Pipe bombs and IEDs have finally ripped apart the West from its African allies. For over a decade, the United States and France have built strategic relationships across the Sahel, pairing counterterror efforts with democratic reform. However, the sheer force of insurgent violence has exposed these partnerships as a failure. Starting in 2020, the conditions […]
Tag: Africa
What the Lobito Corridor Means For The Global Energy Transition – and for Angola
Electric vehicle batteries, turbines, generators, and other major clean energy technologies can find their roots in Africa, which places this continent at the forefront of sustainable transitions. The minerals used to create green energy technologies have an exponentially increasing value for countries across the globe that are seeking a renewable future. Since Africa holds approximately […]
Behind a Veneer of Democracy
What do Ted Cruz, Chinese drones, and Israeli military proxies all have in common? Somaliland. The small breakaway state in northern Somalia has recently been the catalyst for a superpower competition, as Israel became the first country to officially recognize the territory as an independent state. In the United States, government officials such as Ted […]
The Power Outage That’s Breaking a Nation
On 25 September, at dusk, Antananarivo went dark. Mothers lit candles to cook dinner; children did their homework by phone light. By midnight, thousands were in the streets, demanding power — the kind that runs lights and governs nations. Years of neglected infrastructure, mounting debt, and mismanaged fuel supplies had finally caught up with the […]
Might Makes Right: the DRC, Rwanda, and a Shifting World Order
The winding path of international politics has reached a fork of values: enduring liberalism versus an emergent imperialism. Our new path will be chosen in Central Africa, a war-ridden and oft-ignored part of the world, where the Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing a resurgence of violence inflicted by its neighbor Rwanda. In 2012, […]
From Flags to Protests: How Kenya’s Unity Challenges Governance
Tear gas fills the air, crowds chant beneath a sea of fluttering flags, and Nairobi’s streets transform into battlegrounds of resistance. When their government has fueled corruption and promoted ethnic divides, the public employs a unique force in protest: national pride. Unlike the divisive nationalism that fuels xenophobic rhetoric, Kenya’s patriotism demands accountability and change. […]
Echoes of the Earth: A Battle for Sacred Lands
The coast of South Africa’s Eastern Cape, near the Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve, is a picture of calm. Clouds rest on the horizon, and gentle waves turn the sand into a reflection of the blue sky. But this serenity faces a threat—one driven by the demands of a warming climate and an economy rooted in fossil […]
China-West Conflict Making a Move to Africa?
From censoring Winnie the Pooh to attacking ships in the South China Sea with water cannons, China’s anti-Western international agenda has long been centered around political posturing and aggressive ploys for greater regional influence. However, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent actions suggest a new, rather unique, international strategy: spinning a globe and speaking with leaders […]
Controversy Sparks Amid Chinese Military Bases in Africa
In an international world of constant strategic moves, especially when it comes to military assets, there is bound to be conflict between countries. This time, one such conflict happens to be flaring between China and the United States over nothing less than the continent of Africa. A proposed naval base on Africa’s coastline is causing major […]
The Climate Crisis is Worsening Gender Inequality in Education
One in every five children currently not enrolled in school resides in Nigeria. Despite primary education being entirely free and compulsory, over 10.5 million children are currently out of school. Gender plays a significant role in this pattern of educational deprivation. The net attendance rate for young girls in Nigeria is around 47% percent, compared […]
Africa in G20: New Promises for Inclusive Climate Action?
The recent G20 conference, held in India in early September, took an unexpected turn when the African Union (AU), consisting of 55 nations, received an invitation to join the ranks of the world’s most influential economies. As a result, the G20 transformed into the G21, with 19 member nations alongside two political and economic entities […]
Turmoil Before the Storm: Underlying Political Risk in Libya
Derna was a beautiful seaside town, built on the ruins of a Greek colony by Spanish Muslims in the late 15th century. It was home to Libya’s first movie theater, dozens of religious buildings, cafes, and bookstores. It was a town rich with culture and intellectual vitality. But the physical evidence of that is now […]
How Gabon’s Coup Marks the End of an Era for France
On August 30, shortly after President Ali Bongo was reelected for his third term, a group of Gabonese military officers from the presidential unit seized Bongo, his son, and six other individuals and held them prisoner in his palace. The instigators of the coup justified this abduction on account of Bongo and his accomplices allegedly […]
Reworking Rocky Relations: What Burkina Faso’s New Alliances Mean for the Region
Last month, Burkina Faso rocked global news when it announced the termination of its military agreement with France. The ex-colonial European power had been occupying the jihadist-hit West African state since 2014. It has dispersed around 400 special troops in efforts to expand its presence in the Sahel region. Burkina Faso is still combatting an […]
Boko Haram’s Terror Festers Unabated
With close to 100,000 deaths occurring in Nigeria, it’s unsettling that the name “Boko Haram” isn’t dominating headlines. The insurgency group has destabilized and devastated the Eastern Nigerian region, leaving a severe humanitarian crisis in their wake. The militant group has terrorized in the name of a purer Islamic state and to oust the current […]
Queer Nigerians Take on Police Brutality
Initially set to be published in Spring 2021. Those who routinely use Twitter are probably familiar with the massive protests that swept through Nigeria last September. There is also a good chance that this was the only coverage they saw of the event, despite it being the largest protest in all of Africa in 2020. […]
In Sudan, Pro-Democracy Protesters Won’t Compromise Again
As the world was rocked by the tremors of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, people across the globe were awed by reports of thousands of ordinary Russian citizens protesting against their autocratic leader’s war. That they incurred considerable risk in doing so was quickly evident as protestors were arrested and beaten by police officers, and media […]
Where Does “Where the Crawdads Sing” Come From?
——— History of Things ——— Any decent murder mystery should begin with a dead body in the woods. That’s how this one starts. In 1994, park scouts shot a man dead in the empty woodlands of North Luangwa National Park, a Zambian nature preserve about the size of Delaware. Squadrons wielded their rifles at the man and […]
Ethiopia’s Tigray Crisis: Famine, Humanitarian Tragedy and Tribal Politics
The year-long conflict in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray has ushered in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Through it all—killings, looting, sexual violence, and displacement—civilians continue to pay the high price for the descent of the second-most populous country in Africa into ethnopolitical confrontations and mass starvation. In November 2020, tensions […]
Who Calls the Shots?: Vaccine Inequity in Africa
Vaccine scarcity. Vaccine famine. Vaccine apartheid. An indictment on humanity. In whatever colorful language it is couched, the conclusion is the same: Africa is not getting vaccinated, and something needs to be done. Since Africa announced its first confirmed case of COVID-19 in February of last year, the pandemic has broken over the continent in […]
UN Diplomats, Global Leaders Talk Climate in Advance of COP26; Action Lags Behind
The 76th United Nations General Assembly meant to provide resounding motivation to combat climate change. The first return for many world leaders to the assembly hall since before Covid-19 was meant to confront the most substantive issues facing the international community. Tangible climate policy should come out of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of […]
On Thin Rice: Analyzing Trade Policy in Nigeria
Of all disputes between African nations, the rivalry over jollof rice sticks out. Packed with onions, savory spices and pureed tomatoes, jollof rice is hailed by West Africans as a staple dish, sparking heated disputes between Nigerians and Ghanians over who has the better recipe. Beyond its culinary significance, rice in Nigeria is at the […]
Mozambique’s Resource Curse
Just last month, Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi signed a peace accord with Renamo, a former rebel movement, and proclaimed that it would “allow for the long-lasting peace that all Mozambicans have so longed for.” Unfortunately, not long after ending one-armed movement, Mozambique is facing yet another insurgency in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. However, […]
The Country with No Majority: Interethnic Relations in Ethiopia
In a sense, every Ethiopian is a minority in their own country. Ethiopia is roughly 30 percent Oromo, 27 percent Amhara, and 6 percent Tigrayan. While the Oromo are numerically the largest group and the Amhara have historically been culturally dominant, the Tigrayans exercise an outsized influence in both politics and the economy. However, in April 2018, […]
Embracing Nationalism in East Africa
On September 16th outside of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, leaders of the once exiled Oromo Liberation Front gathered. Scores of supporters came to show their support, and they had not forgotten one thing: the other ethnic tribes in the region were the ones that had displaced them. Some of the supporters began attacking non-Oromo people, […]
An Eritrean Exodus
Eritrea is emptying out. Over the last decade, hundreds of thousands of Eritrea’s 4.5 million people have fled the country. This is all the more remarkable considering that Eritrea is not at war. Unlike other migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Eritreans are not fleeing from armed conflict at home, but from their own government. Eritrea is […]
Lost in Transit: Sub-Saharan Migrants in Libya
Kalilu Drammeh, an 18-year-old Gambian Muslim, was not welcome in Libya. His skin color distinguished him from the Libyan population, as well as from the Arab and Berber refugees from elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa. On his journey to the Mediterranean, smugglers singled him out for verbal and physical abuse. In Libya, […]
Lies, Dam Lies, and Statistics
Tension is brewing on the Nile. Ethiopia is building a massive dam on the Blue Nile with the swaggering name of “Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.” Once completed, it will be the largest dam in Africa. Egypt and Sudan are the two downstream countries that could be the most affected by the dam, and they couldn’t […]
The Ghost of Zheng He: China’s Naval Base in Djibouti
Six hundred years after the Ming Dynasty explorer Zheng He landed in Mombasa and brought back a giraffe, China’s trade presence in East Africa is very much alive. In recent years, China has been expanding a web of infrastructure projects across the African continent. Now, China is in the process of constructing a naval base […]
The Third Time’s Not the Charm: Corruption in Somalia’s Election
On February 8th, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was elected President of Somalia, defeating the incumbent Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. This was the culmination of the third election cycle since 2009. In 1991, the central government fell to armed opposition groups. Since then, elections have been held in 2009, 2012, and 2017, although the 2009 election had to […]
A Friendship Gone Astray
The Growing Divide in Chinese-African Relations In December 2015, President Xi Jinping was declaring Zimbabwe to be China’s “all-weather friend.” Less than a year later, President Mugabe of Zimbabwe was accusing the Chinese of undermining his nation’s economy and “taking advantage” of Zimbabwe’s women. This seemingly rapid transition in relations might appear to be unexpected, […]
South Africa: Demographics and the One-Party State
A voter shows her inked thumb after voting in South Africa’s municipal elections For the party that led South Africa out of Apartheid, a monopoly on the future of South Africa has long been assured — that is, until last August. Taking home only 53.9% of the vote in the municipal elections, the African National […]
The Decline of Mugabe and the Political Surge in Zimbabwe: What is to be, or not to be in the post-Mugabe era?
After years of authoritarian rule in Zimbabwe, it looks as though the tide is set to change. Political tension in Zimbabwe was demonstrated in a recent ten-hour long meeting of the country’s ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF). Several party members were either suspended or expelled without being given a chance to argue […]
Your Smartphone Might be Powered by the Backs of Children
While many await the arrival of the coveted iPhone 7, questions surrounding the device’s specifications, headphone jack, and storage size are rampant in the mainstream media. We eagerly await these technological advances, but we don’t often think about the indirect ramifications these technologies have that worsen the lives of others. Most of us are familiar […]
Ebola Ethics
Sporadically emerging from its natural reservoirs, the Ebola virus has recently captured global attention. Looming over West Africa, the Ebola pandemic has been transmitted and transported over national boundaries, now finding itself on U.S. soil. But the Ebola virus is not new; this disease was first noted in Zaire, the predecessor of the Democratic Republic […]
The Remarkable Rise of Mozambique
Since the 1990s, Africa has emerged as a region defined by rapid political and economic transformation. By establishing accountable, democratic governments and instituting new economic policies with limited barriers to trade and foreign investment, many of these emerging African nations are showing signs of profound growth and improvement in their standard of living. These developments […]