It’s Been a Violent Year for Chinese Workers in Africa

Aside from everything else going on, 2020 is proving to be a rather violent year for Chinese workers in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. Today's news that yet another Chinese national was taken hostage by kidnappers who raided a construction site in Niger state follows a ...

9 Nigerians Killed, 1 Chinese Kidnapped in Violent Assault on a Road Construction Site in Niger State

A group of heavily armed Muslim Fulani bandits raided at a road construction site on Monday in the central Nigerian state of Niger. The assailants apparently targeted expatriates and began shooting. Nearby private security forces responded and forced the gunmen to retreat, but not before ...

As Tensions Rise Among China’s Partners Along the Blue Nile, Beijing’s Nowhere to be Found

Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy confirmed last week that his country has filled the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) across the Blue Nile with an initial 4.9 billion cubic meters of water that he claims is needed for both power generation and domestic and agricultural use. ...

The U.S.’ Fortress-like Missions Look a Lot Different in Africa Than They Do in China

Anyone who's passed by a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Africa will appreciate the sentiments expressed by popular Nigerian political commentator Onye Nkuzi (nom de plume.) He pointed out how pedestrians are able to walk right outside the walls of the former consulate in Chengdu (also ...

Chinese Think Tank Scholars Are Increasingly Concerned That Instability in North Africa Will Provoke a “Second Arab Spring”

Chinese scholars are closely monitoring the deteriorating situation in Libya with an eye on whether instability there will spread to other countries in North Africa, particularly Algeria and Sudan. Sun Xia from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences wondered whether the twin forces of declining oil prices ...

Twitter Thread: Nigeria’s Covert Military Procurement Deals With China

The widely-read military blogger Defense News Nigeria explained in a multipart Twitter thread published yesterday why Abuja felt it necessary to negotiate a series of covert military procurement deals with Beijing.  The thread explains how U.S. export controls on attack drones ...

Three Chinese Nationals Murdered and Their Lusaka Warehouse Burned in Apparent Robbery

The fire department in the Zambian capital Lusaka responded on Sunday to a blaze at a warehouse in the Makeni district. When they arrived on the scene they discovered the aftermath of a brutal homicide. Three Chinese nationals were killed in what police say was a robbery. ...

The China-Mediterranean Observer: COVID-19 Rattles an Already Volatile Region

As cases of COVID-19 have increased, the pandemic has accordingly become the main topic of discussion in the media of the wider Mediterranean region as many are worried about the health and economic damages that it will cause. Indeed, regardless of the geographical position, there has emerged ...

Al-Shabaab Militants Attack Chinese Construction Site in Kenya

Suspected Al-Shabaab militants launched an attack on a Chinese construction crew building the 135-kilometer Lamu-Garsen road in Kenya's Lamu county. Authorities say four heavily armed militants were involved in Sunday's incident that destroyed a cement truck and an excavator. There were ...

Kenyatta Comes to Washington With a Simple, Blunt Message: Africa is Not Up for Grabs

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta began his visit to the United States on Wednesday with an urgent call to international leaders to stop thinking of Africa as a prize to be won. "Western countries, and their counterparts in Asia and the Middle East, are returned to competition over ...

China Places Bets on Both Sides of the Libyan Conflict as Part of a New “Non-Aligned” Strategy

China was so traumatized from the 2011 UN-intervention in Libya that led to the death of the country's former ruler Muammar Gaddafi that is employing an entirely new strategy now as the North African country once again descends into all-out civil conflict. ...

Tweet of the Day: China Commits Counter-Terrorism Funds to All Members of the G5 Sahel

Lina Benabdallah is a leading China-Africa scholar and an Assistant Professor of Politics at Wake Forest University in Salem, North Carolina. Professor Benabdallah regularly comments on Chinese engagement in both ...
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