Bracing For El Niño
East Africa is getting ready for a difficult rainy season as concern grows over a strong El Niño. In Uganda, authorities have warned of heavy rainfall, according to Xinhua. In neighbouring Kenya, people who survived the floods of 2024 fear the same thing will happen again. Africanews reports that Nairobi is still struggling with weak urban planning, building on wetlands and construction in flood-prone areas, all of which leave the city more exposed to flooding.
Those concerns over how the capital is built came up again on the same day. A building collapsed near Nairobi and killed six people, Al Jazeera reported. Five people reportedly survived, and emergency crews kept searching the rubble for anyone still trapped.
Further south, the same weather pattern is bringing heat. In South Africa's Eastern Cape, El Niño temperatures have raised fears of more initiation deaths during the coming season, News24 reports. At the international level, African countries are at COP31 asking for help to adapt. Reuters says urgent calls for climate finance at the summit are getting a slow response. Meanwhile, The Guardian cites a study finding that more than 100 companies and groups linked to fossil fuels are represented at the talks.
Mines, Farms And Fuel
Angola wants a bigger role in the global diamond trade. Its mines ministry is seeking a 10% stake in De Beers as Anglo American plans its exit, according to Reuters and London South East. In East Africa, Tanzania is going the other way with some licence holders. The country plans to cancel seven mining licences, according to IPP Media.
Farm exports had a mixed day. Ethiopia's coffee export earnings rose to $1.16 billion in the first four months of the fiscal year, Frontier Africa Reports reports. In Egypt, wheat production reached 11 million tonnes as farmland grew, according to Milling Middle East & Africa. Morocco is having a harder time. Its tomato yields have fallen by 30% as the ToBRFV virus spreads, Hortidaily reports. Rabat has also temporarily suspended new export licences for tomatoes, onions and potatoes, according to The North Africa Post. In energy, Tunisia's fuel imports jumped while the crude unit at Bizerte was shut, Quantum Commodity Intelligence reports.
Banks Under Digital Strain
The day also showed how exposed African finance is to digital failures. In Kenya, a global Microsoft outage left lenders and insurers, including Equity and StanChart, without email for more than 15 hours. Staff fell back on WhatsApp and phone lines, according to TechCabal, which said the outage showed how heavily these firms rely on one US provider. The same outlet reports that Nigerian banks had a costly October. Sources say a wave of cyberattacks early in the month led to fraud losses that could reach billions of naira in customer funds.
There was also news on building the sector up. Visa signed a memorandum of understanding with Senegal to support the country's digital transformation. Cameroon's regulator, meanwhile, flagged problems with network quality and frequency compliance. TechAfrica News reported both stories.
Politics And The Courts
In Burundi, President Evariste Ndayishimiye has won the backing of 11 opposition parties for his re-election bid next year, Africanews reports. In South Africa, a new witness is due to testify in the corruption trial of former defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who faces 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering. In Uganda, a court stripped Nankwanga of the Bugweri seat and declared a rival the winner, according to New Vision. Kenyan detectives also arrested an Indian national at JKIA over an alleged Ksh172 million gold scam, Citizen Digital reports.
Egypt was busy on the diplomatic front. Its foreign minister discussed the crises in Sudan and Libya with a US adviser. Cairo and the European Union are also pushing for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan, according to the Egyptian Gazette.
