Africa Center Commentary & Analysis

A Coup in Burundi?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council’s Pham sees risk of another civil war as fired General claims to be in control While details of a reported coup against Burundi’s President, Pierre Nkurunziza, by his former intelligence chief are fuzzy, it is clear that the Central African nation with a long history of civil war and political unrest risks descending […]

Coup Attempt in Burundi: Unanswered Questions

Embattled Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza was in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania today for talks with the East African Community (EAC) about the political crisis in his country. After more than three weeks of often-violent demonstrations in the capital against what protesters call an unconstitutional third term attempt by the sitting president, elements of the military […]

Dangerous Game: Guinea’s President Plays the Ethnic Card

By J. Peter Pham

Two months ago, I warned that unless the international community steps up quickly to pressure the incumbent regime in Guinea to achieve a consensus with the political opposition and civil society regarding the sequencing and scheduling of the elections constitutionally required less than six months from now, the West African country’s belated and fragile democracy […]

Expansive and Inclusive Growth: A Conversation with Leading AfDB Presidential Candidate H.E. Akinwumi Adesina

By Africa Center

Later this month, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the regional multilateral bank for Africa, will hold elections for a new president to succeed incumbent Donald Kaberuka. On Monday, May 11, the Africa Center was pleased to welcome a leading candidate for the position, Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development H.E. Akinwumi Adesina.

Political Crisis Intensifies in Burundi: An Update

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the danger of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza’s intentions to run for a controversial third term, and how his efforts could undermine the country’s fragile peace. Much has happened in two weeks: the ruling party did, indeed, nominate Nkurunziza as its candidate for June’s presidential elections. When he accepted the […]

Northern Mali’s critical moment

By Africa Center

Mali has largely fallen from international headlines after a 2013 French military intervention drove back the constellation of terror groups occupying the northern part of the country, but the security situation has again deteriorated to the point it poses an urgent threat to the whole of the country as well as the region. There are […]

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 […]