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AfricaSource

Dec 19, 2018

Congo’s election sham

By Pierre Englebert and Georges Kasongo Kalumba

The Congo government’s spurious disqualification of popular opposition candidates and the regime’s increasingly desperate attempts to prevent those remaining from campaigning demonstrate that Kabila not only intends to turn Congo’s elections into a sham.

Africa Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Dec 10, 2018

Looking for unity in the Sahel

By Matthieu Fernandez

Recognizing the transborder nature of the security, socioeconomic, and environmental challenges facing them – ranging from terrorism to criminal trafficking to a major unemployment crisis – Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad banded together in 2014 to form the Group of Five for the Sahel (G5 Sahel). While Western donor nations celebrated this initiative as a proof of the nations’ mutual commitment to improving the security situation in the region, in reality, the G5 Sahel remains heavily reliant on France and other international donors for funding and operational and logistic capacity, and exercises little decision-making power.

Africa English

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Oct 4, 2018

Notes for understanding African migration

By J. Peter Pham

This article appeared originally in French in the current print edition of the magazine Pouvoirs d’Afrique. This past summer, one could not help but wonder as the leaders of Europe and Africa, in separate meetings, seemed to talk past one another as they sought to deal with what has become one of the most significant—if […]

Africa English

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Aug 27, 2018

China provides Africa opportunity—and risk

By J. Peter Pham

Next week in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping will open the seventh Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the triennial summit gathering of the People’s Republic of China’s top leadership and their counterparts from all the African states except eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Taiwan’s sole remaining diplomatic partner on the continent. Numerous African leaders, the chairperson of the […]

Africa China

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Aug 14, 2018

CAR’s changing security landscape: a catalyst for UN policy change?

By Andrew Carroll

Amid strong pressure from the Trump Administration, the United Nations (UN) voted at the end of June to cut over $600 million from its peacekeeping budget. The majority of these cuts are set to come from key operations in Sub-Saharan Africa, including the UN’s mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), known by its French […]

Africa English

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Aug 13, 2018

After Mali’s runoff, challenges remain

By J. Peter Pham

As the attempts by militants to disrupt the democratic process underscored, the security situation in Mali, especially the sparsely-populated northern expanses of the country, remains precarious.

Africa Elections

AfricaSource

Aug 6, 2018

20 years after the embassy bombings: The long war in Africa

By J. Peter Pham

It has been twenty years since that morning of August 7, 1998, when suicide bombers detonated, almost simultaneously, trucks laden with explosives outside the United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The attacks, the first claimed by al-Qaeda against US targets, left 224 people dead, including a dozen Americans, and around […]

East Africa English

AfricaSource

Jul 30, 2018

Why Mali’s election matters

By J. Peter Pham

While the July 30, 2018, general election in Zimbabwe—the first in almost four decades where longtime ruler Robert Mugabe won’t be on the ballot—has been attracting a great deal more attention, the presidential election in Mali one day earlier matters just as much and, arguably, is even more important to the security and geopolitical interests […]

Africa Elections

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Jul 16, 2018

Below the surface, a game changer in Congolese politics

By Pierre Englebert

“Shikata,” or “remain seated” in Swahili, claim the posters on Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s effigy in the streets of Lubumbashi. But while everyone’s attention is focused on the regime’s contortions to stay in power, despite constitutional impediments to doing so and deep domestic discontent, the 2015 break-up of Congo’s existing provinces has upended politics below […]

Africa Corruption

AfricaSource

Jul 12, 2018

Why Djibouti is the loser of the Horn of Africa’s new peace

By Kelsey Lilley

At the least, this tectonic shift will reduce the revenues available to President Ismail Omar Guelleh, in power since 1999, and undermine his ironclad grip on the country.

East Africa English
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