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Chinese, Iranian and Turkish Drones Fuel Africa’s New Era of Low-Cost Warfare

By Celia Lebur and Mathieu Rabechault with African bureaus The Easter period usually offers a rare respite in Gedeb, in Ethiopia's deeply troubled north, but on April 17, death rained from the skies in this sleepy town caught up in a ...

China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Chinese Phone Giant Heats Up E-bikes Competition in Kenya as Ethiopia Bans ICE Vehicle Parts Imports

This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. Competition between electric mobility solutions providers is intensifying in Kenya and other African countries as companies ...

Li Qiang’s Low-Key Diplomatic Schedule at the BRICS Summit

Chinese Premier Li Qiang maintained a relatively low profile at this weekend's BRICS summit in Brazil, where he avoided the usual "speed-dating style diplomacy" they engage in when attending these kinds of gatherings. Instead, Li met on Saturday with his ...

Understanding China’s Role in Africa’s Power Sector: A New Series from The China-Global South Project

China is helping build nearly one in every five power plants operating in Sub-Saharan Africa today, yet most people know very little about how these projects come together. As electricity demand rises and traditional development partners pull back, China’s influence is becoming even more significant.

Wang Yi Conducts Speed Diplomacy With Nine African Foreign Ministers

China's top diplomat Wang Yi conducted another one of his signature rounds of speed diplomacy with foreign ministers from at least nine African countries on the sidelines of a ministerial gathering this week in central Hunan province. Specific details of the ...

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 ...

Chinese EVs Price Wars Domino Effect on Africa’s Nascent EV Market

Faced with rising fuel costs, vehicle buyers in Kenya and Ethiopia are turning to affordable electric alternatives from Chinese manufacturers such as Changan, Neta, Wuling, and Xiaohu. These compact EVs, well-suited for taxi services and short-distance travel, are gaining ground as practical replacements for traditional ...

Ethiopia’s Gasoline Vehicle Ban Boosts Chinese EVs, Local Assembly

Ethiopia's internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles ban has seen increasingly more electric vehicle brands in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, not only for personal cars but also for ride-hailing, mass movement of people, and transportation of goods. Ethiopia's ICE vehicle import ban ...

Ethiopia’s Middle Class Ditching Gasoline Vehicles for Electrics With Chinese EVs Dominating Race

Solomon Shenkutie, a ride-hailing driver in Ethiopia’s bustling capital, Addis Ababa, made a life-changing decision six months ago: he swapped his gasoline-powered car for a Chinese-made electric vehicle. “I spent most of my earnings on fuel, and prices are only expected ...

China’s Hunan Province Unveils New Measures to Bolster Trade Ties With Africa

Authorities in China's central Hunan province introduced a series of new policy and financing measures specifically aimed at boosting trade ties with countries in Africa. The province's finance and commerce ministries jointly unveiled an 11-point plan last week that is intended to ...

China, Ethiopia Police Sign Pact to Foster Closer Security Ties

Senior law enforcement officials from Ethiopia and China signed an agreement on Friday to work more closely together on training and information sharing. The officials also discussed the creation of a new Ethiopia-China Law Enforcement Cooperation Center in Addis Ababa. The talks ...

BRICS Countries Reach Impasse Over Security Council Seats

The newly-enlarged BRICS group failed to issue a joint statement after foreign ministers from the ten-nation bloc met last week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Two of the group's new members, Egypt and Ethiopia, reportedly ...

Can China Help Africa Become the Next Factory of the World?

For decades, African governments have tried to lure Chinese manufacturing companies to set up factories in their countries with the promise of an abundant supply of low-cost labor. Other than a few high-profile companies, Chinese companies, for the most part, have ...
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