Michel Djotodia, president of the Central African Republic since April 2013, is a throwback to the old school of military dictators. There was a time, not all that long ago, when he would not have seemed unusual. Huge tracts of Africa, Central and South America, Central and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe were governed by similar creatures, who wore khaki to work and regarded the state as a department of the army rather than the other way around.

“Military clothes used to be a symbol of authority,” says Italian journalist Riccardo Orizio, whose book Talk of the Devil chronicles his encounters with fallen tyrants. “Uniforms were worn even by people who hadn’t been in the military. Now, it’s the opposite: even military leaders dress like civilians.” Djotodia (a civilian who dresses like a military leader) is the latest in a long run of rebels turned military dictators to run one of Africa’s poorest countries. A former civil servant and diplomat (and, for a long period in the 1970s, a resident of the Soviet Union), Djotodia moved into the presidential palace in Bangui earlier this year after his Seleka movement ousted François Bozizé.

The burgeoning trade relationship between Turkey and Egypt is expected to grow despite the political problems in both countries. Trade volume reached €4bn last year and Ankara and Cairo are pinning their hopes for a further increase on improved transport links. The most important deal centres around the roll-on/roll-off shipping services – known as Ro-Ro – that link the Turkish Mediterranean port of Iskenderun to a number of Egyptian ports.

Since its launch in April last year, Ro-Ro has accounted for 90 per cent of the trade between Egypt and Turkey and is now believed to be far safer than travelling over land through Syria.

How do you elevate an anonymous currency like Kenya’s shilling? The answer, according to Kenya-based design agency Ark, is to give it an identity, in the form of a simple but elegant symbol. Think the iconic British “£” or the ubiquitous US “$”. The symbol (pictured) is intended to replace the clunky KSh and KES. “When something has a symbol it inspires confidence,” explains Fady Rostom, one of Ark’s three founding partners. He hopes Kenya’s central bank might take it on.

Type: Presidential
Date: 7 September
Candidates: Incumbent president Mohammed Waheed Hassan arrived in the job in murky circumstances in February 2012, when he took over from Mohamed Nasheed – at gunpoint, claimed the latter. Nasheed intends to stand for his old job.
Issues: The election itself is the biggest issue. The Maldives only held its first open presidential election in 2008 and needs to decide whether it wants to be a proper democracy.