Africa

1. Bribery probe
2. Bumpy revenue
3. Nigeria’s Russia question
4. Mali, Niger call out Ukraine
5. Kenya’s new finance guy
6. Slowing the internet

Also, West African music lovers celebrate the life of a kora maestro.

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa, where you’re going to hear a lot about being careful what you wish for. That might be the refrain from long-time Africa watchers, following the Russia-heavy news cycle of the past couple of weeks. It’s been clear for a few years now that Russia under President Vladmir Putin has wanted to rekindle some of its Cold War-era relationships across the continent as it seeks to reinvent and expand its global influence in the 21st century. But unlike the 20th century’s Soviet Union, modern Russia’s outreach is less ideological and more strategic and self-serving. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Russia’s approach is how it is more about appearing influential and powerful than necessarily being so. Some of that is done through manipulating social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, where millions of young Africans spend a lot of their time. That’s why it’s not totally shocking to see some young Nigerians waving Russian flags in cost of living protests. Putin has been great at projecting power; perhaps they think that might get them out of their dire situations.

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Glencore’s expensive bribe

The amount in fines and compensation that Swiss commodities company Glencore International was ordered to pay following the conclusion of a probe of bribery in DR Congo over a decade ago, prosecutors in Switzerland said on Monday. The Swiss attorney general’s office said the company failed to prevent bribery of a Congolese public official by a business partner over its purchase in 2011 of minority stakes in two companies. Glencore did not admit to the findings, but said it would not appeal, saying the attorney general’s office did not find that any company employees knew of the bribery by the business partner, nor did Glencore “benefit financially” from the partner’s conduct.

Jumia’s bumpy revenue

African e-commerce company Jumia said second quarter revenue dropped by 17% to $36.5 million compared to a year ago, but its adjusted losses before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization narrowed 10% over the period. The company blamed the revenue dip on the effect of currency devaluation in the markets it operates in, as it has done in recent quarters. Jumia averaged a little over 2 million active customers per quarter over the last year. It is navigating a strategy change that included cuts to products it deems non-essential, notably instant deliveries and food delivery, and a 45% reduction in employee headcount since the end of 2022.

Nigeria clamps down on pro-Russia protesters

KANO, Nigeria — Nigerian authorities are clamping down on anti-government protesters who have been seen waving Russian flags and chanting pro-Putin slogans in the country’s northern cities.

The nationwide protests to decry the rising cost of living and protest “bad governance” started on Aug. 1 and spread across the commercial capital Lagos and several northern cities last week. But security forces have had a delayed response to the unusual but increasing presence of pro-Russia support at some of the protests in the north. This week, police said they had arrested some tailors in Kano responsible for making Russian flags. The Nigeria Police Force and the defense chief both said the use of foreign flags during protests and openly calling for a military takeover of the government is a capital offense under Nigerian law.

The Russian embassy in Nigeria was quick to deny any involvement of its government or its officials. “As always, we emphasize that Russia does not interfere in the domestic affairs of foreign states, including Nigeria,” it said in a statement. “These intentions of some protesters to wave Russian flags are personal choices of individuals, and they do not reflect any official position or policy of the Russian Government on the issue.”

Locals who spoke to Semafor Africa said the Russian flags were a sign of strength on the world stage and a way to get the attention of Nigerian President Tinubu. “We have the conviction that if Putin intervenes we will have our demands met so that citizens will enjoy having food to eat,” said Naziru Muktar, 27. “Nobody gave us any flags, we sourced the flags by ourselves.”

Mali, Niger cut ties with Ukraine

The military juntas of Mali and Niger have each cut diplomatic relations with Ukraine, after they determined that Kyiv was involved in an operation supporting Tuareg rebels in the north of Mali. The insurgency last month led to the killing of 47 Malian soldiers, and 84 Russian military contractors.

The attack and subsequent diplomatic fallout has raised the first serious concerns that the Russia-Ukraine war, now halfway through its third year, could play out on African soil.

On Sunday, Mali’s military leaders denounced Kyiv’s “support for international terrorism” and its “blatant aggression.”

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it regretted a “short-sighted and hasty” decision taken “without conducting a thorough study of the facts and circumstances of the incident in the north of Mali.”

But on Ukrainian television, Andriy Yusov, spokesman of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), stated that the rebels had received “the necessary information” leading to “a successful operation against Russian war criminals.”

While most African governments have resisted Bamako’s call to denounce the “neo-nazi and heinous” Ukrainian authorities, the government of Niger, also led by a military junta, announced late on Tuesday that it is also severing its diplomatic ties with Kyiv. Niamey criticized “the silence of other African countries and the African Union” in the face of “malicious attempts to turn the Sahel into a theater of ideological and strategic confrontation.”

— Joël Té-Léssia Assoko

Kenya’s treasury pick wants to reprofile debt

John Mbadi, nominated by President William Ruto to serve as Kenya’s new Treasury cabinet secretary, has proposed reprofiling debt by moving away from more expensive commercial loans.

It’s a significant change to how East Africa’s largest economy approaches debt and taxes. During his vetting by members of parliament on Saturday, Mbadi said that the country “must restructure” its debt. He described such debt as “unsustainable” at 8 to 9%, and added his goal was to reduce its share of Kenya’s external debt from 23% to no more than 5%.

Mbadi, who still has to be approved by MPs, said he would seek to source a greater share of loans from cheaper multilateral sources such as the World Bank. “I’m very ready to disturb the stubborn status quo at the Treasury,” he asserted.

An accountant and close ally of opposition leader Raila Odinga, Mbadi is among several senior members of the opposition included among Ruto’s new cabinet picks. Ruto had earlier dismissed nearly his entire cabinet at the height of youth-led protests against tax hikes and corruption over the past month.

The protests are expected to continue on Thursday, Aug. 8 in Nairobi. Mbadi’s nomination also comes amid economic uncertainty following the rejection of tax plans in the scrapped Finance Bill 2024, and a July court ruling nullifying the Finance Bill 2023 for inadequate public participation.

— Martin K. N. Siele in Nairobi

Nigeria denies throttling internet

Nigerian authorities slowed down the internet during this month’s cost of living protests, according to civil society groups in the country.

“We conducted internal tests and we saw disruption — more like throttling,” Boye Adegoke, a programs officer at Lagos-based digital rights group Paradigm Initiative, told Semafor Africa. The group observed distortions in the regular quality of internet across Nigeria three days before the protests began, Adegoke said. On the protest’s second day, three dozen civil society groups expressly condemned “the intentional disruption of access to the internet in Nigeria” due to the protests. Internet tracking firm NetBlocks found noticeable dips in service for at least one major network operator.

The Nigerian government has not admitted to intentionally slowing down the internet. Pressed by a TV anchor to respond to user complaints of disruption, communications minister Bosun Tijani — who oversees the telecoms sector — blamed a surge of stay-at-home internet users.

But the denial has not erased most Nigerians’ conviction that the government attempted to quell protests by manipulating the internet. Shutdowns have become more common in Africa during elections or conflict, as in Gabon and Guinea last year. Nigeria imposed a seven-month ban on Twitter in 2021 and in the country’s north where there have been extended protests, the slowdown appears to have been more pronounced based on anecdotal reports to Semafor Africa from the biggest northern cities. Chisom Anakpe, a structural engineer in Kano, said he struggled to pay workers due to the internet issues preventing electronic transactions.

— Alexander Onukwue in Lagos.

Geopolitics

🇺🇸 🇳🇪 The US handed over its last military base in Niger to local authorities. The US troops have until Sept. 15 to leave the Sahel country.

🇺🇬 A Ugandan military spokesperson said on Monday that nearly 100 police officers from DR Congo fled to Uganda over the weekend as fighting between M23 rebels and the military in Congo’s east intensified.

🇺🇸 🇨🇩 The US said on Wednesday it would provide nearly $414 million in humanitarian assistance for the DR Congo, where more than 25 million people need urgent assistance with food, healthcare and nutrition, shelter, water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Elections

🇹🇳 A Tunisian court on Monday sentenced four presidential hopefuls to eight months in prison on charges of vote buying, and banned them from running for office, a move opposition leaders said was aimed at barring competition against President Kais Saied.

Deals

🇰🇪 Kenya’s treasury approved a $1.3 billion deal between Africa50, an investment consortium, and India’s Adani Group to build power transmission lines and substations.

🌍 The Qatar Investment Authority invested $180 million in TechMet, an investor in critical minerals projects in Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Governance

🇸🇩 The Sudanese foreign ministry on Friday accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of causing the famine that struck the Zamzam camp near El Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur State.

🇨🇩 The DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi during a radio interview on Tuesday accused former president Joseph Kabila of backing the Alliance Fleuve Congo, a political-military anti-government movement.

Energy

🇿🇦 Authorities in Cape Town, South Africa, said they are considering building new desalination plants and treating wastewater to diversify its water supply and reduce reliance on dams.

🇿🇲 Zambia last week began the importation of 218 megawatts of power from South Africa’s Electricity Supply Commission during off-peak hours to stabilize the power supply.

West African music lost one of its great virtuosos last month with the passing of Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté, at the age of 58. Diabate was born in Bamako and came from a seven-generation-long line of kora players, the 21-string instrument that originated in the Gambia and southern Senegal. There have been countless tributes to the artist, who played alongside everyone from Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita to Björk and Santigold. He won two Grammys with his countryman Ali Farka Touré. In The Conversation, his long-time music producer Lucy Durán discusses how his first few albums came together as a young musician and how he learned to collaborate with a wide variety of music styles from blues and jazz to flamenco.

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Happy 64th independence day to the people of Cote d’Ivoire!! 🇨🇮

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