East Africa

Anti-Terror Financing Rules Choke Somali Remittances

On February 6, 2015, one of the last Western banks willing to transfer money to Somalia on behalf of the country’s diaspora—transfers which represent up to 80 percent of all funds sent from the US to Somalia—ceased operations, cutting off one of the diaspora’s last options to support relatives and friends still in Somalia.

South Sudan Deal Buys Time for Warring Sides, Diplomats, Says Pham

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council analyst says track record of past ceasefires does not inspire confidence A new deal between South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel commander Riek Machar to end the fighting that has devastated the world’s newest nation over the past year is likely just a delaying tactic that allows the two warring sides to […]

Ethiopia: Press Restrictions and the 2015 Elections

By Africa Center

Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, will go to the polls in May. The election will be the country’s first since the death of longtime Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and has brought into focus the state of independent media and citizens’ access to information in the East African country.

South Sudan Peace Talks ‘Going Nowhere,’ Says Atlantic Council Expert

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Peace talks aimed at ending South Sudan’s civil war are ‘going nowhere’ because the process is mostly led by countries that are party to the conflict, according to Dr. J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. 

A Conversation with Former US Ambassador to South Sudan, the Honorable Susan Page

By Africa Center

The Atlantic Council’s Africa Center hosted a high-level, off-the-record conversation with the Honorable Susan Page, former US ambassador to South Sudan and current senior negotiator for the US special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan. After a welcome and introduction by Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham, Page commented on the status of current negotiations […]