PBS: Escaping Eritrea … [Read More...] about ካብ ውሽጢ ቤት ማእሰርታት ኤርትራ
UPFRONT
How to End the Oil Curse
Leif Wenar | June 3, 2016 | Foreign Affairs Stop Trading With Autocrats For the past 40 years, the greatest threats to the West have emerged from oil-exporting states. Oil funded Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, Libya’s support for terrorist groups, and the build-up of the Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal in the 1970s and 1980s. More recently, it has funded the rise … [Read more...] about How to End the Oil Curse
China’s Business and Politics in South Sudan
Alice Su | June 6, 2016 | Foreign Policy Engineers Luo Minhai, 48, and Sun Xinfa, 44, grew up in Heilongjiang Province, China, but a few months ago, they arrived in Khor Wolyang, a neighborhood in Juba, South Sudan, not far from the barracks of the presidential guard. They are supervising the building of a ten-foot wall for the South Sudanese Ministry of Defence … [Read more...] about China’s Business and Politics in South Sudan
When Europe Loved Islam
Marya Hanun, Sophie Spaan | May 5, 2016 | Foreign Policy Before the continent started banning hijab, European aristocrats used to change their names to Abdullah and Muhammad, and going to the local mosque was the latest trend. From the outside, with its high minarets and bulbous Mughal-style dome, the Wilmersdorf mosque, located on Brienner Street in southwest Berlin, … [Read more...] about When Europe Loved Islam
What next as African leaders gang up against the West?
Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi | Sunday, May 29, 2016 | The Monitor There is a frightening solidarity among African leaders these days. But “frightening” is perhaps the wrong word to use, for what is wrong with the leaders of Africa cooperating to push the continent forward? There should be nothing wrong with it, of course, only that there are mounting fears that … [Read more...] about What next as African leaders gang up against the West?
Why Sisi Fears Egypt’s Liberals
Muhammad Mansour | May 18, 2016 | Foreign Affairs Behind the Recent Crackdown on Civil Society In recent days, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi has seemed less interested in his usual repression of Islamists and more determined to crack down on liberal groups and watchdogs, especially the pro-democracy forces that were involved in the Arab Spring and that … [Read more...] about Why Sisi Fears Egypt’s Liberals
Horn of Africa Grows Hotter and Drier
Camille von Kaenel | October 13, 2015 | Scientific American The region is warming and drying faster than climate models have predicted The Horn of Africa is warming and drying faster now than in the past 2,000 years, new research into ancient marine sediments found. That contradicts global climate models, which show the geopolitically unstable region getting wetter as … [Read more...] about Horn of Africa Grows Hotter and Drier
Virunga’s Charcoal Cartel
Holly Dranginis | May 12, 2016 | Foreign Affairs On the southwestern flank of Virunga, a protected national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there was once a thick rainforest. Today it looks like the surface of the moon, barren and smoking. A resident in the area told me that ten years ago he could walk up the road and see elephants. Now the elephants are … [Read more...] about Virunga’s Charcoal Cartel
Has South Africa Lost Its Way?
Jessica Piombo and Cherrel Africa | May 12, 2016 | Foreign Affairs The ANC's Unfulfilled Promise South Africa is in the middle of a period of political and economic unrest unlike anything the country has experienced since the end of apartheid in 1994. In March 2015, students at the University of Cape Town launched the #Rhodesmustfall campaign, aimed at bringing … [Read more...] about Has South Africa Lost Its Way?
Mozambique’s Invisible Civil War
Tom Bowker, Simon Kamm, Aurelio Sambo | May 6, 2016 | Foreign Policy The government says everything’s fine. But that’s not what we heard from its victims. On April 28, local and Portuguese news outlets reported the discovery of a mass grave in central Mozambique containing some 120 bodies. A hasty inspection by local government officials concluded that the report … [Read more...] about Mozambique’s Invisible Civil War
How to Steal From Africa, All Perfectly Legally
Alex de Waal | May 6, 2016 | African Arguements When UK PM David Cameron opens the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May, we should be aware that the greatest fraud perpetrated on the majority of the world’s citizens is all perfectly legal. Africa loses at least $50 billion a year — and probably much, much more than that — perfectly lawfully. About 60% of this loss is … [Read more...] about How to Steal From Africa, All Perfectly Legally