Africa Center Commentary & Analysis

Through high-level relationships and a track record of well-respected analysis, the Africa Center speaks directly to the stakeholders who matter, shaping policy on the foremost issues of this dynamic continent.

Towards Regional Security Cooperation in North and West Africa: Mali, Mauritania, and Niger

Event Recap

Nov 8, 2011

Towards regional security cooperation in North and West Africa: Mali, Mauritania, and Niger

By Africa Center

On Tuesday, November 8th, the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a luncheon roundtable. The discussion, moderated by Center director J. Peter Pham, featured remarks from H.E. Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Mali; H.E. Aminata Djibrilla Maïga Touré, Counselor to the Foreign Minister of […]

Libya North & West Africa
Famine in the Horn: Assessing the US Response

Event Recap

Oct 27, 2011

Famine in the Horn: Assessing the US Response

By Adrienne Chuck

On October 27, the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a discussion on the US response to the devastating famine in the Horn of Africa, featuring remarks by Nancy Lindborg, assistant administrator for democracy, conflict, and humanitarian assistance at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

East Africa

New Atlanticist

Oct 25, 2011

US Troop Deployment to Central Africa: Timing, Risks, and Rewards

By James Cook

Last week, President Obama sent a letter to Congress announcing the deployment of a “small number of combat equipped US forces to Central Africa in order to provide assistance for regional forces that are working towards the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield.”

Counter-Piracy Task Force: Strategic Approaches to the Piracy Challenge

Event Recap

Oct 20, 2011

Counter-Piracy Task Force: Strategic Approaches to the Piracy Challenge

By Adrienne Chuck

The International Security Program and the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center launched the Atlantic Council Maritime Piracy Task Force, chaired by Atlantic Council Board Director Franklin D. Miller. This was the first in what will be a series of meetings addressing the challenge of piracy and possible strategic approaches.

Maritime Security Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 17, 2011

Assessing the Hunt for the LRA

By Peter Pham

On Friday, President Barack Obama announced the deployment of about 100 US military personnel to central Africa to assist the armed forces of regional states in putting an end to the decades long rampage of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).  

Event Recap

Oct 6, 2011

Roundtable with Ambassador Gordon Gray on Building Civil Society and Democracy in Tunisia

By Adrienne Chuck

The Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a small group of leading development and human rights experts and practitioners working on Tunisia for a roundtable discussion with US Ambassador to Tunisia Gordon Gray to discuss how best to help build civil society and democracy in the North […]

North Africa United States and Canada

Event Recap

Oct 5, 2011

Whither South Sudan?

By Adrienne Chuck

The Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a high-level off-the-record briefing and discussion on the challenges facing the Republic of South Sudan, which achieved its independence as Africa’s fifty-fourth sovereign state on July 9, 2011.

East Africa

New Atlanticist

Sep 26, 2011

Whither the African Union?

By Peter Pham

With their attention largely focused in recent months on the unprecedented challenges faced by some of the pillars of the transatlantic community—NATO during and after the intervention in Libya, the European Union as it struggles to contain the sovereign debt crisis, and the United States where partisan wrangling over the budget deficits again threatens to […]

United States Policy Towards Africa: Lessons Learned

Event Recap

Sep 21, 2011

United States Policy Towards Africa: Lessons Learned

By Adrienne Chuck

On September 21, the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, in partnership with the Constituency for Africa (CFA), hosted a panel discussion on US foreign policy towards Africa, featuring five former US assistant secretaries of state for African Affairs as part of CFA’s 2011 Ronald H. Brown African Affairs Series, which brings together a range of […]

Africa United States and Canada

Event Recap

Sep 14, 2011

A Discussion on Recent Developments in Somalia and Puntland

By Adrienne Chuck

On September 14, the Ansari Africa Center hosted a briefing by Kadir Abdirahman Mohamud, special envoy of the President of Puntland State of Somalia, on recent developments in Somalia in general and the autonomous Puntland region in particular. Kadir Mohamud’s prepared remarks were followed by a discussion with experts from the U.S. government, think tanks, […]

Somalia