Africa

Biden administration takes final steps to counter global corruption and human rights abuses

Announcing a global grab-bag of new sanctions, possibly some of its last, the Biden administration took major steps on December 9 by authorizing new...

Starvation in Sudan

Aid workers have warned that one of the worst famines in decades could be under way in Sudan, a country in the middle of...

IMF pronounces victory over inflation while sounding debt and tariff warnings

The 2024 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) took place in Washington D.C. from October 21...

The European Legion’s Activities in Libya

NATO seems to be seeking to intervene in Libya’s internal affairs and impose its control over the Libyan people’s oil and gas capabilities using...

Global mobilization for mpox emergency begins to take shape

Days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared this summer’s mpox (formerly called monkeypox when discovered in 1958) outbreaks in Africa a global emergency...

U.S. Targets ISIS Facilitation Network across Africa

On July 23, the U.S. Government announced new sanctions against a network of three individuals associated with the expanded activities of the Islamic State...

Genocide Rears its Ugly Head in Sudan’s Brutal War

The UN Security Council has called for a halt to the siege of the city of el-Fasher in the Darfur region, where 1.5 million...

Washington orders new sanctions against Russia’s Wagner Group in Africa

 On May 30, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ordered new sanctions measures to counter Russia’s destabilizing activities in...

EU sharply reduces visa access for Ethiopians

 Citing the lack of Ethiopian cooperation to facilitate repatriation of citizens deported from EU member states, the EU Council announced on April 29 a...

G7 Italy 2024 Foreign Ministers’ Statement on Addressing Global Challenges, Fostering Partnerships

The text of the following statement was released by the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the...

Zimbabwe: U.S. reconfigures sanctions to focus on corruption and human rights

On March 4, three separate U.S. Government Departments/Agencies issued Zimbabwe-specific sanctions guidance, demonstrating how complex and intertwined U.S. sanctions legislation has become and how...

Kremlin disinformation efforts in Africa illuminated

The U.S. State Department released a report detailing Kremlin disinformation activities and operatives in Africa on February 12 entitled “The Kremlin’s Efforts to Spread...

Why Africa must be concerned about nuclear threats in Europe

Russia's threat to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, a close ally of the Kremlin, in response to Finland's membership in NATO has,...

Africa will watch the DRC’s elections with bated interest

2023 and 2024 are going to be busy years as far as elections in Africa are concerned. About two dozen elections will occur in...

Nairobi Declaration calls for global tax on fossil fuel trade, maritime transport, aviation

As the curtains came down at the Africa Climate Summit (ACS23), heads of state and government adopted the Nairobi Declaration, calling on world leaders...

What’s the end game for the military men seizing power in West Africa?

As socio-economic problems and the inefficiency of civilian governments in the region have made recent coups popular, coup makers are eventually going to become...

Private military companies continue to expand in Africa

In the wake of the July 26 coup in Niger, the world’s spotlight has once again turned to the expansion of private military and...

The struggle for environmental justice in Africa

The struggle for environmental justice in Africa is complex and broad. It is the continuation of the fight for the liberation of the continent...

Climate change in Africa real economic, security threat

Climate change, which appears to be advancing around the world, affecting not just physical infrastructure but economies and livelihoods, is also an increasing security...

New programs and recently approved projects from the US’ Development Finance Corporation

The DFC partners with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the developing world today.

France’s policies in Africa diminish its influence; inevitably opening the door to Russia & China

In a recent story titled "How Russia and China are trying to drive France out of Africa", what was not lost on the reader...

Africa’s porous borders promote transnational crimes rather than deeper integration

For positive continental regimes to succeed, there must be both conscious and concerted efforts, as well as political will, from all states to help eliminate transnational crimes while fostering integration across the whole of Africa through trade.

Russia’s war in Ukraine and high fertilizer costs are causing global food crisis

Russia’s war in Ukraine and high gas prices have boosted the cost of fertilizers having a major downstream effect on the global food supply,...

Sudan’s progress towards reform

Sudan's Forces of Freedom and Change, a wide coalition of civilian and rebel parties that opposes military rule in the country, is working with...

Sudan is unlawfully prolonging ex-president Al-Bashir’s trial

The 1989 coup in Sudan, known in the country as the National Salvation Revolution, is still awaiting a final decision from the Sudanese judiciary,...

Mozambique can become a major energy partner for Europe in return for governance & security support

The government of Mozambique recently hosted the 42nd Joint Parliamentary Assembly, a collection of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, along with the EU, as...

Ethiopia’s peace deal is critical for Africa on many levels

Ethiopia is one of the few countries in Africa with the food production potential to help meet the shortfall in the continent’s imports of cereal crops from Ukraine.

COP27 focuses on climate financing for developing nations

The COP27 U.N. climate summit, which kicked off on November 6 in Egypt, may reach a more concrete agreement this year as various climate...

Human rights abuses are becoming commonplace in Sudan

The Sudanese government has introduced some reforms but nothing to improve the existing legal base with regard to compliance with international human rights. 

How Maasai women are resisting land grabs

In Mwanza, Tanzania, Nairukoki Leyian-Naisinyai tells me that here, “Corporations come with papers from the government claiming that they have the right to our...

South Africa is on a knife edge as xenophobia escalates

Xenophobia is a global crisis, but in South Africa, it takes a particularly violent form. The day-to-day accumulation of insult and harassment from within...

Moscow is moving Wagner mercenaries from Syria and Africa to Ukraine

Media reports from around the world have indicated that more than 1,000 mercenaries from Russia's infamous private military company Wagner have been transferred from...

How will the Russian invasion of Ukraine impact Africa?

The first and most tragic impact has been on African students studying in Ukraine, who have been forced to flee the cities overland to...

Cautious optimism for peace in Ethiopia

International mediators hope that with the recent decision by Ethiopia to end the state of emergency in the country, the first green shoots of...

French influence in West Africa is in danger of fragmenting

Anti-French sentiment has been growing relentlessly throughout Francophone Africa where governments have struggled to contain mounting internal security problems from jihadi insurgents. France has...

As the UN Security Council meets, Ghana is pushing back against the scourge of urban warfare

Cast an eye around the globe and you will see that we are at a crossroads in the containment of urban warfare.  From the rubbled...

Burkina Faso coup raises serious questions about Islamic militants, the waning influence of France and Russia’s increased presence in West Africa

The military takeover in Burkina Faso on January 24 is the fourth coup in West Africa in the last 17 months. The removal of...

EU-Africa to tackle climate change, energy, infrastructure challenges

Ahead of the EU-African Union summit, European Council President Charles Michel participated via video link in a debate on climate and energy in the...

TotalEnergies joins Masdar and Siemens Energy to develop green hydrogen

Dubai-based renewable energy major Masdar announced on January 19 that TotalEnergies is adding its expertise in the energy sector to a Masdar-led initiative focused...

The case for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia

Civil war has been raging in Ethiopia for over a year now, between the National Defence Forces of the Ethiopian Government, and rebel militia...

Protests against the UN escalate in the Central African Republic

The mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA in the Central African Republic ends on 15 November so it is appropriate to evaluate its...

US, UK and Europe launch ‘Just Energy Transition’ partnership with South Africa

The governments of South Africa, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, along with the European Union, announced on November...

The need for trilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific

A coercive China and a nuclear North Korea are peripherally affecting the U.S.’ security interests in the Indo-Pacific.  With increasingly well-developed power derived from...

EU-US mobilise further support for Global Methane Pledge

Ahead of the UN climate summit in Glasgow, European Union Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, who leads the EU's international negotiations on climate, and Special...

Conflict is spreading across the African continent

Many African countries are run by dictatorships, but their grasp on power is increasingly unstable. Mali has seen at least 2 changes of power...

Enough of the Durban depravity

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the so-called “World Conference Against Racism”, otherwise known as Durban I. The 2001 conference was to be...

As UN issues stark climate warning, wildfires spread across Med region

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a stark warning, noting that Climate change is widespread, rapid and intensifying. The report,...

Italy’s ENI starts production of the Cuica field offshore Angola

Italian energy major ENI said on August 13 the company started production of the Cuica Field, in Block 15/06 of the Angolan deep offshore,...

France has a generals problem: Why there’s a fray in civilian-military relations

The sensitive question of civilian control of the armed forces is one which Western democracies like the United States and France must continue to...

Italy’s ENI and Kenya’s government to promote decarbonization

Italian energy major ENI and Kenya’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mining signed on July 21 a Memorandum of Understanding to promote the decarbonization process...

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