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Next Africa: Xi’s new world order

Xi Jinping courts Egypt in Global South push ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
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Welcome to Next Africa, a daily newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here. In today’s edition, we look at:

  • Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Egypt in a decade
  • Senegal’s deal with the IMF and its plan to rework debt
  • Angola’s leader revamping the nation’s security establishment

A Balancing Act 

Much has changed in Egypt since Chinese President Xi Jinping last visited a decade ago.

Arriving in Cairo late Tuesday, he set foot in a North African country that’s been on a building spree — and one in which China has played a prominent role.

A new administrative capital has emerged in the desert, its business district home to the continent’s tallest building. On the Red Sea, an expanded Suez Canal economic zone is shaping up as a global trade hub.

Chinese companies have been key contributors, but they aren’t alone. In a multipolar world, Egypt has charted out a course as friend and business partner to nearly all, nurturing alliances that include powers typically at odds with each other.

The Iconic Tower in the new capital in July 2023.
Photographer: Islam Safwat/Bloomberg

Xi’s visit comes as Egypt looks like becoming a new arena in US-China tech competition. Huawei’s planned bid to build AI data centers has spurred Washington to weigh its own offer.

For Beijing, the president’s first Middle East trip since the US and Israel attacked Iran comes as regional powers grow skeptical about US security guarantees, giving what China sees as an opening to deepen economic alliances.

Xi described China and Egypt as “important nations in the Global South” in an Egyptian newspaper, referring to developing countries that Beijing seeks to champion as a counterweight to the US-led world order.

Africa’s third-most populous country has goals too.

Local media has hailed a “new phase” in bilateral ties. Targets might include encouraging more Chinese companies to manufacture goods domestically — including electric vehicles — share technology and use Egypt as a broader export hub, linking into China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

With eyes elsewhere in the Arab world as war rages, “China is stepping up and saying we understand that Egypt is important,” says Mirette Mabrouk, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

A screen on a bridge in Cairo.
Photographer: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

What Everyone’s Reading 

Senegal’s foreign bonds initially tumbled after the government announced a “debt treatment” under the G20’s Common Framework and obtained preliminary backing from the IMF for a $2.2 billion program. The deal marks a breakthrough in monthslong talks on the terms of a new financing program, after the discovery of undisclosed loans led the fund to suspend a previous facility. The plans must still be approved by parliament.

WATCH: Jennifer Zabasajja reports on Senegal’s debt plans on Bloomberg TV. Watch now
WATCH: Jennifer Zabasajja reports on Senegal’s debt plans on Bloomberg TV.

Zambia’s state-controlled mining investor expects to unlock more than $1.8 billion by adopting Ghana’s model for formalizing the small-scale gold industry. ZCCM-IH has already partnered with Mining Mineral Resources to produce and buy bullion from artisanal miners in the North-Western Province, and has a similar business model at Kamunshinshi Mineral Resources in the area.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa asked a high court to overturn a report that forms the basis of impeachment proceedings against him over his handling of a burglary at his game farm. The challenge will determine whether lawmakers proceed with the process after a panel suggested wrongdoing in his handling of the theft of foreign currency hidden in a sofa at his ranch.

Ramaphosa at the reopening of the South African Reserve Bank head office in Pretoria on June 19.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

President João Lourenço overhauled the top ranks of Angola’s security establishment as he enters his final year in office. Lourenço removed 14 senior police officers and 29 generals and admirals from their posts, and reassigned and promoted dozens of others. While he must step down after his second term ends, Lourenço is seeking to retain the leadership of the ruling party.

Continental Reinsurance will become the Botswana Stock Exchange’s first IPO since 2017 as it seeks to raise capital to expand. Africa’s insurance penetration rate, measured by premiums as a share of GDP, is half the global average, according to Swiss Re Institute. Meanwhile, Softbank-backed Opay Digital Services is considering a secondary listing in Nigeria.

Africa Newsmaker

The flyover by two Airlink planes.
Photographer: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images/Getty Images

South African carrier Airlink caused a global safety ruckus with a flyover of Cape Town’s DHL Stadium ahead of a rugby match between the Springboks and the All Blacks of New Zealand that many people considered a bit too close. The airline defended the stunt, saying it was planned and within safety parameters. Flyovers have become tradition at big rugby games in the country since a surprise maneuver at the 1995 World Cup final. South Africa won Saturday’s test.

Last Word

Since countries signed onto the 2015 Paris Agreement, the UN has regularly reported on the world’s progress at limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. A new landmark report brings an end to that era. Since a so-called “overshoot” is virtually guaranteed, the new goal is peak and decline — putting climate change in reverse, ideally by the end of this century. 

Children push plastic water containers in Garissa, Kenya.
Photographer: Bloomberg

We’ll be back in your inbox with another edition tomorrow. Send any feedback to nextafrica@bloomberg.net.

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