Recent African Coups: <br>End of <i>Françafrique</i>, Need for US Leadership

Nigeriens gather in the capital Niamey one month after the coup of July 28, to demand that the French ambassador leave. Photo credit: REUTERS/Mahamadou Hamidou

Since 2020, six African countries have experienced a total of eight coups d’état. With the exception of Gabon, all occurred in the Sahel, the semi-arid band stretching across the continent between the Sahara Desert to the north and the tropical savannah to the south. The conventional narrative of “Africa Rising,” which had only recently replaced […]

What China Wants in Africa

President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue during the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, August 24, 2023. Photo credit: REUTERS/Alet Pretorius/Pool

Africa struggles to climb American policymakers’ priority list, but it has no such problem with China.  For three decades, the Chinese government has expended immense energy courting African countries. With only two exceptions over the last thirty years, the Chinese foreign minister has made Africa his first overseas destination every year. Other senior Chinese officials […]