16th Edition

Good Afternoon folks! 😁😁

Delighted to have you here. And if you joined us this week, it’s great to finally connect with you… so here we go!

Welcome to The Friday Briefing, your weekly brief on geopolitics.

This is our sixteenth edition. It’s still a bit of a test, so if something does go wrong be sure to let us know… but anyway, we plan to send out your brief every Friday lunchtime 12pm GMT.

Our goal is to provide you with a balanced and insightful overview, allowing you to stay informed without being overwhelmed with information. But above all, we understand the value of your time. With our summaries, you can quickly grasp the major events shaping our world, deepen your understanding and be on your way in no time!

Our starting point…yes…Africa, but our vision extends beyond the boundaries of a single continent.

Oh don’t forget, feel free to leave behind any feedback, suggestions or further ideas you would like us to run with 🙂 

^{Why Africa? maybe because we don’t hear much…}

Back in 2013, the 42nd President of the United States tweeted the above tweet, “Just touched down in Africa…” ⬆️

Although Mr Clinton’s tweet was true, despite the brazen mistruths our leaders spout these days, he nonetheless could’ve worded it a lot better.

But the tweet tells us a lot more. It exposes an attitude that many of us may have towards Africa, either through ignorance or laziness or maybe because we don’t hear enough about African countries in our national news media.

This is a continent as diverse as it is complex, a continent home to over 1.4 billion people and 54 countries, making it the second-most populated continent in the world.

Events in Africa aren't isolated, they hold global importance too. Political transitions, economic developments and conflicts in Africa have ripple effects that stretch far beyond its borders.

And yes, while we begin with Africa, we’re dedicated to expanding our weekly round-ups to other continents in due course, taking our mission to new frontiers by connecting the dots between nations and continents.

So stay tuned! 👌

^{So, what’s been happening this week?}

• Italian Prime Minister holds Italy-Africa Summit in Rome

• South Africa’s ruling party suspends ex-president Jacob Zuma

• Former Zambian President calls for an early election

• United States sanctions Sudanese companies for funding conflict

^{What does this mean?}

In recent times, countries from around the world have organised similar summits to strengthen ties with African countries. We covered the German and Saudi summit respectively in the past.

More than 25 African leaders and EU officials arrived in Italy’s capital earlier this week, for the Italy-Africa summit hosted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The government unveiled details of a long awaited project aimed at boosting development in Africa, hoping it will help spark economic growth that will curb irregular immigration to Europe.

The “Mattei Plan” dubbed after the late Enrico Mattei, who founded the state oil company Eni outlined the key “areas of intervention.” The five main policy areas addressed in the deal included: education, agriculture, health, water and energy.

The aim of the Italian government is to make Italy an energy superpower to transport natural gas supplies from Africa to the rest of Europe with the aim of strengthening energy efficiencies and promoting renewables.

The Italian Prime Minister also outlined a number of small pilot projects in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, and Algeria. The projects range from training and redevelopment to primary healthcare and agriculture monitoring.

Italy promised to set aside an initial 5.5bn euros (£4.7bn) for the Mattei Plan whilst including public guarantees of 3bn euros for future investments. Some critics questioned the small scale of the pilot projects, while the chairman of the African Union Commission criticised Meloni for not consulting more widely beforehand.

Did you know…

In 2012, Italian exports to Africa amounted to almost 19.1bn euros, compared to 21.3 billion euros in 2022.

Italian imports from Africa in 2012 amount to 35.2bn euros compared to 47bn euros in 2022.

South Africa’s ruling party African National Congress (ANC) suspended former President Jacob Zuma after he gave backing to a new political party for this year’s national elections.

With the ANC facing its toughest election this year amid rising levels of unemployment and poverty, this is yet another sign of the feud between Jacob Zuma and current President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Jacob Zuma who led the ANC for a decade and was President from 2009-2018 said at press conference that he would be voting for the newly formed MK Party. He said he aimed to “keep” his ANC membership but was unhappy with the Ramaphosa’s leadership.

To further rub salt into the wound of the ANC, the new party MK is an abbreviation for “uMkhonto we Sizwe” which was the now-defunct ANC military wing formed by Nelson Mandela in 1961 to fight the apartheid system.

Cyril Ramaphosa came to power promising reform and to clean up the ANC after Zuma was forced to step down in 2018 amid allegations of corruption. Zuma is currently on trial and faces a number of charges.

However, he still maintains widespread support in parts of South Africa as more than 300 people died in riots in 2021 when he was sent to prison for contempt of court and refusing to testify.

Did you know…

South Africa is Africa’s most advanced economy

Zambia’s former President Edgar Lungu called for an early election after accusing the current President of failing to run the economy and failing to manage the deadly cholera outbreak which has so far killed nearly 600 people since October last year.

Speaking to the media, Mr Edgar said “Zambians should put pressure on the President to accept that an early election was imperative”.

Mr Edgar lost the election the 2021 presidential elections but has since announced his return from retirement in a bid to comeback in 2026’s scheduled presidential race.

Mr Edgar lost all retirement benefits following his announcement last October. Former presidents in retirement enjoy “benefits” and are entitled to three security officers, a diplomatic passport, three state cars, a furnished house, medical insurance, immunity from prosecution and funeral expenses upon their death.

The former President was the 6th Zambian president and served for 6 years from 2015 to 2021.

Did you know…

The Republic of Zambia takes its name from the Zambezi river which flows along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Zambezi is the fourth-largest river in Africa after rivers Nile, Congo and Niger.

The population of Zambia is almost 19.4 million.

The United States has imposed sanctions on three Sudanese firms accused of being directly connected to the warring forces in Sudan. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan who heads the Army and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo widely known as Hemedti who heads the paramilitary group RSF.

They have been fighting to seek control of Sudan since April last year after tensions erupted into street battles and into a fall on war.

The US Treasury department blocked all property and entities in the United States belonging the following ⬇️

• AlKhaleej Bank Co Ltd

• Zadna International Co for Development Ltd

• Al-Fakher Advanced Works Co. Ltd.

AlKhaleej and Al-Fakher has direct ties with the RSF while Zadana is run by the Army. The sanctions is yet another attempt to pressure the two sides to end the conflict. Will it work? 🤔🤔 

We shall see.

According to the United Nations, 12,000 people have been killed in the conflict with over 10.7 million people displaced.

^{Book of the week…. DEAL IN THE WORKS!}

The idea is every week we will hold a poll on our social media pages, asking our readers to recommend a book for the week…

STAY TUNED!

You’re done for the week. Follow us on our socials and see you next Friday!