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Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, left, greets Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore upon his arrival at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Sept. 23, 2013. The two leaders will meet to discuss security issues of mutual importance. DoD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo.

AfricaSource

Aug 1, 2014

Burkina Faso “punches above its weight”

By J. Peter Pham

Although scores of African heads of state and government who will be arriving in Washington in coming days for the historic US-Africa Leaders Summit, media attention will likely focus on only a handful of leaders either because of the economic heft of their countries or because of the controversies surrounding them. This is regrettable since, […]

Africa North & West Africa
Senegalese soldiers participate in a training exercise. An end to the Casamance conflict presents an opportunity for Senegal to redirect military resources to peacekeeping operations throughout West Africa. US Marine Corps/Elsa Portillo

AfricaSource

Jul 9, 2014

Senegal: An End to One of Africa’s Longest Civil Conflicts?

By David Seyferth

On April 30, the leader of Senegal’s main separatist rebel group, the Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de Casamance (MFDC,) agreed to a ceasefire and peace talks to end one of Africa’s longest-running civil conflicts, which has sputtered off and on in the country’s southern Casamance region for the last thirty-two years. The separatist movement poses […]

North & West Africa

AfricaSource

Jun 23, 2014

EAC Railway: A Microcosm of China’s Foreign Policy towards Africa

By Kevin Gilmartin

On May 11 China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang formally signed a deal with a number of East African leaders for the Export Import Bank of China to finance the first stage of a modern railway network that would connect the major cities of the East African Community (EAC)—Bujumbura, Juba, Kampala, Nairobi and Kigali—with the coast. […]

China East Africa
Argentine flagship vessel ARA Libertad, which was seized by Ghanaian authorities in October 2012 amid a dispute over defaulted government bonds. REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian

AfricaSource

Jun 20, 2014

Two Years after Ghana Judge, US Supreme Court Rules against Argentina

By Kelsey Lilley

Earlier this week, Argentine stocks plummeted after the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the Argentine government in an epic court battle with angry investors. The case pitted Argentina against US-based investors, both big and small, who lost fortunes during the South American country’s 2001-2002 economic implosion when it defaulted on its […]

Latin America

AfricaSource

Jun 12, 2014

Nigeria’s Boko Haram: More virulent, more capable, ‘closer to a classic guerrilla insurgency’

By AfricaSource

Nigeria’s Boko Haram militant movement has grown increasingly virulent since 2009, a change visible in the group’s capacity, tactics and ideology, according to J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. Pham testified before the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations on June 11, nearly […]

Conflict Extremism
Creative Commons

AfricaSource

May 30, 2014

High Hopes for a More Robust American Role in Africa

By Atlantic Council

If one country has benefited from American and European neglected of Africa over the past decade or so, it has been China. In the absence of significant American and European investment on the African continent, particularly below the Sahara, China’s trade with the area increased, between 2001 and 2011, from $20 billion to $120 billion.

Africa China

AfricaSource

May 29, 2014

Bronwyn Bruton on Boko Haram

By Bronwyn Bruton

On April 14, 2014, more than 200 female students were kidnapped from a school in Nigeria. In May, news of that kidnapping went viral. In a series of videos, Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton discusses why the social media response to the event has been so huge, its short- and long-term implications, as well as the […]

Conflict Extremism

AfricaSource

May 9, 2014

“Boko Haram’s evolving threat”: J. Peter Pham report for the National Defense University

By J. Peter Pham

Worth reading again: two years ago Dr. Pham authored a report for the US National Defense University on Boko Haram that recent events in Nigeria have proven remains relevant today. In the brief, Dr. Pham reaches back to the 1940s to place the group in its proper social, historical, and political context, and traces its […]

Africa Conflict
REUTERS/Gary Cameron

AfricaSource

May 7, 2014

US help against Boko Haram: “Everything we can do” is not very much

By Bronwyn Bruton

Amid surging public outrage in Nigeria and abroad over Boko Haram’s kidnapping of 223 schoolgirls, President Barack Obama has promised that the United States will do “everything it can” to rescue them. His promise follows a pledge by Secretary of State John Kerry to do “everything possible” to help the Nigerian government defeat Boko Haram, […]

Conflict Extremism

AfricaSource

May 6, 2014

Transatlantic Trade and Security: A View from Morocco

By Atlantic Council

On both sides of the Atlantic in recent months, governments have acknowledged ongoing negotiations for the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA), a free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States. Though the merits of this future transatlantic partnership went largely challenged at the outset, some differences of opinion have lately emerged among […]

Morocco