Content

New Atlanticist

Jan 3, 2012

The Islamist threat to Africa’s rise in 2012

By J. Peter Pham

The biggest story out of Africa last year did not occupy the headlines the way dramatic revolutions in the Maghreb, civil strife in West Africa, the independence of South Sudan, famine in the Horn of Africa, piracy off the Somali coast, fraud-ridden elections in the ironically-named Democratic Republic of the Congo, and various other developments […]

Extremism Sahel
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea: A Growing Threat to Transatlantic Security

Event Recap

Dec 13, 2011

Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea: A Growing Threat to Transatlantic Security

By Adrienne Chuck

On December 13, the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a panel discussion on “Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea: A Growing Threat to Transatlantic Security,” chaired by Atlantic Council Board Director Admiral Henry G. Ulrich III, USN (Ret.).

Maritime Security North & West Africa

Event Recap

Nov 9, 2011

Ripples across the sands: The impact of the fall of Gaddafi on security in the Maghreb and Sahel

By Africa Center

The Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a panel discussion, “Ripples Across the Sands: The Impact of the Fall of Gaddafi on Security in the Maghreb and Sahel,” featuring remarks by Geoff D. Porter, President, North Africa Risk Consulting, Inc.; Fadel Lamen, President, American Libyan Council; Roger J. Peña, Senior Legislative Assistant for Defense and […]

Libya Sahel
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

New Atlanticist

Aug 26, 2011

Libya and Africa: The reset

By J. Peter Pham

With most of the Libyan capital now falling under the control of forces aligned with Libya’s Transitional National Council (TNC), greater time and attention can now be devoted to pondering the many questions which have been pushed to one side when the outcome of the conflict was still uncertain. These issues include legitimate concerns about […]

NATO North Africa

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2011

Al-Qaeda’s North African franchise moves south

By J. Peter Pham

British and Italian officials are checking a video received Thursday by Agence France-Presse which, if authenticated, will confirm not only the fate of two Westerners abducted in Nigeria in May, but the worrisome fact that al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has now extended its reach into Nigeria.  While the Foreign Office […]

Africa Extremism
AQIM

New Atlanticist

May 2, 2011

Al Qaeda’s franchises after Osama Bin Laden

By J. Peter Pham

The death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at the hands of Navy SEALs brings to a close a chapter that began more than fifteen years ago when the terrorist group declared war on the United States. As President Barack Obama noted in his address to the nation, “Justice has been done.” While pundits […]

Africa Extremism

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2011

Securing North Africa’s oasis of stability

By J. Peter Pham

As the cloud of uncertainty continues to hover North Africa—with the ultimate outcomes of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt still to be determined and unrest spreading in Algeria, especially in the Kabylie region, to say nothing of the fate of the revolt in Libya—it is somewhat befuddling that the Obama administration has not done […]

North & West Africa Sahel

Report

Nov 30, 2010

Advancing U.S., African, and Global Interests: Security and Stability in the West African Maritime Domain

By John Raidt and Kristen E. Smith

The Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center and On The Horizon Project have officially released a landmark report on the rising importance of U.S. national security interests in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, entitled: “Advancing U.S., African, and Global Interests: Security and Stability in the West Africa Maritime Domain.” Download the PDF

Maritime Security North & West Africa

New Atlanticist

Jun 29, 2009

Center of the French Speaking World Shifts to Africa

By Douglas Muir

If you’re a human being who speaks French, you’re more likely to be African than European. La Francophonie’s demographic center of gravity is now somewhere around Bamako, Mali. If you’re a human being who is literate in French — say, at a high school graduate level — you’re probably European. But not for much longer.

France Sahel

Experts