Nobody like a flare up, whether its hemorrhoidal, allergies, or especially a military flare up… but that’s what’s happening in the Middle East. Iran has attacked U.S. sites in neighboring Kuwait and Bahrain, after the U.S. struck Iranian facilities. So are we at war still? Or is this still a cease-fire (middle east style)?

On a lighter note, nine, yep (9) African nations have advanced to the knockout stage at the World Cup, South Africa was sent packing by Canada real quick, so now there are only eight. This is historic, and honestly the main reason I am watching the matches (since I have no dog in this fight) is to route for Cape Verde.

The conversation surrounding Artificial Intelligence across Africa’s primary tech hubs has shifted from the adoption phase and entered a fierce battle for data sovereignty. Following high-level meetings in Tangier, Morocco, stakeholders from Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Ghana are teaming up to challenge foreign tech monopolies.

As American and Chinese tech conglomerates “scramble” around the continent to build out proprietary data centers, cloud networks, and algorithmic strategies, African states are realizing they risk losing complete control over the fundamental digital infrastructure their economies depend on.

Ghana has even officially designated AI infrastructure as a "sovereign capability," (whatever that means) leading a 49-country coalition backing the Africa Declaration on Artificial Intelligence. The new policy requires foreign data center operators to build localized capacity and grant domestic governments co-ownership of foundational code.

Will this work? Is it already too late?

China Just Named Africa's First Renminbi Clearing Bank. It Covers 19 Countries and Is a Continental First.

On June 26, CNBC Africa confirmed that China's People's Bank of China authorized Standard Bank (South Africa) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to jointly operate as the "Renminbi Clearing Bank of Africa": the first RMB clearing bank ever named after an entire continent, and the first to be jointly operated by two commercial banks.

What this means in basic terms: African businesses in 19 countries can now settle trade with China directly in yuan (renminbi) instead of converting through US dollars.

Previously, a Nigerian manufacturer paying a Chinese supplier would typically transact in dollars, incurring conversion costs, facing dollar availability constraints, and relying on a correspondent banking relationship that often ran through New York or London - see wahala.

BusinessDay Nigeria explains that direct RMB clearing status gives African firms access to China's onshore financial system, including capital markets and liquidity infrastructure, for the first time.

Context matters here. China has been Africa's largest trading partner for over a decade. China-Africa trade rose nearly 18% last year, and Beijing removed all tariffs on imports from 53 African nations on May 1, 2026.

Most of that trade is still invoiced in dollars, which means conversion costs, dollar availability risk, and geopolitical exposure. This clearing bank is Beijing's answer to that. It does not make the renminbi freely convertible (China maintains capital controls), and it does not replace the dollar overnight.

But for the 35% of African businesses that now prefer Asian trading partners (up from 24% in 2024, per Standard Bank's own research), it reduces friction in the most important commercial relationship on the continent. Standard Bank was already the first African bank admitted to CIPS, China's SWIFT alternative, in November 2025, clearing $500 million in its first four months. This is the next step.

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