The Kenya Times published on 8 September 2026 an article titled "Businesses in Kenya Where Foreigners Dominate" by Morgan Wanyonyi.
Foreign nationals are engaged throughout Kenya as roadside vendors, owners of small and large retail shops, and in the import and construction business. Chinese nationals are prominent among them, especially regarding the sale of goods manufactured in China. These foreign entrepreneurs are experiencing growing criticism from Kenyan competitors.
Ghana Web posted on 1 March 2026 an article titled "Two Ugandans Reported Killed in Ukraine-Russia War."
The article indicates that Russia has recruited Africans to fight in Ukraine from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, and South Africa.
Comment: This is not a complete list of African countries where Russia has recruited mercenaries.
Ukraine's Mezha published on 10 February 2026 an article titled "Russia Expands Influence in Africa Ahead of 2026 Summit."
Russia is sending more diplomatic staff to its embassies in Africa. In 2025, some 35,000 African students studied in Russian universities. Russia is ramping up its soft power across the continent.
The Telegraph published on 3 September 2025 an article titled "All Aboard 'The Debt Express': China's Pincer Movement on Africa" by Ben Marlow.
Kenya's largest ever infrastructure project is the Standard Gauge Railway financed by a loan from China and built by a Chinese company. It begins in the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa, passes through the capital of Nairobi, and ends in a corn field deep in Kenya's Rift Valley. The intention was to complete the line to Uganda's capital of Kampala. Excessive Kenyan debt has prevented extension of the project to the Kenya/Uganda border.
The Africa Center for Strategic Studies published on 8 July 2025 a study titled "Mapping Gulf State Actors' Expanding Engagements in East Africa."
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have become the leading sources of capital, private sector engagement, and weapons flows into East Africa in recent years. The UAE is by far the most engaged actor in East Africa with $47 billion in projects and about 60 percent of all Gulf region capital inflows. Saudi Arabia is second with an estimated $16 billion in investments across East Africa.
The White House published on 4 June 2025 a fact sheet titled "President Donald J. Trump Restricts the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats."
The proclamation fully restricts and limits the entry of nationals from twelve countries found to be deficient with regards to screening and vetting and determined to pose a very high risk to the United States: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
The proclamation partially restricts and limits the entry of nationals from seven countries who also pose a high level of risk to the United States: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
Comment: Seven of the twelve fully restricted countries and three of the seven partially restricted countries are in Africa.
Four of the fully restricted countries--Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Eritrea--were included because nationals from those countries have a history of disproportionally overstaying their visas after coming to the United States. Three of them--Libya, Somalia, and Sudan--were included because the governments have no competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports.
All three of the partially restricted countries--Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Togo--have a history of disproportionally overstaying their visas after arriving in the United States.
Clearly, this proclamation, at least in the case of the African countries, has little to do with combatting terrorism and a lot to do with keeping people out of the United States from certain countries for other reasons.
AEI's Critical Threats Africa File published on 20 March 2025 an article titled "Al-Shabaab Ramadan Offensive" by Liam Karr.
Al-Shabaab stepped up its terrorist activity during Ramadan in central Somalia and on the outskirts of Mogadishu. It included an unsuccessful improvised explosive device (IED) attempt on the life of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
The U.S. Department of State announced on 1 April 2025 the appointment of Massad Boulos as "Senior Advisor for Africa." He will make his first visit in this capacity to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda. Boulos also serves as Senior Advisor to the President on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs.
Responsible Statecraft published on 2 April 2025 an article titled "Trump Tasks First Time Envoy with the Most Complex Africa Conflict" by Dan M. Ford.
The article provides background on the conflict in the eastern DRC where Boulos has been instructed to seek a durable peace. The author also notes that Boulos' son, Michael, is married to President Trump's daughter, Tiffany.
Comment: As "Senior Advisor for Africa," Boulos apparently is not filling the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. The Trump administration has not yet named anyone to fill the latter position. The distinction between "Senior Advisor for Africa" and Assistant Secretary of State for Africa is not clear.
The Hill published on 24 February 2025 an article titled "These 17 Countries Voted with US Against Ukraine UN Resolution" by Elizabeth Crisp.
Seventeen countries joined the US at the UN General Assembly in voting against a resolution condemning Russia as the aggressor in the war against Ukraine. Eight of these countries--almost half the total--are among the most authoritarian in Africa: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Sudan, Eritrea, and Mali.
Comment: Burkina Faso, CAR, Niger, Mali, and Sudan receive military support from Russia's Wagner Group or its Africa Corps. Is the US trying to build a new group of "friends" in Africa?
The Global Business Council published on 30 January 2025 an article titled "Tanzania and Burundi Award $2B Contract to Chinese Firms to Design and Build Regional Rail."
China Engineering Construction Group and China Railway Design and Consulting Group won the $2.15 billion contract to design and build the 282-kilometer-long railway between Uvinza in Tanzania and a nickel mine between Musongati and Gitenga in Burundi. The railway will connect to an existing line in Tanzania that continues to the port of Dar es Salaam. The African Development Bank is financing the project. Nickel is a critical mineral in the manufacture of electric vehicles.
The Wall Street Journal published on 6 November 2024 an article titled "The New Investment Superpower Outflanking China and the U.S. in Africa" by Nicholas Bariyo.
In 2022 and 2023, the United Arab Emirates far outpaced both China and the United States as the single largest source of foreign direct investment in Africa.
Addis Insight published on 13 October 2024 an article titled "A Landmark Moment: Nile River Basin Commission Formed as CFA Takes Effect."
The Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) took effect as of 13 October following ratification by six of the ten members. Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and South Sudan have now ratified the CFA.
Members that have not yet ratified the CFA are Egypt, Sudan, the DRC, and Kenya. Eritrea is an observer of the Nile Basin Initiative.
Nova News published on 13 October 2024 an article titled "Africa: Egypt and Sudan Reject New Nile River Deal that Just Came into Force."
Egypt and Sudan quickly rejected the CFA, arguing that the six-state commission is not representative of the Nile Basin as a whole.
For the text of the CFA visit here.
Comment: It is not clear where this leaves the CFA with Sudan and Egypt rejecting it and Kenya and the DRC not yet ratifying it.
The Conversation published on 10 September 2023 a commentary titled "AU Peacekeepers Are Leaving Somalia: What Needs to Happen to Keep the Peace" by Paul D. Williams, George Washington University.
African Union peacekeepers are scheduled to complete their withdrawal from Somalia by December 2024. The author spells out what must happen if peace is to prevail in Somalia after the departure of AU troops.
Nanyang Technological University in Singapore published on 21 February 2023 an article titled "China Lands Railway Contract to Link Tanzania to Mineral-rich DRC."
China Civil Construction Corporation and China Railway Corporation won the contract to build the 506 kilometer section of Tanzania's standard gauge railway from centrally-located Tabora to Kigoma on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. Chinese companies also are building the link from Isaka to Mwanza on the shore of Lake Victoria. Earlier sections of the railway were built by a Turkish and Portuguese company. Financing has been provided by a variety of sources.
Megatrends Afrika published on 12 February 2023 an analysis titled "China's Belt and Road Initiative in the East African Community" by Cliff Mboya.
The paper argues that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is actively shaping a new spatial order in the East African Community (EAC) by influencing key stakeholders' perspectives and preferences. China's particular visions of global and regional development through the BRI are gaining traction in the EAC, making it an indispensable actor with considerable political and economic influence - and thereby challenging the role of traditional development partners in the region.
The US-based CATO Institute and Canada-based Fraser Institute just published the "Human Freedom Index 2022: A Global Measurement of Personal, Civil, and Economic Freedom" by Ian Vasquez, Fred McMahon, Ryan Murphy, and Guillermina Sutter Schneider.
The Human Freedom Index uses 83 indicators of personal and economic freedom in the following areas:
--Rule of law
--Security and safety
--Movement
--Religion
--Association, assembly and civil society
--Expression and information
--Relationships
--Size of government
--Legal system and property rights
--Sound money
--Freedom to trade internationally
--Regulation
The Index looked at 165 geographical jurisdictions using data for 2020, the most recent year for which sufficient data are available. Human freedom deteriorated severely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The five African countries with the best Human Freedom Index were Cape Verde (29), Seychelles (44). Mauritius (50), Namibia (58), and Botswana (61).
The five African countries with the worst Human Freedom Index were Egypt (161), Sudan (160), Somalia (158), Burundi (156), and Libya (155).
Al-Monitor published on 14 December 2022 an article titled "Egypt's Trade with Nile Basin Countries Jumps Amid Ethiopia Dam Crisis" by Marc Espanol.
Egypt's increased trade with countries in the Nile Basin is driven by its dispute with Ethiopia over management of Nile River water in addition to security concerns and economic opportunity.
The Washington Post published on 17 July 2022 an article titled "An Attack on a Military Base in Somalia Shows Al-Shabab's Deadly Power" by Sudarsan Raghavan.
An attack last May on an African Union military base in Somalia that claimed more than 50 lives underscored the continuing military strength of the al-Shabaab terrorist organization. The Washington Post recently obtained more details about this demoralizing attack.
The Telegraph published on 4 March 2022 a commentary titled "History, Politics and Mercenaries: Why So Many African Nations Are Quietly Standing by Putin" by Will Brown.
The author argues that so many African countries abstained or failed to vote on the UN General Assembly resolution condemning Putin's war in Ukraine because Russia still wields influence with authoritarian African governments, African governments rely heavily on Russian military hardware, and/or they employ Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group.
The Royal United Services Institute published on 10 August 2021 an analysis titled "The African Union Intervention Force Will Stay in Somalia, But with Whose Troops?" by Colin Robinson.
It is not realistic to pull all AMISOM troops out of Somalia, leaving the country at the mercy of al-Shabaab. The question is which African troops are prepared to remain.
