Ankara is expanding its influence in eastern Libya, deemed an area of Egyptian influence. Following months of conflict and accusations between the two parties, the relationship between Turkey and the Khalifa Hifter-led Libyan National Army (LNA) has seen a relative thaw. On Jan. 20, Turkey’s Ambassador to Tripoli Kenan Yilmaz …
Read More »Russia Is Getting More Than It Bargained For in Libya and Syria
Is Russia’s lucky streak in Syria and Libya finally running out? The Kremlin has gambled big on proxy warfare in both countries, deploying thousands of private military contractors with the so-called Wagner Group to back its favorite strongmen. But after a recent run of misfortunes for Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, …
Read More »How to Manage the Threat of an Expanding Islamic State in Africa
Every expert on transnational jihadism knew that eradicating the Islamic State’s self-declared “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq would not lead to the end of this brutal, malignant movement. Since it had become as much an ideology and a brand as an actual organization, holding physical territory and establishing a proto-state …
Read More »Egypt skeptical of Ethiopia call for cooperation on Nile dam
Egypt sees Ethiopia’s latest call for cooperation over its controversial Nile dam as mere ink on paper, as Cairo continues to insist on resuming the negotiations to reach a legally binding agreement. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s call for cooperation over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has raised questions …
Read More »Sudanese public widely rejects new UN initiative
The popular rejection of UN efforts to help shows a deep distrust in the pro-democracy movement. Following the resignation of Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in early January, the head of the UN mission in the country, Volker Perthes, announced on Jan. 8. the launch of an intra-Sudanese political process …
Read More »Turkey’s central bank continues window dressing with currency swaps
Hit by a foreign reserves drain, Turkey’s central bank eyes fresh currency swap deals, including with the central banks of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Libya. Creating and managing perceptions seems to have become a high priority for the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as it struggles to ease Turkey’s …
Read More »Africa Seeks a More Equitable Partnership With China
The eighth edition of the triennial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC, took place this week in Dakar, Senegal, marking the first time the meeting was held in West Africa. The conference, which took place days after the release of a Chinese government white paper detailing a new era of …
Read More »Sudanese security forces intensify media crackdown
The increasing pressure, violence and prosecution faced by journalists at the hands of security forces represent a major threat to the future of press freedom in the country. The Qatari media network Al Jazeera announced in a Jan. 16 statement that the Sudanese Ministry of Culture and Information had withdrawn …
Read More »Chinese Economic Engagement In Africa: Implications For US Policy – Analysis
China may have missed the European Scramble for Africa that characterized the turn of the last century, but it has been making up for this since the 1950s. The pace of this investment has increased in the past couple of decades. According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, Chinese foreign direct …
Read More »UN COUP D’ETAT AU BURKINA FASO ?
Au Burkina Faso, le président Roch Marc Christian Kaboré a été arrêté, selon plusieurs sources. Cette arrestation intervient après les mutineries d’hier dans plusieurs casernes de la capitale notamment, indiquent ces mêmes sources. Roch serait détenu dans un camp militaire à Ouagadougou. Certains parlent déjà de coup d’État. Mais aucune …
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