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AfricaSource

Oct 31, 2014

Burkina Faso update: Missed opportunity?

By J. Peter Pham

The “soft landing” that so many, both in Burkina Faso and abroad, had worked so hard to achieve is not to be. Following violent protests against an effort to lift the constitutional bar on his seeking another term in office, mob actions which brought the landlocked West African country to the edge of the abyss, […]

North & West Africa
Politics & Diplomacy

AfricaSource

Oct 31, 2014

Burkina Faso: The consequences of burning down the house

By J. Peter Pham

The events that have followed each other in rapid succession this week in the West African country of Burkina Faso are, at one level, relatively straightforward. What is not so readily apparent—certainly not to the tens of thousands of protesters-turned-rioters, much less to those far-off outsiders who, wittingly or unwittingly, egged them on—are the consequences […]

North & West Africa
Politics & Diplomacy

In the News

Oct 10, 2014

Pham on UN Peacekeeping Operations in Mali

By J. Peter Pham

Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham joins Voice of Russia to discuss UN peacekeeping operations in Mali: 

Sahel

AfricaSource

Sep 8, 2014

Africa’s Islamic State?

By J. Peter Pham

Even as, coming out of the annual NATO summit in Wales, the United States and its allies are promising to ratchet up their response to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, another militant group, Boko Haram, is rapidly gaining ground in Africa, achieving many of the same operational and strategic successes that have made […]

Extremism
Nigeria
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, left, greets Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore upon his arrival at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Sept. 23, 2013. The two leaders will meet to discuss security issues of mutual importance. DoD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo.

AfricaSource

Aug 1, 2014

Burkina Faso “punches above its weight”

By J. Peter Pham

Although scores of African heads of state and government who will be arriving in Washington in coming days for the historic US-Africa Leaders Summit, media attention will likely focus on only a handful of leaders either because of the economic heft of their countries or because of the controversies surrounding them. This is regrettable since, […]

Africa
North & West Africa
European flags in Brussels

NATOSource

Jul 30, 2014

Paying Ransoms, Europe Bankrolls Qaeda Terror

By Rukmini Callimachi, New York Times

Kidnapping Europeans for ransom has become a global business for Al Qaeda, bankrolling its operations across the globe.

Europe & Eurasia
Sahel

Event Recap

Jun 20, 2014

A Conversation with Nigerien Prime Minister Brigi Rafini

By The Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council’s Africa Center hosted a conversation with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Niger, H.E. Brigi Rafini. Also in attendance was H.E. Maman Sidikou, ambassador of the Republic of Niger to the United States. Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham moderated the not-for-attribution session, which focused on economic, security, and development priorities […]

Economy & Business
Sahel

AfricaSource

Jun 12, 2014

Nigeria’s Boko Haram: More virulent, more capable, ‘closer to a classic guerrilla insurgency’

By AfricaSource

Nigeria’s Boko Haram militant movement has grown increasingly virulent since 2009, a change visible in the group’s capacity, tactics and ideology, according to J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. Pham testified before the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations on June 11, nearly […]

Conflict
Extremism

Event Recap

Jun 5, 2014

Discussion with the Burkinabé minister of human rights and civil promotion

By Africa Center

In 2012, the West African nation of Burkina Faso created a Ministry for Human Rights and Civic Promotion to promote physical security, economic prosperity, and access to health and education for all Burkinabé citizens. Since its inception, the ministry has actively promoted gender equity, a focus that is consistent with Ouagadougou’s priorities: a 2009 law […]

Africa
Civil Society

AfricaSource

May 29, 2014

Bronwyn Bruton on Boko Haram

By Bronwyn Bruton

On April 14, 2014, more than 200 female students were kidnapped from a school in Nigeria. In May, news of that kidnapping went viral. In a series of videos, Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton discusses why the social media response to the event has been so huge, its short- and long-term implications, as well as the […]

Conflict
Extremism
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Experts

Fellow

Bachir Ismael Ouedraogo

Nonresident Senior Fellow, N7 Initiative

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Africa Energy & Environment

Fellow

Rose Keravuori

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Africa Center

Africa Defense Policy

Fellow

Abdoul Salam Bello

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Africa Center

Economy & Business Inclusive Growth

Fellow

Rama Yade

Senior Director, Africa Center

Africa Center Europe Center

Civil Society Human Rights