Africa

1. Election uncertainty
2. Iran-Israel strikes criticized
3. New tool to fight malaria
4. Interpol’s cyber warning
5. Tightening resource control
6. Debt to development
7. The Week Ahead

More than 100 Benin Bronzes are returned to Nigeria.

Côte d’Ivoire awaits president’s decision

Côte d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara has delayed accepting his party’s nomination as its candidate for general elections in October. The 83-year-old, who has been in office since 2010 and in January promised he was “eager to continue” serving his country, said on Sunday that he would give his answer in a few days.

Ouattara’s announcement came days after former Credit Suisse boss Tidjane Thiam formed an alliance with former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo: Both allege government interference in the polls, with Thiam disqualified for previously holding French citizenship and Gbagbo barred over a criminal conviction.

Analysts say the delay around Ouattara’s announcement could mean he is considering retirement. That possibility, coupled with changes to the opposition, creates uncertainty around who will stand in the contest to run Francophone West Africa’s largest economy. Côte d’Ivoire has functioned as a stable democracy amid a spate of coups in other former French colonies in West and Central Africa in recent years, driving economic growth in the subregion.

Nigerian group criticizes Iran strikes

Nigeria’s main Shiite Muslim sect criticized US involvement in strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and Israel’s continued attacks on targets in the country. The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) staged a protest march on Friday in Kano, the commercial hub of northern Nigeria, in support of Iran. Hundreds of protesters attended the event chanting slogans and songs in English and the Hausa language spoken widely in northern Nigeria.

Prominent members of the group, speaking to Semafor on Sunday, were critical of Washington’s strikes. “The US made a mistake by attacking somebody who can retaliate,” said Saminu Muhammad, a leading figure within IMN. The group remains a minority in Nigeria, where the majority of the Muslim population is Sunni.

Support for Iran is limited across the continent. South Africa, which has frequently criticized Israel’s military operations in Gaza, called for dialogue to end the strikes. The escalating conflict between Israel and Iran has pushed up oil prices, prompting fears that the impact will be felt by economies across Africa.

— Hamza Ibrahim

A new weapon against malaria

Gene-drive technology offers a new way to fight malaria, a health expert argued in a column for Semafor.

The technique involves introducing a genetic trait into the Anopheles mosquito, one of the main carriers of the malaria parasite. Genetic approaches offer some clear advantages in Africa, which accounts for around 95% of global malaria-related deaths, wrote Krystal Birungi, an entomologist at the Uganda Virus Research Institute. They require less day-to-day management than current interventions, making them particularly suited for rural and hard-to-reach communities. And because they are species-specific, they offer a more environmentally targeted solution.

Cybercrime poses growing threat

Cybercrime incidents make up a growing share of overall crime in Africa, the latest threat assessment by Interpol found.

More than two-thirds of the 54 African member countries of the cross-border police organisation said cyber-enabled crimes were a medium to high share of all crimes in 2024, the agency said in a report. Phishing is the most frequently reported cybercrime in Africa, comprising a third of all incidents, while ransomware attacks, and business email compromise are some of the other leading threats.

A “surge” in romance scams in 2024 — particularly in Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Benin — has made it one of Africa’s top online scams, the report said. And, citing a cyberthreat index by the International Telecommunication Union, it said Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria were among the countries most frequently targeted globally by cybercriminals in 2024. Attacks are becoming more sophisticated, especially with the strategic use of artificial intelligence and social media manipulation by criminals, Interpol said.

— Alexander Onukwue

Resource nationalism push continues

Authorities in West and Central Africa have in recent days announced steps aimed at tightening their control of precious commodities, highlighting the resource nationalism trend sweeping the continent.

Niger on Thursday said it plans to nationalize the Somair uranium mine operated by France’s Orano. And the world’s top cobalt producer, DR Congo, on Sunday announced a three-month extension to its ban on exports of the mineral as part of its attempt to curb oversupply of cobalt, which is used in electric vehicle batteries.

Last week, a judge in Mali ordered Barrick Gold’s Louolo-Gounkoto gold complex to be placed under provisional administration for six months as part of a tax dispute between the Canadian miner and the country’s ruling junta. “Mali’s conflict with Barrick and other Western mining firms has dented the investment sentiment, limiting Mali’s options to Russian and maybe Chinese firms,” Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at Konrad Adenauer Foundation think tank in Mali, told Semafor.

Converting debt to development projects

The size of debt that Italy and the European Union plan to convert into development projects in Africa over a 10-year period, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said. Part of the plan involves halving the debt of low-middle income African nations, she said, with $1.4 billion of Italy-EU commitments to Africa also in the works. Resolving Africa’s debt issue is necessary to avoid “undermining all other effort” for the continent’s development, Meloni said, according to Reuters. The moves come as the World Bank, in a report published on Friday, urged “radical” debt transparency for developing countries and their lenders to stave off future crises.

Week Ahead

• June 23-24: The Pan African Data Centres Exhibition and Conference takes place in Johannesburg.
• June 23-25: Experience Africa, a tourism and travel exhibition, takes place in London.
• June 23-27: The African Union Commission hosts a joint event for the Intra-ACP Climate Services and Related Applications forum and the Space for Early Warning in Africa forum in Windhoek, Namibia.
• June 24: South Africa publishes quarterly employment data for March 2025.
• June 24-28: Nigeria hosts the 32nd Afreximbank annual meetings in Abuja.
• June 25-28: The African Literature Association holds its annual conference in Nairobi.

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