African governments are spending billions of dollars on the “smart” surveillance of public spaces using technology from China, according to new research from the UK-based @Institute of Development Studies. www.semafor.com/article/03/1... — via @Semafor

MTN is on the hunt for fintech startups it can acquire and plug directly into its platform to accelerate growth as a more diversified tech business, its CEO tells my @Semafor colleague Yinka Adegoke. www.semafor.com/article/02/0...

Madagascar ended a 16-year ban on new mining permits while steelmaker ArcelorMittal extended a minerals deal with Liberia, as competition for Africa’s natural resources intensifies. www.semafor.com/article/01/3... — via @Semafor

Ghana is partnering with Google to develop AI-powered education tools in local languages, starting with Twi, Ewe, Dagbani, and Hausa. The program will later be scaled up to cover 12 approved Ghanaian languages. www.semafor.com/article/01/3...

Thank you to New African Magazine for including me on the 100 Most Influential Africans 2025 list. I'm honoured and incredibly grateful. This says more about the hard work of the @Semafor's Africa team than it does about me, so huge thanks to my colleagues 100.newafricanmagazine.com?utm_source=M...

Analysis: How Nigeria's security emergency has presented President Tinubu with his biggest crisis since taking office two years ago, and why his remedy combines police reinforcements and diplomacy. www.semafor.com/article/11/2... by me and Alexander Onukwue for @Semafor

"The summit declaration was a critical win, but the story is not over." Great @Semafor column by Hannah Ryder on how the US might continue "pressure enacted by absence" by denying South Africa a platform at the G20. www.semafor.com/article/11/2...

"The most frustrating statistic in African geoeconomics is the claim that the continent has 30% of the world’s mineral reserves," writes Bright Simons in this brilliantly insightful @SemaforAfrica column. www.semafor.com/article/11/1...

A chart showing recommended minerals prioritization for mining in Africa, based on their benefits continent-wide. (View: The fallacy that unites Trump’s strategists and pan-Africanist champions) www.semafor.com/article/11/1...

My view: Why Ethiopia’s COP32 success offers a climate opportunity for Africa and what South Africa's G20 build up teaches us. www.semafor.com/article/11/1... — via @SemaforAfrica

DR Congo suspended a major Chinese-owned copper and cobalt operation after a dam collapse spilled contaminated water into the country’s second-largest city. Elisha Iragi reported this @Semafor story about mining, EV batteries and pollution. www.semafor.com/article/11/1...

"Sovereignty... means little in practice if the fundamental responsibility of a government to secure the lives and property of its citizens is not met." @MoghaluKingsley looks Trump's "guns-a-blazing" wake up call for Nigeria in this @Semafor column. www.semafor.com/article/11/1...

African banks need to take the lead in more effectively organizing and deploying the continent’s capital for investments that will boost growth, say top bank execs. www.semafor.com/article/11/0... — via @Semafor

Nearly half of the world’s 50 most economically unequal countries are in Africa, finds a new report on global inequality led by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. www.semafor.com/article/11/0...

Election violence in Tanzania that opposition groups say left hundreds dead is damaging investors’ confidence in East Africa and hampering regional trade, Kenya’s trade minister, tells @Semafor in an exclusive interview. www.semafor.com/article/11/0...

Nigeria’s lack of senior diplomatic presence in Washington and an absence of lobbyist support has left it vulnerable to President Trump’s threat of military action over alleged Christian persecution. www.semafor.com/article/11/0...

Paul Biya, the world's oldest head of state, will contest Cameroon's election on Sunday at the age of 92. He's been in power for more than 40 years. Here's my Semafor column on the problems caused by African leaders remaining in officer for decades. www.semafor.com/article/10/1...

Senegal is grappling with a debt crisis. Now a rift between the president and prime minister threatens the government's handling of the economy, reports Joël Té-Léssia Assoko for @Semafor www.semafor.com/article/07/2...

Africa topped China’s Belt and Road investments in the first half of 2025, reaching $39 billion, according to a new report. www.semafor.com/article/07/2...

Four African billionaires are now richer than 750 million of the continent’s population combined. Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, South Africans Johann Rupert and Nicky Oppenheimer, and Egyptian businessman Nassef Sawiris control a combined $57.4bn. www.semafor.com/article/07/2...

"Kenya’s effort at fiscal consolidation to reduce deficits and debt levels will become a casualty to the need for bigger budgets to placate both elites and voters." Ken Opalo lays out the challenges faced by President Ruto in a @Semafor's #OneBigIdea column www.semafor.com/article/07/2...

Why did Ghana’s central bank announce an "emergency" meeting, only to avoid announcing policy decisions? Nana Oye Ankrah and I report on the uncertainty stoked by the move, and why many had expected a rate cut. www.semafor.com/article/07/2...

"Lagos’s lack of free beaches illustrates the way in which the city continues to squeeze its poorer residents." This, by Aanu Adeoye, is a brilliant piece looking at how privatisation has led to the neglect of public services in Nigeria. on.ft.com/4lDdq2o

"Emerging markets, like those in Africa, should pay attention. Local-currency stablecoins, backed by short-term government debt, could offer a vital tool for monetary resilience." Wale Ayeni's @Semafor column making the case for stablecoins in Africa www.semafor.com/article/07/1...

Cameroon’s 92-year-old President Paul Biya, who came to power 43 years ago and scrapped term limits in 2008, will seek an eighth term in October’s elections. www.semafor.com/article/07/1... — via @Semafor

The Trump administration has slashed visa stays for Nigerians. A three-month visa will only allow single entry to the US. Previously, a multiple entry visa would allow Nigerians to stay in the US for up to six months. www.semafor.com/article/07/0... — via @Semafor

Medicine to treat babies suffering from malaria is approved for the first time and is expected to be rolled out in Africa within weeks, with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives each year. www.semafor.com/article/07/0... — via @Semafor

Air travel passengers pay more in taxes to fly from Africa than counterparts departing from Europe or the Middle East, a report by the African Airlines Association shows. www.semafor.com/article/07/0...

Ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Afreximbank closer to junk status, saying that the bank’s “unsecured lending to sovereigns under stress has introduced significant risks.” It comes weeks after the lender was downgraded by Fitch. www.semafor.com/article/07/0...

A new blockchain-based currency exchange for trading local currencies is launched in a bid to make it easier for companies to repatriate their profits from African countries and reduce the continent’s dependence on the dollar in regional trade. www.semafor.com/article/06/2...

Organised crime groups in Africa have embedded themselves in gold supply chains to such a degree that they now present “a serious global threat,” a UN report warns. www.semafor.com/article/05/2... — via @Semafor

"South Africa is not without leverage. It controls over 80% of global platinum reserves and ranks among the top producers of vanadium and manganese. South Africa... is sitting on the mother lode." Sam Mkokeli for @Semafor on Ramaphosa's US trip. www.semafor.com/article/05/1...

African investment funds are struggling to raise capital for women-led businesses because many previous backers don't want to be associated with a gender-driven ethos that goes against President Trump's anti-DEI push. www.semafor.com/article/05/0... — via @Semafor

The World Bank’s private investment arm plans to “significantly” increase its equity stakes in Africa over the next five years to drive businesses’ growth, its top official tells me for this @Semafor story. www.semafor.com/article/04/2...

South Africa’s coalition is teetering on the brink of collapse in the wake of the deepening budget row and a leaked recording of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Sam Mkokeli reports on the latest twists for @Semafor.

South Africa's budget row: Check out this @Semafor story by Sam Mkokeli for behind-the-scenes details on what drove the spending plan disagreements that have destabilised the coalition government in Africa's biggest economy.

International flower companies are fleeing Ethiopia due to a worsening conflict in the Amhara region, dealing a blow to one of the country’s major exports and taking thousands of jobs. Samuel Getachew reports for @Semafor on the impact of rising insecurity.

Africa-focused CassavaTechnologies says it will deploy software from Nvidia at its data centres in South Africa by June before carrying out the same expansion at facilities in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria to create an African 'AI factory'.

Great analysis by Ademola Adesina on harnessing the opportunities that lie in working with artisanal and small-scale miners in Africa who play a crucial role in the global critical minerals supply chain. www.semafor.com/article/03/2... — for @SemaforAfrica's One Big Idea series.

Britain’s development finance body @britishintinv.bsky.social is working with London’s financial district to ramp up funding for sustainable energy projects in Africa, says its new CEO www.semafor.com/article/03/1... — via @Semafor

🟡 SCOOP: Andries Carl Nel, a veteran ANC deputy minister, is the leading candidate to be South Africa's next ambassador to the US after the expulsion of its top diplomat in Washington, reports Sam Mkokeli for @Semafor

The US is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington. It comes after he reportedly said President Trump is leading a “supremacist” movement. @Semafor first reported that he was being frozen out over his pro-Palestine views.

“They don’t give aid in that way, so they can’t “replace” USAID.” — Why China won't fill the gaps created by USAID cuts. buff.ly/byzChdq — via @Semafor

Rwanda’s booming tourism industry, worth more than $600 million, is threatened by international pressure over its alleged backing of M23 rebels in neighboring DR Congo, reports Martin K.N Siele for @Semafor

Africa policy watchers in Washington are increasingly sceptical about the future of the AGOA trade deal that offers sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the US market, reports my @Semafor colleague Yinka Adegoke.

Women with higher education levels in sub-Saharan Africa are leading the shift toward smaller family sizes. Those findings are based on data collected from over a million women in 39 countries between 1986-2022. Fascinating research about education and demography.

"Aid dependency robbed these countries of the chance to cultivate policy autonomy [and] ensured that their ability to deliver services did not grow," insightful @kopalo.bsky.social piece for @Semafor's One Big Idea series about a paradigm shift in global aid.

With South Africa's financial year due to start on 1 March, the country's businesses are in limbo after the unprecedented delay of the budget by three weeks due to a row over VAT in the coalition government — Sam Mkokeli's latest for @Semafor

South Africa is preparing to dispatch a delegation of government and business leaders to Washington in an attempt to retain preferential access to the world’s largest economy — after trips to China and Europe. Sam Mkokeli's latest for @Semafor

"Imagine if the media had a mandate to reflect society as it truly is? Imagine if Africa’s 54 countries were covered with the same depth and complexity as, say, Europe." Brilliantly insightful column by Moky Makura on media narratives for @Semafor.