[REVELATIONS - 1/5] Tehran has been negotiating with the Niger junta since late 2023 on a deal to deliver 300 tonnes of uranium concentrate. In return for the uranium, Iran will allegedly supply Niamey with tactical drones and Manpads.  africaintelligence.com/west-africa/20… [2/5] The 300 tonnes of yellow cake in question come from the Arlit mines, which have been operated since 1970 by the French group Orano (ex-Areva). In total, there are nearly 700 tonnes of uranium concentrate currently on site there, secured by the Nigerien armed forces.

For weeks now, the appointment of the next ECOWAS president has been the subject of high-level negotiations. With little consensus concerning the potential reappointment of the President of Guinea-Bissau, his peers have been drawing up other plans. A thread ⬇️ Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who hopes to be reappointed, has lost the support of some of his regional sponsors, such as Senegalese President Macky Sall. The reason? His supposed lack of standing and his poorly-veiled criticisms of Sall's possible third term in office.

Despite his victory in the polls, William Ruto remains concerned about the financial and symbolic weight that the heirs of Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi carry. The Kenyan president is pulling out all the stops to make his rivals, who he sees as a political threat, bend. ⬇️ On 30/01 Ruto promised that "every citizen must pay tax", no exceptions. Against the backdrop of protests in opposition to the increase in the cost of living, it was an attempt to justify his recent tax hikes and also a veiled attack on the rich Kenyatta and Moi dynasties. (2/8)

In eastern DRC, the rise of a Banyamulenge armed group, the Twigwaneho, has sparked concern among Congolese security services and the FBI. They suspect that their war effort is being financed from the US. @Africa_In_EN investigated ⬇️ Holed up in the highlands overlooking Lake Tanganyika, Twigwaneho leader Michel Rukunda (AKA Makanika) surprised everyone with his ability to arm himself and also his tactical nous when confronting the Congolese army, the Mai Mai and the Red Tabara Burundian rebels 2/9

South Africa has never been one of Saudi Arabia's trade priorities, but energy matters and rare metals seem to have sparked a paradigm shift. @Africa_In_EN unveils Riyadh's plans in South Africa, and the key figures behind them ⬇️ South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made an official trip to Jeddah in October and that same month, a Saudi delegation attended African Energy Chamber boss NJ Ayuk's Africa Energy Week 2/9

[Thread] A phantom $56.5m bank transfer in a mining deal is fuelling paranoia between Ivory Coast and Mali.

@Africa_In_EN investigated the complex political-financial web from Berlin to Bamako via Dubai ⬇️ It all began in August 2021 with a $1bn deal framing investments in Mali's Kankou Moussa Refinery, and the purchase of tonnes of gold by a small German group, RavenFinance. A crucial contract for the junta, fearing an ECOWAS embargo 2/9

In Brazil, Lula da Silva's victory heralds an economic and diplomatic rapprochement between Brasilia and African capitals. For Brazilian bosses, the return of @LulaOficial heralds the resumption of the African campaign that was halted in 2016. We break it down here ⬇️ To rebuild a special relationship between Africa and Brazil and to resurrect the Africa department of his foreign ministry, dismantled by #Bolsonaro, Lula has surrounded himself with experts such as former minister Celso Amorim and political scientist Mathias de Alencastro 2/7

A discreet figure in unofficial regional diplomacy, a businessman and a networker, Ben Moctar Maouloud has managed to gain access to West African presidential palaces by mixing political involvement with spiritual influence. Read on to find out more about his intriguing career ⬇️ A humble child from Gao, "Ben" learned the ropes in Bamako, then in Niamey, Ouagadougou and Tripoli. In the 1990s, Mustapha Liman Chafi took him in and introduced him to the world of unofficial diplomacy, where secret services, traffickers, politicians and rebels intermingle 2/7

[Thread] In Ethiopia's vast region of Oromia, PM Abiy Ahmed Ali's forces are clashing with the rebel forces of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). In this week's investigation we take an in-depth look at this conflict, which has already spanned several years. ⬇️ When Abiy Ahmed Ali came to power in 2018, he offered an amnesty to Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) fighters. Some fighters joined the regime's security apparatus while others refused the amnesty. An armed wing, the OLA, subsequently split off and went back into hiding. 2/6

[Thread] Who is Igor Morozov, the man Putin has put in charge of facilitating Russian companies' access to African markets? How does AFROCOM, the body promoting Russian business interests in Africa that Morozov chairs, operate? Find out more in this week's investigative report🧵 Igor Morozov is known by every African ambassador in Moscow. The discreet senator and ex-FSB colonel has been AFROCOM's head since 2020. In his role, he makes ready use of his contacts in the intelligence services. Meanwhile, he is also making regular trips to Africa 2/9

[THREAD] #Nigeria: Long considered enemy number one of the Nigerian federal government, Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, has just been awarded several security contracts along the Niger Delta. Rather than fight him Buhari has resigned to work with him. 🧵 1/7 Oil theft in Nigeria's Niger Delta region has become rampant. President Muhammadu Buhari is offering contracts to the powerful leaders of armed local political groups in the hopes of being able to use their influence to the advantage of his party in the 2023 elections. 2/7

🧵 Africa Intelligence can reveal that Kigali and Cotonou have entered the final phase of negotiations for the deployment of several hundred Rwandan soldiers to northern Benin, a part of the Sahel region that has been seeing a spike in jihadist activity. 1/6 The talks between the two governments have been held in the utmost secrecy. The premises of the agreement were laid when Benin's influential foreign minister Aurélien Agbénonci visited Kigali in March. 2/6

[THREAD] Ever since Félix Tshisekedi took power, Washington had hoped he would curb #China's huge influence in the country. Four years later, the United States is bitterly disappointed… 1/6 In March 2022, Amos Hochstein, an adviser to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, arrived in Lubumbashi. The mining city, which looks like a quaint rural town, is one of the places where cobalt, copper and a part of the world's energy future are traded. 2/7

#Senegal #IvoryCoast: hit by the tourism crisis, French travel operator Club Med has abandoned a handful of its 'holiday villages' on the continent. Africa Intelligence investigated the attempts to revive these abandoned sites 1/6 In Senegal, the group headed by Henri Giscard d'Estaing, son of the former French president, sold its tourist complex at Pointe des Almadies in 2008 to the Vacap World group, owned by Amadou Loum Diagne 2/6

[THREAD] #DRC: How does Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, targeted by US sanctions, maintain ties with President Felix Tshisekedi? Today, Africa Intelligence reveals the role of a very special middleman at the heart of this reconciliation... 1/6🧵 On 28 July in Kinshasa, when Head of State Félix Tshisekedi launched the bidding process for 27 oil blocks, Gertler was seen with Brams Jacob Moyal. They were together on 8 August during the secret meeting with the Congolese president as revealed by Africa Intelligence. 2/6

In this week's 'in focus' piece, we reveal how Kyiv is going behind Moscow's back to arm itself in Sudan. 1/6 🧵 For months now, the Russian army has been irked at coming across Azerbaijani weapons in the hands of Ukrainian fighters. These weapons have been on an unusual journey. 2/6