East Africa

Negotiating democracy and security in Kenya

By Africa Center

On Monday, October 16, the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, in collaboration with the International Republican Institute (IRI), hosted Ambassador Martin Kimani, director of Kenya’s National Counter Terrorism Centre and special envoy for countering violent extremism, and Dr. Korir Sing’Oei, legal adviser in the executive office of the deputy president of Kenya, for a private roundtable […]

Somalis are the Victims of US State-Building Efforts

By Bronwyn Bruton

This weekend’s truck bombing in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, was the worst assault on civilians in that country’s long, sad history. But such attacks are a weekly event in Somalia and have been for the past decade. This attack was dramatically worse than most, but surely it won’t be the last. And it highlights a […]

Lifting of US Sanctions on Sudan Seen as Positive Step Toward Re-engagement

The United States’ decision to lift the sanctions on Sudan, citing progress made on counterterrorism and humanitarian efforts, indicates Washington’s understanding that cooperation with Khartoum will best serve the interests of both countries, according to an Atlantic Council analyst. “This decision reflects the conviction that engagement, rather than isolation, is more likely to advance US […]

Germany’s compact with Africa

By Xaviera Gitau

Over the past three years, as thousands of refugees drowned off Europe’s coasts, Germany’s open-door policy towards asylum seekers propelled the country to a position of global humanitarian leadership, and turned its chancellor, Angela Merkel, into a global icon for human rights advocates. As of 2016, the nation of 82.5 million absorbed 890,000 refugees, and […]

What South Sudan’s war means for northern Uganda’s “relative peace”

By Kyra Fox

Ten years after the guns of the three-decade-long Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency went silent, northern Uganda’s local leaders are concerned that the deadly war raging across the South Sudanese border could disturb the fragile region. As Uganda’s poorest region, the north is hardly unused to conflict. Decades of economic and political marginalization dating back […]

The Kenyan Elections: Too Soon to Relax

By Bronwyn Bruton

Though incumbent Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has won the 2017 presidential election, the country remains on edge due to allegations of voter fraud by his opponent, Raila Odinga, which could plunge the country into post-election violence. In 2007, a horrific spasm of post-election violence swept across Kenya when Odinga, who has made four bids for […]