East Africa

Gambella Attack Exposes Ethnic Tensions between Ethiopia, South Sudan

On Friday, April 15, South Sudanese raiders crossed the border into Ethiopia to attack thirteen villages in the country’s Gambella region. Violence and carnage ensued, and the assailants escaped with 108 women and children and nearly 2,000 stolen cattle, according to Ethiopian government estimates. On Monday, the government announced that the death toll rose to […]

South Sudan: Paging Dr. Riek

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Vice President’s absence from Juba speaks to a lack of trust in President Salva Kiir, says Atlantic Council’s J. Peter Pham Riek Machar’s failure to return to Juba this week to take up his duties as Vice President of South Sudan has been met with statements of dismay from the international community, but his no-show […]

Embracing Impact: How Africa Can Overcome the Emerging Market Downturn

By J. Peter Pham and Aubrey Hruby

In January 2016, oil prices fell to their lowest levels in more than a decade. Meanwhile, China, the world’s second-largest economy, is experiencing its most sluggish growth in a quarter-century—dragging down commodity prices and dampening the global economic outlook. The effects of this broad slowdown will hurt African economies more than most, because China and […]

South Sudan: ‘A Problem Child’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Years of conflict, a dysfunctional government, and the international community’s failure to impose tough and meaningful sanctions have contributed to the crippling food insecurity that has caused tens of thousands of people to flee South Sudan, according to the Atlantic Council’s J. Peter Pham. “No rational farmer anywhere in the world is going to plant […]