Category: Diplomacy

By Lukas Fiala Horrific images and stories of violence and destruction have reached us from Ukraine this week as Russia’s invasion is rapidly turning into a massive humanitarian crisis. While all eyes are rightfully on Ukrainians’ brave resistance, the human suffering ...

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to censure Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The majority of African countries were part of the 141 states demanding an end to Russian aggression. Only one African country (Eritrea) joined Russia, Belarus, Syria and North ...

Amid the global discussion about why 35 Global South countries avoided censuring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations, Michael Bociurkiw, a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, felt the need to tweet. He pointed out that some of the ...

Equatorial Guinea and China signed an agreement on Tuesday to promote development cooperation between the two countries. Usually, this kind of announcement doesn't draw much attention. But this one is sure to raise eyebrows in Washington because of ongoing rumors that China is planning to ...

China's ambassador to Niger Jiang Feng met this week with President Mohamed Bazoum for talks about Monday's release of two Chinese gold miners who had been held captive for the past nine months and the new 1,950 km Niger-Benin pipeline that Chinese ...

Ethiopia's ambassador to China, Teshome Toga Chanaka, hosted a lunch of Horn of Africa ambassadors at Ethiopia House in Beijing. Also invited was Xue Bing, China's new Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, and Wu Peng, the PRC's top diplomat to Africa.  ...

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni's office published a quote from the septuagenarian leader that revealed an outdated view of world affairs where major global powers have what he terms "centers of gravity." While it's not entirely clear what he meant by "USA for ...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi surprised commentators on Monday by saying that China might be willing to cooperate on the United States-led Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative. Wang was speaking at a ceremony commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Shanghai Communiqué, the Nixon-era agreement which normalized U.S.-China relations. ...

It's only been a few weeks since the Europe-Africa summit in Brussels, EU where officials unveiled a huge €150 billion development package for Africa that aimed to convey a two-part message: 1) We're ready to engage Africa and 2) we're not going to cede further ...

China's newly appointed Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, formally began his new role last week just days before the Russian military began its assault on Ukraine. The timing couldn't have been worse for Xue who is already facing a steep learning ...

In an odd alignment of diplomatic symmetry, the four non-Russian members of the BRICS group have all refused to join the global movement to condemn Russia for its assault on neighboring Ukraine. There's no evidence that any of these countries are coordinating their response with one another ...

It's been a very busy week for great power diplomacy in the Equatoguinean capital of Malabo. On Saturday, Foreign Minister Simeón Oyono Esono Angue hosted a delegation led by Chinese ambassador Qi Mei to discuss unspecified "international events." That mean ...