Sudan-Israel Ties

 The Times of Israel published on 9 February 2022 an article titled "Sudanese Official Said to Be in Israel on Secret Visit."

A top official of Sudan's military government recently visited Israel to advance relations between the countries.  Some believe Israeli support for the military government will lead to more oppressive policies.  

China, Africa, Finance, and Public Demonstrations

 The China Africa Research Initiative published in November 2020 a study titled "Comparing the effects of Chinese and Traditional Official Finance on State Repression and Public Demonstrations in Africa" by Afa'anwi Ma'abo Che.  

Drawing on case studies in Cameroon and Uganda, the author concludes that the evidence supports a negative correlation between Chinese official finance and public demonstrations, on the one hand, and a positive correlation between traditional official finance and public demonstrations, on the other.   

African Countries Support China's Crackdown on Hong Kong

Axios published on 3 July 2020 an article titled "The 53 Countries Supporting China's Crackdown on Hong Kong" by Dave Lawler.

Cuba presented a resolution before the UN Human Rights Council backing Beijing's new national security law for Hong Kong, which is widely seen in the West as a repressive crackdown.  The UK presented a resolution opposing the security law.  Fifty-three countries, including twenty-five in Africa, supported Cuba's resolution that backed the crackdown.  Twenty-seven countries, not a single one in Africa, backed the UK resolution that was critical of the crackdown.

The twenty-five African countries that supported the crackdown were: Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  The real surprise on this list is Morocco.  Sudan, in view of its efforts to democratize, is something of a surprise although its much diminished oil sector is still beholden to China.  Somalia is also something of a surprise as it does not owe China anything; most of its support comes from the West and Turkey.  Niger is a mild surprise. 

The Trump administration pulled the United States out of the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 making it largely irrelevant. 

If African leaders are wondering why the West is losing interest in the continent and no longer taking many African governments seriously, all they have to do is reflect on votes like this.