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The United Arab Emirates has often played a role in the illicit Congolese gold trade. A 2014 report by Partnership Africa Canada (Impact) noted that the number of individuals responsible for exporting illicit gold from Democratic Republic of Congo to Dubai was small.

Amid rising concerns about mining governance across sub-Saharan Africa – underlined by a new US advisory warning of ‘unique business risk’ – a contract awarding well-connected UAE company Primera Group the right to export and process much of Democratic Republic of Congo’s artisanal gold has attracted scrutiny and criticism within and well beyond DRC, writes Eleanor Gillespie.

As responsibility for marshalling the global response to climate change passes from COP27 host Egypt to the UAE, Gulf players are assuming a growing role in developing electricity supply schemes across Africa. Cairo-based Infinity Power has used support from Abu Dhabi and multilateral institutions to commission gigawatts of new capacity and expand into transmission and green hydrogen projects, while other schemes have attracted actors from Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, write John Hamilton and Marc Howard*.

Ghanian independent Springfield E&P has secured a loan from Cairo-based multilateral the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to fund developments in the deep-water West Cape Three Points Block 2 (WCTP 2). The securing of development finance comes as a long-running dispute with Italian major Eni continues in the courts.

Veteran Beninois oil magnate Samuel Dossou-Aworet has increased his stake in London Stock Exchange (LSE)- and Ghana Stock Exchange-listed independent Tullow Oil, according to bourse filings – underlining the 78 year-old Dossou’s determination to continue playing a key (if discreet) role in a company he has long held an interest in.

London AIM-listed Sound Energy has secured a provisional deal for Calvalley Petroleum to take a 40% stake and provide funding for its two-phase onshore Tendrara gas project. Sound has also lined up a debt financing package for Tendrara phase 2, led by Casablanca-based Attijariwafa bank.

A novel debt restructuring deal between Zambia and its bilateral creditors should pave the way for Lusaka to finally receive new assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and, in time, move beyond its debt defaulting status with credit ratings agencies. The deal could help to relieve pressure on debt-stressed state utility Zesco but, as so often, the devil resides in the detail and some significant elements have yet to be put in place, including a critical agreement with private creditors that could involve further tough negotiations with Beijing.

The government and state distributor Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) say a dispute over debts of some $1.6bn owed to the country’s independent power producers (IPPs) has been settled; the Independent Power Generators, Ghana (IPGG) group seems to have grudgingly agreed. But the devil is in the detail, and many of the finer elements have yet to be finalised.

Control over African mineral reserves means governments now hold a lot of the cards in negotiating with corporations and political leaders, during a period of rising global demand and shifting power balances. Industry players now argue that more equitable partnerships may finally be on the table.

French developer Africa REN has secured a syndicated loan of up to €32m ($35m) for its Walo battery energy storage project in Bokhol, in the Saint-Louis region.

Actis has been selected as preferred bidder for what will be Egypt’s first power sector privatisation. The deal has yet to be formally announced but an industry source confirmed to African Energy that Actis was the successful bidder for a trio of wind plants built in the Gulf of Suez, which are being sold as a single entity.

United Kingdom private equity investor Actis has agreed the sale of BTE Renewables to two French businesses, utility Engie and asset manager Meridiam, for $1bn. The deal covers a portfolio of almost 500MW of solar photvoltaic and wind power capacity in South Africa and Kenya.

With the UAE positioned among a select group of major oil producers who expect to keep supplying global markets as the energy transition unfolds, detractors fear that COP28 has been subverted by hydrocarbons industry lobbying, which they claim will be promoted by the climate conference’s president-designate, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company chief executive Sultan Al-Jaber. But it would prove a historic mistake for critics to under-estimate the multi-faceted Al-Jaber’s arguments and commitments, as the UAE commits billions of dollars to renewable energy development in Africa in moves that will help the politically savvy Emirates to forge a powerful southern alliance at a likely polarised COP28.

After years of delay, the Kenyan government’s lifting of a moratorium on independent power projects has allowed companies and financiers to make progress on three 35MW geothermal projects at Menengai, where local Sosian Energy has reached early commissioning, Globeleq is poised to start construction work and Symbion Power expects to follow later in 2023, writes Jon Marks in Nairobi.

Proparco, the private sector subsidiary of Groupe Agence Française de Développement (AFD), is investing $6m in E3 Capital’s Nairobi-headquartered Low Carbon Economy Fund.