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Continuing a decade-long upward trend, violent events linked to militant Islamist groups in Africa increased by 22 percent while fatalities surged by 48 percent over the past year.
Despite serious challenges, Africa's youthful electorates vie to have their voices heard so as to shape a more democratic, stable, and prosperous future.
China’s efforts to reshape existing global institutions and norms rely on the support of African governments, though this can often be at odds with African citizen interests.
Since 2022, the Kremlin has earned more than $2.5 billion in African gold from the Africa Corps’ (formerly known as the Wagner Group) missions in Mali, Sudan, and Central African Republic which it uses to fund its war in Ukraine. Russian actors rely on smuggling and corporate subterfuge to extract large amounts of “blood gold” out of Africa to destinations such as Russia and the UAE where it can be mixed with other legitimate sources of gold and converted to cash. To stop this system, international authorities could implement wider sanctions, designate the Africa Corps a terrorist group, and introduce more stringent supply chain controls.
More than 80 percent of the record 137 million Africans facing acute food insecurity are in conflict-affected countries underscoring that conflict continues to be the primary driver of Africa’s food crisis.
This Africa Center program explores the changing demographic, economic, and environmental factors that may pose security challenges now or in the near future.
Unchecked, disinformation represents a destabilizing threat to the open and dependable information pathways from which democracies draw their strength and resilience.
Conflict continues to drive Africa’s record levels of population displacement. Africa’s 36 million forcibly displaced persons represent 44 percent of the global total.
At the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, the chairman of the African Union, Senegal's President Macky Sall, headed to Russia on Friday for talks about the impact of the war in Ukraine on African countries. Both Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of grain to the continent, accounting for over 40% of wheat imports to African countries in recent years, according to the UN. Host Marco Werman spoke with Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
As Africans grapple with the more present and disastrous aftershocks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is important to recognize the threat this form of authoritarian expansion will have on the continent if it is normalized.
Russia has pioneered a model of disinformation to gain political influence in Africa that is now being replicated by other actors across the continent.
Loss of munitions and other lethal materiel from African armed forces and peace operations is a key factor sustaining militant groups driving instability on the continent.