The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation at 21: Where to Next?
African countries can negotiate a more equitable role in FOCAC, but this requires a more strategically focused approach, better coordination, and greater accountability to their citizens.
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African countries can negotiate a more equitable role in FOCAC, but this requires a more strategically focused approach, better coordination, and greater accountability to their citizens.
Stabilizing northern Mozambique will involve more than defeating violent extremists. It will also require rebuilding trust with marginalized and traumatized local communities.
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 upended migration patterns in sub-Saharan Africa. It exposed how out of sync public health policy is with the realities of migration and mobility on the continent. Border closures, which stemmed the early spread of the virus, stranded large numbers of migrants and shut down the supply of essential goods and services. This, in turn, added to the crisis affecting both human security and the broader pandemic response. To prepare for future health emergencies, policy must consider the realities of a region with porous borders, under-resourced healthcare and migration management systems, and limited safety nets for people.
The Nduma Defence of Congo (NDC) and its offshoot, the NDC-Renove (NCD-R), are among the oldest armed groups in Eastern Congo, one of more than a hundred that operate in the region. After its 2008 creation, it grew into the group with the largest territorial control in the region. The NDC eventually served as a proxy for Congolese and Rwandan forces, notably in fighting the FDLR. It also set up governance structures, including taxation systems, a police force, and means to control mining revenues and trade. These security governance structures will need to be purged of corrupt leaders and patronage networks.
Chinese officials around the world use Twitter and Facebook, which are blocked in China, to post about their country’s initiatives and defend it against controversy. But the seeming popularity of many accounts, which the Communist Party controls and whose content is sourced from state-run media, and of their posts is artificially inflated by fake accounts that retweet posts by the thousands of times. These retweets violate Twitter rules on manipulation, leading to a high rate of account suspensions. Improving the labeling of government accounts to better indicate the likelihood of content being propaganda and helping social media implement their own rules will be key to mitigating these strategies.
While Russia’s engagements in Africa are often viewed as opportunistic, in the space of a few years Moscow has been able to gain a foothold in the southern Mediterranean, become a powerbroker in geographically strategic countries, and undermine democratic norms on the continent.
Despite challenges of unemployment, corruption, entrenched political leadership, and political violence, many African youth have found constructive avenues to promote peace, effective governance, and reform.
The Africa Military Education Program (AMEP) helps to strengthen professional military education institutions across the African continent through focused investments in faculty development and improved curriculum design and content.
Sharp losses by the long-ruling NRM party reveal a shifting political landscape in Uganda, reflecting the will of a younger and more energized electorate looking for change.
Challenges to climate-related security include but are not limited to resource competition, shocks to food security, climate-induced migration, transboundary water management, and unintended consequences from climate policies. Mainstreaming a climate perspective into existing programming can help reduce the risks. However, to ensure success in fragile states, progress may sometimes depend on whether the domestic elite finds it is in their self-interest to embrace such policies.
The spread of surveillance technology in Africa without adequate checks and balances is reshaping the governance landscape while potentially enabling another tool of repression.
A growing pattern of evading term limits in Africa carries far-reaching consequences for the continent’s governance, security, and development.