| Welcome to Next Africa, a twice-weekly newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it's headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. Bolstered by regional proxies, Horn of Africa nations are back to saber-rattling. The risk of renewed conflict in the region has increased since Jan. 1 when Ethiopia struck a deal to secure direct passage to the Indian Ocean via Somaliland. The semi-autonomous region said Addis Ababa offered to become the first government in Africa to recognize its claim to sovereignty. Egypt and Eritrea immediately came out on Somalia's side.  Somalis protest in Mogadishu against the agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland. Photographer: Abdishukri Haybe/AFP/Getty Images Cairo signed a security pact with Somalia and this week sent two aircraft laden with weapons and ammunition to Mogadishu, the first such delivery of Egyptian military hardware to the East African nation in decades. Ethiopia responded with a warning: "Forces trying to inflame tension for their short-term and futile objectives must shoulder the grave ramifications." The saga rips off the bandage on the still-simmering clash over Ethiopia's construction of a massive dam on a Nile tributary that may disrupt water flows to Egypt and Sudan. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hasn't been afraid to raise the temperatures, demanding that his country be given access to the coast — something it lost three decades ago when Eritrea gained independence after a civil war. Western officials fear all the strands and posturing will come to boiling point in coming months. The distraction of an American election may be seen as a window to act without a Washington response. Also, an African Union military force battling the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab in Somalia will come to an end. Somalia has demanded that Ethiopian troops be excluded from a new peacekeeping mission and has threatened to block planes from its neighbor's airline from flying into its territory over the Somaliland spat. With Sudan already torn apart by conflict, the region can hardly afford the war of words in the Horn of Africa to escalate. — Simon Marks Key stories and opinion:
Egypt Delivers Arms to Somalia Amid Rising Regional Tensions
Somaliland Rebuffs Turkey's Bid to End Somalia-Ethiopia Rift
Why Ethiopia's Red Sea Access Bid Angers Somalia: QuickTake
Egypt Stresses Right to Defend Interests as Nile Dam Talks Fail
Somalia Threatens to Suspend Ethiopian Airlines Flights You can follow Bloomberg's reporting on Africa on WhatsApp. Sign up here. Children account for over 80% of mpox deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, yet the first vaccines to arrive in the country won't be given to the youngest and most vulnerable patients. A new shot from Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic is set to arrive in Congo next week, but is notably absent from the government's pediatric vaccination plan, according to public health officials and aid agencies.  Janice Kew joins Jennifer Zabasajja to give the latest on the response to the mpox outbreak and what's happening with vaccines. Here is a roundup of Bloomberg's latest reporting on the disease:
Mpox Vaccine Plan to Tap Africa Partners for Output, Biovac Says
Fitch Sees Mpox Hitting Africa's Economic Activity And Finances
Understanding Mpox and How Outbreaks Spread: QuickTake
WHO Nominates Tanzania's Ndugulile as Next Director for Africa
Mpox Vaccines to Start Arriving in Congo Sunday, Africa CDC Says  WATCH: Biovac CEO is interviewed by Jennifer Zabasajja on Bloomberg TV. Naspers, Africa's largest company by market value, expects e-commerce and other digital platforms to inject more than $5 billion into the South African economy by 2035. That could create as many as 340,000 jobs. Naspers owns Takealot, South Africa's top online retailer, and has been expanding its services to include one-hour delivery for items ranging from phone chargers to toys to help it better compete with Amazon.com. A senior US State Department official reassured African governments that an initiative to develop infrastructure on the continent will continue even after a change in administration. The flagship of the plan — a railway project known as the Lobito corridor that connects copper and cobalt mines in Congo to an Angolan port and upgrades lines damaged during conflict — is already far advanced. The Biden administration has championed the Lobito project as part of a Group of Seven infrastructure plan.  Wagons derailed during Angola's civil war lie next to rail tracks in Moxico province, Angola. Photographer: Zinyange Auntony/Bloomberg Boeing's delays in fulfilling orders has forced Africa's biggest carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, to lease aircraft to stay on track with its expansion. The Addis Ababa-based company has waited since April to receive 737 Max jetliners and 777 freight carriers, Chief Executive Officer Mesfin Tasew Bekele said in an interview. Several airlines have warned that Boeing's delays are taking a toll on operations and finances. The planemaker hasn't provided a revised schedule for the deliveries, he said. Zambia plans to set up an investment company that will control at least 30% of critical minerals production from future mines. The move seeks to allow the nation to maximize the benefits from its deposits of minerals key to the energy transition, such as copper, cobalt, graphite and lithium. The government also intends to make investors allocate at least 35% of their procurement budgets to local suppliers.  Workers underground at a mine in Mufulira, Zambia, in May 2022. Photographer: Zinyange Auntony/Bloomberg The US has agreed to help build Ghana's first small modular reactor project in a push to promote nuclear technology as a cleaner energy option for African countries. America has championed atomic technology for the continent's power transition, touting reactors that it says can help cut emissions, while adding flexible generation capacity more quickly than larger plants. Next Africa Quiz — A new cabinet minister from which African nation says the government is struggling to quantify how much property it owns and what it's used for? Send your answers gbell16@bloomberg.net. Data Watch - Zambia's annual inflation rate rose to a 32-month high in August as an El Niño-induced drought continued to wreak havoc on food prices.
- The end to regular power outages in South Africa may lead to an upward revision to economic-growth forecasts and help in the fight against inflation, the nation's central bank said. South Africa has recorded 155 days of sustained electricity supply.
Coming Up - Sept. 2 Nigeria PMI report for August, South Africa manufacturing PMI and new-vehicle sales for August
- Sept. 3 South Africa second-quarter GDP data
- Sept. 4 August PMIs for Mozambique, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana, South Africa third-quarter business confidence
- Sept. 5 South Africa current-account data for the second quarter
- Sept. 6 Mauritius and Seychelles inflation for August, South Africa reserves and central bank government bond holding, both for August
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