The most important developments in sub-Saharan Africa. Six days a week.
Brent crude has traded around $100 a barrel since late September, and African fuel importers are passing the cost on to motorists. Zambia's Energy Regulation Board raised petrol by 24% to 31.46 kwacha a litre from 1 October, as a six-month suspension of excise duty ended and the kwacha weakened. Namibia raised petrol by about 6% on 2 October but held diesel, while Ghana suspended a levy on diesel for October to limit its rise. Governments that absorb the shock give up budgeted revenue, while those that pass it on raise transport costs and inflation. Zambia restores value-added tax (VAT) on fuel on 1 December.
South African financial group Sanlam offered on 5 October to buy the 37.3% of short-term insurer Santam that it does not already own and to delist the company. The cash offer of 505 rand a share is a 26.6% premium to Santam's closing price on 2 October and values the minority stake at about 16 billion rand, according to BusinessDay. Santam's independent board backs the deal, which would end its 62-year listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Minority shareholders get an exit above Santam's previous record share price, while the JSE loses one of its larger financial stocks. Shareholders are due to vote on 30 November.
Congolese troops and allied Wazalendo militias said they had retaken several villages from the M23 rebels in North Kivu's Masisi territory and in South Kivu's Kalehe on 5 October. On the same day, African Union mediators, including former presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana, met the rebel leadership in Goma. Residents fled towards Ngungu and Rubaya, a town at the centre of coltan mining. Renewed fighting near the mines could disrupt mineral output and test the security commitments between Congo and Rwanda signed in Washington, which are due for review at a meeting in October.
Kenya's Capital Markets Authority (CMA) approved on 5 October global depositary receipts that let Kenyan investors buy into the initial public offering (IPO) of Nigeria's Dangote refinery. The offer of 4.1 billion shares at 525 naira each, worth about $1.6 billion, closes on 13 October; adviser Renaissance Capital says Kenyans could invest up to $300 million. The approval follows a delay on 1 October over pending issues, and a listing of the receipts in Nairobi still needs consent from Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission. The deal draws East African savings into Africa's largest refinery as Dangote starts building a second one at Lamu in Kenya, but competes for capital with Nairobi's own listings.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was sworn in for a second five-year term on 5 October at the first session of the new House of Peoples' Representatives. The parliament emerged from the 1 June election, and Abiy calls his new administration the "Medemer Government"; he has not yet named a cabinet. He took office as federal forces patrolled Mekelle, the Tigray regional capital they recently captured, while Tigrayan leaders vowed to keep fighting. The new mandate strengthens Abiy's hand in the war and in his dispute with Eritrea and Egypt, which Ethiopia accuses of backing Tigrayan rebels. His cabinet choices will show whether he widens the government or keeps it narrow.
The European Union (EU) has suspended imports of fresh beef, sheep and goat meat and of biltong from Namibia after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the EU said on 5 October. The outbreak hit a commercial farm in the southern Karasburg veterinary district, and the World Organisation for Animal Health suspended the zone's disease-free status from 22 September. Heat-treated meat can still enter the EU, and Namibia's trade preferences under its partnership agreement with the EU are unaffected. The EU is a premium market for Namibian beef, so a long suspension would cut export earnings and farm incomes. Containing the outbreak quickly is Namibia's route back to the market.
Cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire, the world's largest producer, fear the main harvest will end early after another dry week, Reuters reported on 5 October. No rain fell in Soubré in the west, 22 millimetres below the five-year average, and Daloa received 3.4 millimetres, 25.7 below average; the south and east were also dry. Industry sources expect the main crop to fall to about 1.25 million tonnes from 1.5 million last season, blaming drought linked to El Niño and less use of fertiliser. A smaller crop would support world cocoa prices, but farmers paid a fixed 1,200 CFA francs a kilo, down from 2,800, would gain little from it.
France signed financing worth about €100 million ($117 million) with Benin on 5 October during President Romuald Wadagni's visit to the Élysée Palace. Most of it comes from the French Development Agency, and 52.1 billion CFA francs ($93 million) will extend the grid of the state power company to more than 120,000 new customers in 750 localities. The rest funds fish farming, agriculture and a forensic DNA laboratory, partly through the public investment bank Bpifrance. The deal shows Benin, led by Wadagni since May, keeping close ties with France while its Sahel neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger have cut theirs.
