AfricaSource

Obama’s ‘Commercial Diplomacy’ in Africa

By Kelsey Lilley and Stephanie Sparrow

Barack Obama’s historic election as President of the United States in 2008 was the first time an American of African descent had ever held the United States’ highest position. Because of the President’s Kenyan roots, many Africans were particularly excited for what they hoped would be the start of a new era in relations between […]

“Made in Africa”

By Julian Wyss and Erina Iwami

African economies currently face a double threat. First, commodity prices are at their lowest in decades, which has already caused a 16 percent drop in sub-Saharan Africa’s terms of trade (the ratio of export prices to import prices). Second, responding to its own slowing growth, China has scaled back its investment on the continent. As […]

Gambella Attack Exposes Ethnic Tensions between Ethiopia, South Sudan

On Friday, April 15, South Sudanese raiders crossed the border into Ethiopia to attack thirteen villages in the country’s Gambella region. Violence and carnage ensued, and the assailants escaped with 108 women and children and nearly 2,000 stolen cattle, according to Ethiopian government estimates. On Monday, the government announced that the death toll rose to […]

Urban Africa’s Big Chance

By Kelsey Lilley and Stephanie Sparrow

In popular imagination of Africa, the continent is more famous for its savannahs than its skyscrapers. Sub-Saharan Africa’s total urbanized population is just 37 percent, compared to nearly 75 percent of European Union citizens who live in cities. Africa’s rural population has always been larger than its urban population. But that is changing, and in […]

Harnessing Africa’s Demographic Dividend

By Julian Wyss and Erina Iwami

As the global downturn in commodity prices and the decreasing demand and investment from China begin to stymie Africa’s historical drivers of economic growth, one of the continent’s largest potential assets—its workforce—is taking off. Africa’s high fertility rates are leading to a demographic shift that will have profound consequences for the region’s long-term economic outlook.

Senegal Consolidates Its Constitutional Democracy

By J. Peter Pham

While a number of African rulers—most notably Joseph Kabila of the rather ironically named Democratic Republic of the Congo whose ham-fisted attempts to prolong his presidency threaten to reignite the continent’s most bloody conflict—have been trying to extend their tenures by all possible means, fair or foul, voters in Senegal were asked in a March […]

Morocco Forges a Singular Path in a Troubled Region

By Youssef Amrani

Since the tumult of the Arab Spring in 2011, the broader Middle East and North Africa region has grappled with instability, internal strife, and an existential struggle against extremist terrorism. The region has descended from the great hope for change into a spiral of fragmentation, insecurity, and fragility, and it continues to face complex emergency […]

3,000 Miles from Paris Climate Talks, Drought Threatens to Overshadow Progress in Ethiopia

World leaders met this week for the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) with an ambitious agenda to tackle warming global temperatures and reduce carbon emissions. At the same time, Ethiopian officials revised their predictions of the number of people affected by the ongoing drought upward by nearly two million. They now estimate that more than 10 […]

Rwanda: Term Limit Controversy Masks Real Issues

By Sam Learner

The decision by Rwanda’s Supreme Court to allow a popular referendum on the lifting of presidential term limits has all but cleared President Paul Kagame’s path to a third term in office. Rwanda’s constitution currently restricts the president to two seven-year terms, the second of which President Kagame began in 2010, but the ruling Rwandan Patriotic […]

Can Guinea’s Election Be Credible?

By J. Peter Pham

For months, I have been warning that Guinea’s young democracy was extraordinarily fragile and might well prove stillborn. Last month, I highlighted the broader significance of next week’s presidential election, noting that its conduct will either consolidate the major advance for democracy in Africa achieved earlier this year when the continent’s most populous country and […]