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[WEEK IN REVIEW] China’s Role in Africa’s Energy Transition and Biden’s Angola Trip

The Sirexe “Salon International des Ressources Extractives et Energetiques”  conference took place this week in the Ivory Coast and brought together ministers, policymakers and corporate leaders from across the continent to discuss Africa's energy transition. ...

Antony Blinken’s Africa-China Talking Points Sound Awfully Familiar…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took a break from his tour of Africa for an interview with Radio France Internationale in Abidjan. Biden administration officials have generally steered away from openly criticizing Africa’s engagement with China. However, when the inevitable ...

Blinken in Africa This Week Where He Will Try Hard to Avoid Talking About China

One week after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrapped up a four-nation visit to Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday embarked on his own week-long, four-stop tour of the continent that will take him to Cabo Verde, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Angola. ...

Chinese Weapons Are Becoming Increasingly Popular in Africa

Militaries across Africa are increasingly turning to China to source advanced weapons systems that were long unavailable from Western suppliers. Sophisticated Chinese-made drones, missile systems, and cyber-warfare technologies, among others, are now commonplace on African battlefields.

Chinese Foreign Minister in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded his African tour in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire this week after touching down in Egypt and Tunisia during the trip’s first phase. The official press coverage revealed few specifics about his talks with Togolese and Ivorian leaders. ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

BRICS Announces Numerous New Initiatives

The BRICS group wrapped up its two-day leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. The summit’s final communique is a 16,000-word doorstop that covers numerous issues from economics to education.
The communique avoids any direct mention of the United States, and references to “unilateralism” and other coded criticism are also relatively scarce. Rather, the communique keeps the focus on the BRICS’ vision of the strengthening and reform of the global multilateral system ...

Unpacking Wang Yi’s Africa Tour

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is in Africa this week. It has become a Chinese tradition that FMs make their first overseas trip to Africa. It triggers a second (less red-carpeted) tradition: people like me puzzling over why certain countries were chosen over others. ...

Chinese Lending to Africa Plunges to 20-Year Low

Chinese lending to African countries plunged to below a billion dollars in 2022, the lowest level in two decades, according to new data from the Global Development Policy Center at Boston University. The findings confirm that the era of Beijing financing ...

Pirates Seize Chinese-run Oil Tanker in the Gulf of Guinea

Pirates took command of a Chinese-operated oil tanker this week 300 kilometers off the coast of Ivory Coast in the Gulf of Guinea, according to a London-based risk management company. Details about how many crew are being held captive and how ...

Will China, UAE’s Masdar Successfully Collaborate to Give Africa Reliable Renewable Energy?

The shift to renewable energy is gaining momentum in Africa with the Ivory Coast signing an agreement with Masdar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) renewable energy company on the exploration and development of a 50-70 megawatt (MW) solar power plant. In ...

Ajay Banga in Africa to Rally Support for World Bank Leadership Amid Stand-off With China

Ajay Banga, U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the World Bank, is on a ‘listening tour’ of Africa to drum up support for his nomination. Banga kicked off his visit to the continent in Ivory Coast and Kenya. As a veteran ...

How This One Tweet Conveys Three Important China-Africa Trends

A Tweet on Wednesday by China's top diplomat for sub-Saharan Africa, Wu Peng, about yet another ground-breaking ceremony for a new school in Africa, this time in Ivory Coast, may seem mundane but it actually communicates three important trends in Africa-China relations:

African Analysts and Scholars React to FOCAC 8 Outcomes

The Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, convened an online roundtable on Tuesday of senior-level analysts from across Africa to discuss the outcomes of this week's FOCAC conference in Senegal with a particular focus on the economic impact. ...
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