The New York Times published on 7 June 2025 an article titled "China's Quiet Win: Outmaneuvering U.S. for Africa's Future Leaders" by Abdi Latif Dahir.
As the Trump administration tightens restrictions for international students to enter the United States, Africans increasingly are opting to study in China, attracted by government scholarships, affordable tuition, lower living costs, and easier entry requirements.
The New York Times published on 27 October 2023 an article titled "Students on the Run, Schools Taken by Troops and a Generation's Catastrophe" by Abdi Latif Dahir.
Schools in Sudan have been closed since war broke out six months ago. An estimated 19 million children are out of school putting Sudan on the verge of becoming the worst education crisis in the world. At least 171 schools have become emergency shelters for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Sudan is now the location of the world's largest IDP crisis.
The Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research published in September 2023 an article titled "Rethinking China: Perceptions from Africa a Survey of Nigerian University Students" by Nurettin Can, Sanar Muhyaddin, Ahmet Arabaci, Ibrahim Koncak, and Ibrahim Keles.
The article looks at the sources from which 602 students in Nigerian universities receive information about China and solicits their opinions on several issues. The internet and social media are the primary source of information about China. The students are generally neutral on the responsible behavior of China as a global power, positive about China as a development model, and concerned about the influx of Chinese labor in Nigeria.
The Africa Report published on 31 July 2023 a commentary titled "10 Reasons Why Putin's Africa Forum Flopped" by Ghanaian Bright Simons.
The author argues the Russia-Africa Summit flopped because Moscow failed to address substantial deficiencies in its offering to Africa. More specifically:
1. Unequal trade is getting worse.
2. Russia has few real trade partners.
3. There is little technology transfer.
4. African students in Russia play a limited role in advancing Moscow's image.
5. Russia lacks the capacity to follow through.
6. The summit failed to deal with priority issues such as climate change.
7. Russia ignored African civil society.
8. The event lacked any serious African cultural expression.
9. Most large African companies failed to participate.
10. There was no engagement with African entrepreneurs and startups.
Reuters published on 22 June 2023 a story titled "The Africans Fighting on Russia's Front Line in Ukraine" by Giulia Paravicini, Filipp Lebedev, and Felix Light.
This is the story about three young Africans--two students from Tanzania and Zambia and a taxi driver from Cote d'Ivoire--who ended up being recruited from prison by the Wagner Group and sent to the front lines in Ukraine. The two students from Tanzania and Zambia died in battle; the taxi driver from Cote d'Ivoire survived.
While in Russia, all three became involved in drugs, were convicted, and sent to jail where they were recruited by the Wagner Group to fight in Ukraine. Their story is one of soaring ambitions and broken dreams. Only the young man from Cote d'Ivoire survived. After completing his service with the Wagner Group, Russia expunged his drug conviction and he reportedly is undergoing rehabilitation.
The Cable published on 17 June 2022 a commentary titled "How China's Influence Is Impacting Democratic Process in Africa" by Lanre Olagunju, freelance journalist.
The author provides an overview of China-Nigeria relations, offering up a generally negative interpretation of the relationship.
China is convening a Horn of Africa peace conference in Addis Ababa on June 20-21. In an earlier article titled "Xue Bing: Beijing Will Send Engineers, Not Weapons, to Horn of Africa" by Aggrey Mutambo, The East African interviewed Xue Bing, China's special envoy for the Horn of Africa.
In the interview, Xue Bing said in connection with Beijing's peace initiative "China will send out engineers and students. We don't send out weapons."
Comment: There seems to be a disconnect here. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's Arms Transfers Database, China transferred from 2010 through 2021 the following dollar amounts of conventional weapons to countries in the Horn of Africa: Sudan $254 million, Ethiopia $81 million, Kenya $40 million, Djibouti $37 million, South Sudan $12 million, and Somalia $2 million. These figures do not include transfers of small arms and light weapons.
Africa Is a Country published on 7 June 2022 a commentary titled "Africans in China Are on the Move" by Jing Jing Liu.
Discriminatory COVID policies, increasing cost of living, and diminished purchasing power have reduced the Little Africa community (mostly Nigerians) in Guangzhou from an estimated high of 100,000 to just under 5,000 in 2020. Some of the Africans are returning home; others are moving elsewhere in China.
Punch published on 13 March 2022 a commentary titled "Africans and the Russia-Ukraine War" by Chidi Anselm Odinkalu.
While condemning the treatment of Africans in Ukraine as they fled the country, the author concludes that African leaders offer neither ideas on geo-strategic impact of the war on the continent nor succor to the Africans caught up in it.
The U.S. State Department posted on 3 March 2022 a "Digital Press Briefing with Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee" with African media representatives on the impact of Russian aggression in Ukraine and its impact on Africa.
Molly Phee emphasized that the United States is not asking African states to take sides. It is asking Africans to accept the principle that aggression in unacceptable in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world.
Foreign Policy posted on 2 March 2022 a commentary titled "How the Russia-Ukraine War Impacts Africans" by Nosmot Gbadamosi.
The article focuses on the charges of racism against Ukraine and European officials as African students try to flee to safety. The author also suggests Russia's increasing isolation may push it closer to African countries such as Mali and the Central African Republic that have employed Russian mercenaries to deal with their own security problems.
Ventures published on 28 February 2022 a commentary titled "How Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Can Impact African Economies" by Oluwatosin Ogunjuyigbe.
African students have been stranded in Ukraine. African countries import $4 billion annually of agricultural products from Russia and $2.9 billion from Ukraine, with prices likely going higher and supply possibly disrupted. Energy and fertilizer importing countries will face higher prices while energy exporters may get a revenue boost.
Deutsche Welle published on 24 February 2022 an article titled "Thousands of African Students Are Stuck in Ukraine."
Africans make up more than 20 percent of Ukraine's international students, including 8,000 from Morocco, 4,000 from Nigeria, and 3,500 from Egypt. It is not known how many were able to depart before Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine.
