World
African Mediators: Who, What, Where, Why and How
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
The African peace mission on the Russia-Ukraine crisis comprised four presidents: President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, the head of the Mediation Group. The current Chairman of the African Union (AU) and President of the Union of Comoros Azali Assoumani; the President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall and the President of the Republic of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema.
The mission was also expected to include the leaders of Egypt, the Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Egypt was represented by the country’s prime minister, President of the Republic of Uganda Yoweri Museveni was diagnosed with the coronavirus right before the trip, while his Congolese counterpart Denis Sassou Nguesso decided not to take part.
The high-ranking delegation went through Warsaw, Poland and then by train to Kiev and St. Petersburg. In the run-up to his departure, Ramaphosa said that “the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is a grave situation that affects all of us in an interconnected world.”
United Nations Resolutions: More than half of Africa’s 55 states voted in favour of United Nations resolutions condemning the invasion of Ukraine, while most of the rest abstained. Many African states have maintained a non-aligned position, but Washington says these African leaders must necessarily define the “true non-alignment” position.
One distinctive feature is that Africans have different views on the conflict. South Africa and Uganda are seen as leaning towards Russia, while Zambia and Comoros are closer to the West. Egypt, Senegal and Congo-Brazzaville have remained largely neutral.
Ramaphosa’s government has come under growing pressure from the United States because of its alleged support for Russia.
Reasons: The key aim of the African peace mission is primarily to propose “confidence-building measures” in order to facilitate peace between the two countries. It was to seek a peaceful settlement of the conflict, which began on February 22, 2022.
Russia referred to it as a “special military operation” largely directed at “demilitarization” and “denazification” in neighbouring Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet collapse in 1991, both as independent states have, in the first instance, legal claims to their territorial integrity and political sovereignty within international law.
The African delegation had on their agenda to discuss the export of Ukrainian grain and Russian fertilizers. As well-known, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, as well as the sanctions, have had an adverse effect on African economies and livelihoods. But most of the African countries have claimed neutrality in the conflict, and Moscow has long nurtured good political relations with the governments on the African continent.
Russians are currently in a dilemma. They are globetrotting for Soviet-era friends and to avoid isolation. Russians are soliciting support for its illegal invasion of Ukraine. This is different from the emerging multipolar world. A multipolar world must have relative peace and be more integrative, but Russia has partitioned the world.
Background: Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that he was still open to any contacts to discuss possible scenarios for and taking a resolution of the Ukraine conflict. Russia is open to negotiations. We know that Moscow has already annexed four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine and the Crimea peninsula, which it seized in 2014.
Ukraine wants to protect its territory from illegal encroachment. It clearly says its peace plan, which envisages the withdrawal of Russian troops from all Ukrainian land, must be the basis for any war settlement.
What documents say: The peace mission could propose a series of “confidence-building measures” during initial efforts at mediation, according to a draft framework document. The document states that the mission’s objective is “to promote the importance of peace and to encourage the parties to agree to a diplomacy-led process of negotiations”.
According to a framework document, those measures could include a Russian troop pull-back, removal of tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of implementation of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting Putin, and sanctions relief, it indicated.
The document stated that a cessation of hostilities agreement could follow and would need to be accompanied by negotiations between Russia and the West. Kyiv says its plan, which envisages the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian land, must be the basis for any settlement of the war.
How it started: The main organizer of this peace mission is the non-profit Brazzaville Foundation based in Britain. Jean-Yves Ollivier has described the mission’s goals as modest.
He said the aim was to start talking rather than to resolve the conflict, to begin a dialogue on issues that do not directly affect the military situation and build from there.
The other is to try and find solutions to issues that matter to Africa, like grain and fertilizer. Ollivier expected African leaders to persuade the Russians to extend the fragile agreement that allows Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea.
Ollivier heads a UK-based organization known as the Brazzaville Foundation, which focuses primarily on African peace and development initiatives.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria regained its position as Africa’s leading destination for equity startup investment in the first half of 2026, raising $214 million in equity financing and a total of $254 million across equity and debt, according to the latest Africa: The Big Deal report.
The report, titled H1 2026: Mapping the Money, showed that Nigeria ranked second on the continent in total funding, behind Egypt, which attracted $327 million, while Kenya and South Africa followed with $126 million and $83 million, respectively.
However, the report noted that Egypt’s top position was largely driven by a single fundraising by electric mobility company Spiro, which secured $327 million, including $270 million in equity and $57 million in debt. Excluding debt financing, Nigeria emerged as Africa’s largest equity funding market in the first six months of the year.
According to the breakdown by Africa: The Big Deal, Nigeria’s equity funding of $214 million was higher than Egypt’s $183 million, while South Africa and Kenya attracted $66 million and $46 million, respectively.
Beyond funding value, Nigeria also led the continent in the number of startups that raised at least $100,000 during the review period, reclaiming the top spot after what the report described as an “underwhelming” second half of 2025.
The publication observed that Nigeria’s fundraising performance has remained relatively stable over the past few years and exceeded the $250 million mark for the first time since 2022, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s startup ecosystem.
It also found that while the Big Four startup markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—continued to dominate Africa’s investment landscape, their combined share of total funding stood at 58 per cent in the first half of 2026.
“Zooming back on the Big Four (110 out of 190 $100k+ deals, i.e. 58%), Nigeria is head and shoulders above its peers, with Egypt and Kenya almost tying, and South Africa in fourth position again,” the report noted.
The report highlighted contrasting performances among the continent’s largest startup ecosystems. While Nigeria and Egypt maintained strong funding momentum, Kenya recorded its weakest funding performance since early 2021 after a strong second half of 2025, and South Africa failed to attract $100 million in funding during the period despite leading the continent a year earlier.
Africa: The Big Deal also noted a broader shift in investor behaviour, with funding increasingly concentrated in larger transactions while early-stage investments continued to decline. According to the publication, the drop in smaller funding rounds reflects growing concerns about limited capital available for early-stage startups across Africa.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Accessing the US Dollar in the East Africa region has now been made easier with the expansion of the stablecoin settlement infrastructure of SCRYPT.
This development enables banks, payment providers and corporate treasury teams to move value into and out of the continent in real time.
Businesses paying international suppliers frequently have to convert local currency into USD before purchasing stablecoins for settlement, incurring FX conversions and spreads before any payment is made.
But SCRYPT is eliminating this intermediate conversion by enabling direct settlement corridors for local African currencies into stablecoins.
This development allows businesses to move from local currency to stablecoin settlement in a single licensed transaction, without first sourcing rationed bank dollars, as stablecoins are increasingly becoming settlement infrastructure rather than an investment product.
The expansion adds settlement support across four African currencies: the Kenyan shilling (KES), Tanzanian shilling (TZS), Rwandan franc (RWF) and Ugandan shilling (UGX). Each corridor is delivered through the same full-stack infrastructure our clients already use for trading, custody and treasury operations.
Speaking on this, the chief executive of SCRYPT, Norman Wooding, said, “Across Africa, stablecoin adoption is driven by economic need, not speculation.
“Businesses here are not chasing yield; they are trying to pay suppliers and manage treasury without losing margin to a banking system that rations dollars. Licensed, fair-rate dollar access is the clearest proof of what this infrastructure is for.”
Also commenting, the Managing Director of Markets & Trading at SCRYPT, Mr Gabriel Titopoulos, said, “Until now, reaching stablecoins from local African currencies meant buying scarce dollars and incurring several layers of conversion costs.
“SCRYPT removes this friction. Firms and payment providers can now settle straight from local currencies through live corridors, with local partners.”
World
African Graduates Association Promoting Multifaceted Initiatives With Russian Educational Institutions
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
In preparations for the third Russia-Africa Summit, scheduled for late October 2026, Dr Francois Ngan, deputy chairman of the Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities, during an official working visit, has held a consultative meeting with Professor Vladimir Filippov, the President of the Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship (RUDN), and former Minister of Higher Education of Russia, Chairman of the National Commission for Accreditation of Higher Education.
RUDN is an educational institution established in 1960, primarily to provide higher education to Third World students. It has now become a popular multidisciplinary spot for many students, especially from developing countries. The university offers various academic programmes and has research infrastructure that comprises laboratories and interdisciplinary centres. The university is named after the former Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba.
Dr Francois Ngan and Professor Filippov discussed the importance of the Graduates Association as a continental platform dedicated to strengthening unity, cooperation, and promoting shared progress among African graduates who studied in the former Soviet Union and in the Russian Federation. They also reviewed multifaceted initiatives that could bring together alumni associations from across Africa, whose members obtained education and professional training, and cultural experiences in Soviet and Russian institutions of higher learning.
Professor Filippov expressed optimism in addressing emerging challenges as a result of shifting geopolitical changes, emphasised strategic cooperation in the educational sphere with Africa, in general, and with the Republic of Cameroon, in particular, and further about the integration of African students during their studies in the Russian Federation.
The meeting also touched on academic and scientific work, the possibility of rewriting a scientific thesis, and the official organisation of transferring versions translated into six languages for the library of RUDN. Significant questions relating to Russia’s educational opportunities, collaborations and partnerships involving African countries were thoroughly discussed.
The Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities was created under one continental umbrella to promote friendship, for professional networking, to engage in cultural exchange, and with particular emphasis on forging strategic cooperation between Africa and Russia.
