Déjà vu in Baku?

Good afternoon 👋🏾

African delegates have made the pilgrimage to Baku, Azerbaijan, for another COP led by another authoritarian petrostate intent on instrumentalising the UN climate change conference for its own ends – including hawking fossil fuel projects. While COP28 opened strongly, with the Emiratis marshalling the endorsement of a plan to launch a loss and damage fund, the Azerbaijani presidency went one further in forcing the adoption of an international carbon market agreement. The hosts put noses out of joint by using day one of the summit to endorse technical standards drawn up by a supervisory body tasked with operationalising Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement mechanism, rather than allowing delegates to debate them. The new standards align with existing mechanisms under the independent voluntary carbon market, but should enable more robust provisions around governance and methodology, as well as a registry system. This could pave the way for a UN-backed carbon market to commence operations as soon as next year, boosting carbon finance flows to Africa. In the meantime, however, potential beneficiaries fear that US President-elect Donald Trump will again pull America out of the 2015 Paris Agreement – or even withdraw from its parent treaty, the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – undermining the entire process.

Yours, as the climate crisis deepens,

AP editorial team

📈 60

Mauritius saw legislative turnover, as the Alliance du Changement (AdC) won 60 of the 64 seats in parliament, reducing the former ruling party, Alliance Lepep, to merely two seats, down from 42. General elections saw Pravind Jugnauth ousted as prime minister, barely a month after he secured sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, with his predecessor, Navin Ramgoolam, returning to office for a fourth term.

🇪🇹 Tigray tensions

In northern Ethiopia, a factional dispute within the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) is intensifying, with national implications. Getachew Reda, leader of the Tigray Interim Administration, has accused a TPLF faction led by Debretsion Gebremichael of undermining the regional government to force power-sharing talks between the two party factions. Debretsion is the disputed leader of the TPLF, following a controversial party congress. He holds reservations over the 2022 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) and is looking to restore the TPLF’s pre-conflict status on the national stage. However, Getachew has the endorsement of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as the region’s legitimate leader, in line with his backing for the CoHA. These divisions risk distracting from the already protracted reconstruction and resettlement of Tigray two years after the end of the civil conflict.

🇲🇱 Gold rush

Authorities in Mali have detained the CEO and two other employees of the Australian gold producer Resolute Mining as part of an ongoing effort to retroactively apply the provisions of a new mining code to existing projects. The new code requires a 35% stake for state and local private investors, up from the previous 20%, and led to a similar conflict with industry leader Barrick Gold, which operates the Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex. That dispute also saw authorities arrest four executives from Barrick over alleged taxes and fines amounting to USD 500 million. The incidents are illustrative of the junta’s increasingly aggressive approach to resource nationalism which bolsters the narrative that it is defending Malian interests against neo-colonial and Western exploitation – a key rhetoric underwriting its authority. This tactic likely compensates for the erosion of one of its other main sources of legitimacy, which was to improve the security situation, following recent attacks in Bamako and other military setbacks in the north.

🇬🇦 Constitutional quirk

Campaigning for Gabon’s constitutional referendum is reaching a crescendo ahead of the vote on Saturday, as the transitional government looks to enact a key step in the return to civilian rule. The draft constitution proposes a shift from a semi-presidential system to a presidential system - eliminating the post of prime minister, and concentrating power in the head of state. The president will be elected for a seven-year term, renewable once, starting with polls in August 2025. A notable point of emphasis in the dialogue surrounding the draft constitution was restricting the participation of allies of the deposed Bongo dynasty, including a bar on members of the Gabonese Democratic Party from taking part in elections for the next three years. This contrasts with clarity from the outset that members of the transitional government, including Interim President General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, would be eligible to participate in future elections.

🇲🇿 Post-poll protests

Mozambique has been rocked by further deadly protests, spurred by opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane’s calls to action over last month’s disputed election. The authorities imposed a mobile internet blackout in an attempt to undermine demonstrators' ability to coordinate. Videos circulated of the riot police, Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR), deploying tear gas, and shooting rubber bullets and live ammunition at crowds, while armed men in plain clothes patrolled the streets of Maputo. Rather than lower the political temperature, ruling party Frelimo has sought to deflect blame, accusing the opposition of orchestrating “an attempted coup d’état”. Foreign minister Verónica Macamo characterised the protesters as vandals, while Frelimo spokesperson Alcinda de Abreu claimed that civil unrest amounted to an “assault” on a democratically elected government. Meanwhile, the government has had to contend with the closure of the Ressano Garcia-Lebombo border crossing with South Africa, through which Mozambique imports the bulk of its food; as well as disruption at the Port of Maputo, which serves as a major ferrochrome export hub. While president-elect Daniel Chapo has been silent, outgoing head of state Filipe Nyusi appears to be stalling, stating that he must wait for the validation of election results by the Constitutional Council before he can engage the opposition.

🗓️Assessing the Impact of the AfCFTA

African Business is hosting a virtual event, Spotlight on African Trade: Assessing the Impact of the AfCFTA, on 14 November. The webinar will include a panel discussion examining the effects of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement on businesses across the continent. It will also explore its future implications for Africa’s global trade relationships, particularly in light of potential changes in global trading patterns as Donald Trump returns to the US Presidency.

🔑 CIPE Creative Industries Fellowship

The Accountability Lab has opened applications for the CIPE Creative Industries Fellowship, seeking innovative creatives from Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The fellowship consists of monthly virtual learning and peer engagement sessions aimed at developing skills across institutional strengthening, advanced project management, and communications and strategic engagement.

📚 The Death of Vivek Oji – Akwaeke Emezi

The Death of Vivek Oji centres on a Nigerian family mourning the death of their son and explores the complexities around grief, identity and self-discovery. The story offers varying perspectives around Vivek Oji’s demise, at times proving a metaphor for the cost and courage it takes to live authentically. 

🎹Fantastic Man – William Onyeabor

At a time when our readers may be in need of cheering up, we have reached for an uplifting track by Nigerian funk maestro William Onyeabor. An enigmatic figure, Onyeabor’s innovative spirit and technical genius enabled him to create a unique sound at his studio in Enugu. Onyeabor stormed onto the Nigerian music scene with Crashes in Love in 1977, before finding success with Atomic Bomb the following year; but it was the synth-laden “Fantastic Man”, taken from Tomorrow, which would later make him an icon. Alas, Onyeabor later disavowed his music, which lives on thanks to Luaka Bop, a record label founded by David Byrne, the frontman of Talking Heads.

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