Africa Center Commentary & Analysis

Nile Accord Opens Opportunity

By J. Peter Pham

Amid the attention recently focused on the Nigerian presidential election and the resulting democratic transition in Africa’s most populous country as well as on the brutal al-Shabaab terrorist attack on Kenya’s Garissa University College, an equally momentous event that took place at roughly the same time passed relatively unremarked. On March 23, the leaders of […]

Coalition Scores Victories Against Boko Haram

By Joshua Meservey and Kelsey Lilley

Bottom Line Up Front:  • On April 28 and 30 the Nigerian military rescued hundreds of female hostages from Boko Haram’s stronghold in the northern Sambisa Forest • The origins of the freed kidnap victims are unknown, but the military has announced that most of them are not the schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok in April […]

Pham Testifies on African Terror Threats

By Africa Center

J. Peter Pham, Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, testified at a House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security hearing, “Terrorism in Africa: The Imminent Threat to the United States.” 

Burundi’s President Set to Defy Term Limits, Upset Delicate Peace

The ruling party of the tiny, Great Lakes nation of Burundi will make arguably the most momentous decision in the young country’s history when it chooses a candidate for June’s presidential elections this Saturday. Despite an apparent constitutional limit of two five-year terms, current President Pierre Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, is angling for a […]

African Migrant Deaths at Sea Spike as European Policy Comes Under Fire

Italy’s coastguard and navy rescued more than 10,000 primarily African migrants from capsized, sinking, or distressed vessels in the Mediterranean Sea in the last week, and more than four hundred people are presumed dead after their overloaded boats capsized. These shocking numbers have become daily occurrences, and highlight the crisis facing Europe as migrants from […]

Status of Sudan Debt Relief Process

By Africa Center

The issue of debt relief has for years been a point of contention in Sudan’s relationship with much of the international community, including at times with South Sudan. But its fair and timely resolution would do much to advance the United States’ stated goal of normalizing relations with Sudan.

What Happened to #BringBackOurGirls?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

One year since Nigerian schoolgirls’ abduction, larger humanitarian crisis created by Boko Haram needs attention, says Atlantic Council’s Pham A global campaign that focused attention on the plight of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram a year ago overlooked the region’s larger humanitarian crisis, said Atlantic Council analyst J. Peter […]

Congo’s Democracy Deficit Continues to Grow

By J. Peter Pham

Joseph Kabila continues to underscore the irony of the official name of the country he has misgoverned for more than a decade, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). As I noted previously, Kabila—in power since 2001 when, at the ripe old age of 29, he succeeded his warlord father after the latter was shot […]

Morocco’s Contribution to Countering Violent Extremism in Africa and the Middle East

By Africa Center

Unlike many of its neighbors, Morocco has experienced few terror attacks in recent years and remains a bastion of stability and prosperity in a turbulent region. In fact, Morocco’s programs to combat the root causes of terrorism are hailed as some of the most innovative and successful in the region.

University Attack Marks Al-Shabaab’s ‘Pivot’ to ISIS

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council’s Bruton says Somali terror group embracing more deadly tactics Al-Shabaab’s deadly April 2 assault against a Kenyan university—the country’s bloodiest attack in 17 years—is a sign that the Somali terrorist group is trying to pivot toward the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), said Atlantic Council analyst Bronywn Bruton. “A schoolyard massacre […]