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Tshisekedi Sacks Head of DRC’s State Mining Company Just Weeks After Release of Blockbuster Corruption Investigation

DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi fired the powerful head of the country's state-run mining company Gécamines on Friday in an apparent effort to gain control of the narrative following last week's release of a damning international investigation that revealed widespread corruption at the firm.

China’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Reaffirms Support For Addis, Keeps Up the Pressure on the U.S.

China's ambassador to Ethiopia, Zhou Zhiyuan (photo), convened a press conference on Friday to further bolster the support conveyed by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during his surprise visit to Addis Ababa earlier in the week. Zhou reiterated Beijing's support for Prime ...

With an IMF Deal in the Bag, the Big Question is How Will Hichilema Handle Zambia’s Chinese Debts?

Zambian President Haikainde Hichilema (photo) got the news he was hoping for on Friday when the International Monetary Fund announced that it had granted preliminary approval for a $1.4 billion, three-year credit facility to the economically beleaguered country. President Hichilema's government ...

The Uganda Airport Controversy is Prompting Renewed Discussion in East Africa About Chinese Debt

The last two weeks' uproar over (unfounded) allegations that Uganda will forfeit the Entebbe International Airport is finally winding down. It's making way for a more nuanced, thoughtful discussion on the implications of Chinese loans to East African countries. Economist and ...

BBC Apologizes to Professor Deborah Brautigam For Misrepresenting Her Views on “Debt Trap Diplomacy”

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) apologized to Professor Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, for editing an interview she did with the network last week in such a way that it sounded like she was a proponent of ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Revealing Reactions to China’s Festival of Optics

In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...

Bad China Takes: Debt, Scrambles, and Bases

The Wall Street Journal is the latest U.S. news outlet to publish unconfirmed Pentagon claims that China seeks to build a second military outpost in Africa, this time on the Atlantic coast. Monday's article was almost identical to an AP story published ...

The French Media’s View of FOCAC Was Decidedly Negative

Generally, the French view of last week's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation conference that took place in Senegal was not very positive. With headlines that spoke of Africa's "disillusionment" with China or overtly racist cartoons depicting China's vaccine donations on the continent, pessimism ...

FOCAC 2018 vs. 2021

Researchers and analysts are beginning to work their way through the 40-page Dakar Action Plan that provides more detail on the outcomes of last week's FOCAC. If past FOCAC events are any guide, it's likely that it will take at least two to three weeks to fully ...

Chinese Diplomats Push Back on Claim Beijing is Cutting Back on Financial Support For Africa

China's ambassador to Kenya, Zhou Pingjian, challenged assertions that Beijing is reducing its financial support for Africa. "I can assure you, the financial support from China to Africa will only increase. It will never reduce,” he told journalists at a press conference in Nairobi on Friday.