade ministers head to DC

The US government will host trade ministers from sub-Saharan Africa for the annual AGOA Forum this week.

The event takes place alternately in Washington DC or in an African city each year. It’s happening with a backdrop of uncertainty about the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Washington’s trade preference program with the region, and the future of US-Africa policy. It will be the first major Africa event since President Joe Biden announced he would not be running for reelection.

The program, first launched in 2000, provides duty-free access to the US market for nearly 2,000 products from eligible countries. US imports under AGOA topped $9.7 billion last year.

The key points of discussion this week will be concerns about the program’s renewal. It expires next year and African countries are hoping the US Congress will approve it before this term ends, which is expected shortly after the November elections.

There have been proposals to extend AGOA to 2041, plus a push to align AGOA closer to plans for the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, which would involve opening up the program to North African countries.

Zainab Usman, director of the Carnegie Endowment’s Africa program, said it is important not just for AGOA to be renewed but to also be updated. “The last time it was renewed in 2015, Africa was a very different place than it is now and so is the United States,” she told Semafor Africa.

— Yinka

Nigeria’s $220 million fine against Meta

Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp and Facebook, is preparing to appeal a decision by Nigerian regulators to impose a $220 million fine against it for alleged market power abuse and privacy violations.

Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission announced the fine last week, capping a three-year investigation. The inquiry focused on data sharing practices on WhatsApp, the most widely used messaging service in Nigeria. The commission found evidence of “multiple and repeated, as well as continuing infringements” of the country’s data protection and competition laws and imposed the fine as a final resolution.

Meta was ordered to “immediately reinstate the rights of Nigerian users to self-determine and control” data sharing, and stop sharing WhatsApp users’ information “with other Facebook companies and third parties” without users’ active consent. It was also required to pay $35,000 to cover the cost of the commission’s investigation, in addition to the $220 million penalty. Both amounts are to be paid within 60 days from July 18.

“We disagree with this decision as well as the fine and we are appealing the decision,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a text to Semafor Africa. They did not specify where and when the appeal will be lodged.

— Alexander Onukwue in Lagos

The UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, British International Investment (BII), recently announced that it had increased its commitment to African partners. It committed £725 million ($936.5 million) of new sustainable development investments to support businesses on the continent, from a global total for the year of £1.31 billion ($1.69 billion).

Governance

🇺🇬 The offices of Uganda’s opposition party, the National Unity Platform, were sealed off on Monday by military and police ahead of anti-government protests planned for Tuesday. Opposition leader Bobi Wine confirmed some party officials were also arrested.

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s central bank raised its main interest rate by 50 basis points to 26.75%. It is the smallest increase yet since the bank started raising rates earlier this year to combat Nigeria’s galloping inflation and cost of living crisis.

🇿🇲 Zambia’s president fired the entire board of the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission after its members were accused of taking payments from politicians being investigated for graft in exchange for amnesty. The body’s members deny the allegations.

🇹🇳 Tunisian President Kais Saied announced his reelection bid and said he aimed “to continue the national liberation struggle” ahead of the Oct. 6 election. Opposition parties have accused his regime of stifling opponents.

Geopolitics

🇸🇴 🇹🇷 Turkey is set to send navy support to Somalia after Ankara announced an exploration vessel would be sent off the Somali coast to prospect for oil and gas.

🇿🇼 🇺🇸 The US will rejoin debt resolution talks between Zimbabwe and its lenders over $17 billion in debt and arrears when the government implements democracy and governance reforms, its ambassador to Zimbabwe said. The US withdrew from the talks after last year’s disputed election.

Commodities

🇿🇦 South Africa’s Anglo American Platinum expects its demerger from parent company Anglo American to be completed in 2025, its CEO said on Monday. He said Amplats is also planning a secondary listing in London.

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s Dangote refinery is in talks with Libya to import crude oil, a senior executive told Reuters. The 650,000 barrels per day refinery has imported crude from as far afield as Brazil and the US since opening in January.

Deals

🇿🇦 French media conglomerate Vivendi Group said on Monday that it would pursue a listing of its pay-TV business Canal+ on the London Stock Exchange “to reflect the company’s international dimension.” Canal+ is in the process of fully acquiring South Africa’s MultiChoice Group.

🇸🇱 Infinity Power, a joint venture between Egyptian renewables firm Infinity and UAE-owned energy company Masdar, signed a memorandum of understanding with Sierra Leone’s government to develop 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity in the country by 2033.

Ibogaine, a rainforest shrub native to central Africa, is at the center of clinical trials into traumatic brain injury treatment. Psychedelics startup Soneira received an investment towards its research after Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s nonprofit Catalyst4 committed $15 million in funding, the Financial Times reported. Ibogaine has historically been used as part of spiritual ceremonies by forest-dwellers in Gabon due to its mind-altering effects. Soneira is developing medication derived from the plant for use as a mental health treatment. Recent research by Stanford University found that ibogaine therapy improved mental health symptoms and cognitive function in 30 US military veterans with brain injuries.

• Kamala Harris can’t afford to return to her attacks on Big Oil.
• How a Harris administration could handle Russia, China, and Israel.
• Netanyahu’s address to Congress will have more than one audience.

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