The African Union (AU) will reopen its liaison office in Port Sudan, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) said on Monday, as part of efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan. The PSC met on October 9 to discuss the situation in Sudan, where fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has raged since April 2023…This decision would allow the AU to engage with the Sudanese stakeholders and participate actively in the ongoing efforts to end the war, restore civilian rule, and provide technical support to Sudan…Sudan demanded that the AU lift its suspension of the country’s membership, imposed after the coup of the military component against the civilian transitional government so that it could play a role in efforts to end the war. Egypt, which chairs the PSC, backed Sudan’s request…The PSC urged all stakeholders to cooperate with its ad hoc committee on Sudan, which will hold its first meeting on Oct. 23 in Entebbe, Uganda. (Sudan Tribune)

A $1.5 billion loan that Kenya is discussing with the United Arab Emirates is a commercial one with an 8.25% interest rate and a seven-year tenor, Kenya’s Finance Minister John Mbadi said on Wednesday. In late September a source familiar with the situation told Reuters Kenya’s government was close to agreeing to the loan, aimed at bridging the East African nation’s financing gap. “This loan is cheaper than the Eurobond we borrowed at 10.7%,” Mbadi told a news briefing on Wednesday, referring to a $1.5 billion dollar-denominated bond issued in February to partially buy back a portion of a $2 billion Eurobond that was settled in June. (Reuters)

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi named Major General Hassan Mahmoud Rashad as head of the powerful general intelligence agency on Wednesday, appointing the outgoing chief Abbas Kamel as an adviser to the presidency. The agency has played a leading role under Sisi, handling foreign-policy matters including conflicts in Gaza, Sudan and Libya, as well as domestic-security issues linked to a long-running crackdown on political dissent. Rashad previously served as a deputy to Kamel, and according to two security sources, had taken over management of important files, including warming relations between Egypt and Iran. (Reuters

The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to three economists who have studied why some countries are rich and others poor and have documented that freer, open societies are more likely to prosper. The work by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson “demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity,” the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm…Acemoglu said the research honored by the prize underscores the value of democratic institutions. (AP)