Africa

1. Safaricom’s growth
2. Unemployed in South Africa
3. Binance health plea
4. Mpox emergency
5. Dangote drama
6. UN reforms

Also, Botswana celebrates its first ever Olympic gold medal.

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa. The call by the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres for Africa to get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council was well received this week, as we note in this edition. It was backed up by the US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, currently the rotating president of the council.

When the UN was set up in the wake of World War II, Africa had less than 10% of the world’s population. Today, the continent’s 54 countries make up 28% of the UN’s member states. More importantly, almost half of all UN peacekeeping operations are in Africa and 40% of UN peacekeepers are African.

Some of this can feel somewhat symbolic given that many African countries have more immediate economic and social problems to deal with. But having a permanent collective voice with actual veto power could have a significant impact for prioritizing and accelerating global responses to Africa’s security challenges. That could in turn help avoid these challenges too often ending up as crises.

🟡 Follow us on social media here and WhatsApp. And if this email was forwarded to you, sign up here to get it in your inbox too.

Safaricom grows in Ethiopia

The number of Safaricom Ethiopia customers who were active as of June 2024, two years after it launched in the country. In its quarterly earnings report, Safaricom said it gained 250,000 subscribers in the three months to June. “Commercial momentum” in the period was driven by strong growth among customers in the Tigray region after launch of operations there, the company said. The telco is seeking to compete with state-owned market leader Ethio Telecom, which in July announced that it had 78 million subscribers.

South Africa’s youth unemployment

South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to 33.5% in the second quarter of this year, the country’s statistics office said. It marks a 0.6 percentage point increase from the first quarter. Employment in the formal sector — especially in trade and agriculture — fell by a larger margin than an increase in the informal sector, the agency’s report said. The challenge underscores a decade-long trend: between the second quarters of 2014 and 2024, the number of unemployed people in South Africa increased to 8.4 million from 5.2 million. High youth unemployment was among the issues that led to the African National Congress losing its parliamentary majority in May’s general election. It forced the ANC to form a coalition government with smaller parties for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago.

Health fears for Binance detainee

An American staff member of cryptocurrency exchange Binance who has been detained by Nigerian authorities for nearly six months requires urgent surgery to avoid losing the ability to walk, his family has warned.

Tigran Gambaryan has been held in a high security prison over allegations that Binance is involved in money laundering, which the company denies. Gambaryan, 40, arrived in Nigeria in February on a work visit to meet with regulators and was arrested with a colleague who escaped custody in March.

Gambaryan’s relatives, in a statement issued on Monday, said a herniated disc in his back “requires highly specialized and risky surgery” to avoid permanent damage that may affect his ability to walk. The family said Gambaryan also needs surgery to remove his tonsils after contracting multiple pneumonia infections in prison.

The family alleges that the Nigeria Correctional Service has withheld his medical records and that he has been “blocked” from seeing his lawyers since July 26.

A Nigerian prisons desk officer told Semafor Africa that Gambaryan’s “relevant medical details have been given to appropriate superior authorities,” but said the agency’s complaints unit was unaware of allegations that his lawyers were denied a visit. 

One charge of tax evasion brought by Nigeria’s tax authority was dropped in June about a month after a trial started. But Gambaryan is still being held to answer to a money laundering charge by the anti-graft body EFCC.

— Alexander Onukwue in Lagos

Mpox declared health emergency

Africa’s top public health organization has declared mpox a public health emergency.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) issued the warning on Tuesday following an outbreak of the infectious disease that was recorded in DR Congo before spreading to nearby countries.

Symptoms of an mpox infection include fever and painful rashes that spread around the body. It is typically contracted through physical contact with other humans or animals.

A new, more transmissible, strain of the virus has been identified, and carries a mortality rate of up to 10% among children. Cases have been surging at an “unprecedented scale” on the African continent, the World Health Organization has said.

“We must act now with urgency and purpose. Protect yourself and your loved ones. Follow the guidance of health authorities,” Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said on Tuesday.

The biggest obstacle to preventing mpox’s spread is the lack of vaccines. The Africa CDC has said it has just 200,000 of the more than 10 million it needs.

Mpox was previously known as monkeypox because it is thought to have been first spotted in laboratory monkeys. It was renamed in 2022.

— Jenna Moon

Dangote pressures Nigeria oil regulators

The refinery owned by Africa’s richest man has reignited its dispute with Nigerian energy regulators. It said it has been offered inadequate crude oil supply despite projecting a 70% increase in its needs by the end of the year.

Nigerian petrol vendors are eagerly anticipating the rollout of fuel from the Dangote Refinery that the company planned for this month. Nigeria has long imported the vast majority of its fuel despite traditionally being Africa’s biggest crude oil producer due to its moribund state refineries. Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote has said his company hopes to end that system.

The government approved a plan to allow state oil company NNPC to sell oil in the local naira currency to the refinery late last month, after a dispute that has persisted in recent months over Dangote Refinery’s claim that it is unable to buy oil from Nigeria’s local market.

But in two statements over the weekend, the company fired a fresh salvo in the row. Its latest grievance focused on Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which oversees the upstream oil and gas industry. It said the agency has “only facilitated the purchase of one crude cargo from a domestic producer,” leaving the refinery to rely on international traders for the rest of its need.

NUPRC said it supplied “32 million barrels of crude to Dangote Refinery and other local producers in the first half of 2024,” in response to the refinery’s complaints.

— Alexander

Consensus builds for African Security Council seat

The United Nations Security Council should be expanded to give Africa a permanent seat, under proposed reforms backed by several top officials including the UN secretary-general.

Created in 1945 to support international peace, the security council has been dominated by Western powers. Five nations — China, France, Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom — were made permanent members at inception “based on their importance” after World War II.

Africa has been confined to slots within 10 elected temporary memberships.

“We cannot accept that the world’s preeminent peace and security body lacks a permanent voice for a continent of well over a billion people,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday during a debate on membership.

The debate was convened by Sierra Leone whose president, Julius Maada Bio, is also the current president of the council. He told the debate there is now a “genuine and compelling case” for permanency. Bio called for Africa to receive two permanent seats.

At the debate, US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield reiterated support for African permanent representation, which was in line with remarks by President Joe Biden in 2022. The UK also described African permanency on the council as “a matter of urgency.”

— Alexander

Governance

🇲🇼 Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera secured his party’s support to run for a second term in next year’s election.

🇹🇿 The leaders of Tanzania’s main opposition party Chadema, including former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu, were released on bail on Tuesday after they were arrested on Monday ahead of a planned rally.

🇰🇪 Kenya’s new Treasury cabinet secretary John Mbadi said he would reintroduce some parts of the controversial Finance Bill 2024, including clauses that sought to reduce government tax expenditures. The bill was withdrawn following youth protests in June.

🇰🇪 The Kenya Aviation Workers Union said it would call a strike over a proposed agreement with India’s Adani Airport Holdings that it believes would lead to job losses and bring in non-Kenyan workers.

Geopolitics

🇸🇩 The US special envoy to Sudan said peace talks between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces will begin on Wednesday in Geneva. The SAF has yet to accept the invitation, while the RSF has continued its offensives in parts of the country, despite welcoming the peace initiative.

🇪🇹 🇸🇴 Turkey hosted a second round of talks on Monday between Ethiopia and Somalia’s delegations in a bid to resolve the dispute that followed Ethiopia’s memorandum of understanding with Somaliland in January.

🇿🇲 Zambia agreed to reopen its border with the DR Congo on Monday night after briefly closing it over the weekend, following Congo’s ban on the import of soft drinks and beer, according to a joint statement by the two countries.

🇲🇱 Mali’s foreign ministry said on Friday that the Swedish ambassador to the country had been ordered to leave within 72 hours, after the Swedish government decided to phase out aid to Mali.

Conservation

🇹🇿 More than 50 African wildlife conservation organizations have petitioned Tanzania to end elephant trophy hunting in an area where about 2,000 elephants roam.

Tech

🌍 TikTok executed cuts to its Africa team in June, halving the number of its employees based in South Africa and Nigeria across content, marking and safety teams.

🇬🇶 Internet access advocates called on Equatorial Guinea to restore access to Annobón, the smallest of the country’s eight provinces where cellular services were shut off in July following protests over local mining operations.

🇰🇪 Kenyan telecom operator Safaricom said it has now extended 5G coverage to all 47 counties in the country with 1,114 sites.

Deals

🇬🇼 China is set to invest $184 million into the construction of a 30 megawatt biomass plant in Guinea Bissau. China will foot 93% of the bill for the project, while Guinea Bissau will pay the remaining 7%.

🇧🇼 Botswana’s mines minister on Tuesday said the country would renegotiate its proposed purchase of a stake in Belgian gem dealer HB Antwerp to double the size of its shareholding at no extra cost after its economy was hit by a drop in demand for diamonds.

🇹🇿 Tanzania is set to become the first sub-Saharan country to introduce the Ritz-Carlton brand, the American multinational luxury hotel chain, according to local media reports.

Around 20,000 people gathered in Botswana’s national stadium to welcome the country’s Olympic team home from the Paris Games. Men’s 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, who won Botswana’s first ever Olympic gold medal, was the star attraction. He received a hero’s welcome. The silver medal-winning 4×400m relay team were also among those celebrated at the stadium on Tuesday in the capital, Gaborone. The athletes rode on a rooftop bus, waving to cheering fans. President Mokgweetsi Masisi declared a half-day holiday on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate. The sports minister announced that Tebogo would receive two houses from the government as a reward, with members of the relay team to each get a house.

• Android phones get an AI upgrade.
• Will Kamala Harris’ short run kill the ‘permanent campaign’?
• China’s top diplomat visits Southeast Asia to bolster presence.

If you’re enjoying the Semafor Africa newsletter and finding it useful, please share with your family and friends. We’d love to have them aboard too.

Happy independence day to the people of Congo Brazzaville 🇨🇬 (Aug. 15)

Let’s make sure this email doesn’t end up in your junk folder by adding africa@semafor.com to your contacts. In Gmail you should drag this newsletter over to your ‘Primary’ tab.

You can reply to this email and send us your news tips, gossip, and good vibes.

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