Francophone Africa Updates

Sahel

L’ONU s’occupe «très activement» du Sahel en proie aux atrocités djihadistes – Read more on lefigaro.fr

The EU and France in the Sahel: What does the end of Operation Barkhane in its current form mean for the Sahel? – Sylvie Kauffmann Andrew Lebovich Mark Leonard. Read more on ecfr.eu

Sahel : « Le Maroc pourrait être une force de médiation » – Nina Kozlowski. Read more on jeuneafrique.com

Sahel : au-delà des conflits, un développement économique et social bien réel – . Read more on the conversation.com

Lessons for the EU in Sahel, from Afghanistan – . Read more on euobserver.com

Chad

Chad’s ‘Political Transition’ Is a Smokescreen for Military Rule – Daniel Eizenga. Read more on worldpoliticsreview.com

Mali

Mali expels West African bloc envoy -foreign ministry – Read more on reuters.com

UN delegation arrives in Mali to mount pressure on junta – Read more on africanews.com

US-China Cooperation in Africa? Perhaps not in French Africa

This guest post by CARI Fellow Dr. Afa’anwi Ma’abo CHE, from Kampala International University, is the first of our series “Notes from the Field.” Over the coming weeks and months, we will publish a selection of posts from our current group of research fellows, with a focus on reflections, research notes and preliminary findings. For his CARI-funded research project, Dr. CHE traveled to Cameroon, which prompted the below thoughts.

Following China’s resolve to ‘go global’ at the end of the 20th century, Africa has witnessed a surge in Chinese trade, finance, and investments. China has risen and surpassed the US to become Africa’s leading economic partner. Cooperation, relative to competition, between the superpowers has a greater potential to induce optimal positive-sum gains for the superpowers and for Africa. But the scholarly and policy worlds are shrouded in pessimism about chances of the US cooperating with China in Africa. Three major reasons are often averred for the pessimism:

Read more on China-Africa Research Initiative

Sent by Edouard Bustin