The New York Times published on 5 August 2026 an article titled "China's A.I. Is Surging Across Africa. That Should Worry Silicon Valley" by Paul Mozur, Adam Satariano, and Aaron Krolik.
China's AI is surging in Africa where buyers look for the best possible system at the lowest possible cost. The Chinese systems are publicly available to download and modify without payment or approval. Xi Jinping is using AI as a form of Chinese soft power.
Ethio Negari published on 28 July 2026 an article titled "China-Africa Robotic Surgery Training Centre Opens in Addis Ababa."
The China-Africa Robotic Surgery Center that opened in Addis Ababa uses AI-driven healthcare techniques. The first round of training involved 40 healthcare professionals from Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, and Libya.
The Africa Center for Strategic Studies published on 21 July 2026 an analysis titled "Ghana's Illegal Gold Mining Crisis: A National Security Threat with Regional Implications" by Edem Srem.
Ghana is experiencing an environmental crisis due to illegal, small-scale, and unregulated gold mining known locally as galamsey. According to one account, an estimated 50,000 illegal Chinese miners are now operating in Ghana, supported by broader networks of financiers, equipment suppliers, transporters, intermediaries, and informal refiners. Chinese operators and equipment have accelerated the mechanization of mining, which has led to an increase in environmental damage.
Comment: The estimate of 50,000 Chinese miners in the country seems too high, but galamsey has been a long-standing irritant in Ghana-China relations.
TrendsNAfrica published on 1 July 2026 an article titled "China's New Gold Strategy Runs Through Africa: How Beijing Is Rewriting the Global Bullion Market."
Beijing is quietly reshaping the mechanics of the international gold trade. Its strategy involves dismantling speculative domestic paper-gold trading while building an international ecosystem centered on physical bullion, yuan-based settlements, and African mineral wealth.
About 40 percent of the world's remaining underground gold reserves are located in Africa. China is reducing its holdings of US Treasury securities and replacing them with gold purchases, especially in Africa.
Discovery Alert published on 16 July 2026 an article titled "San Ding Lithium Shutdown: Zimbabwe's $3.65M Mining Fraud Exposed" by Muflih Hidayat.
Zimbabwe holds Africa's largest lithium reserves and Chinese companies have invested more than $2 billion in the lithium sector. China's San Ding Lithium operated through the fabrication of receipts and invoices to disguise fund diversions. Zimbabwe charged two San Ding Lithium officials with two charges of fraud and shut down the company.
The Pew Research Center published on 15 July 2026 research results titled "People in Many Countries Now View China More Positively than the U.S." by Jonathan Schulman, Laura Silver, Laura Clancy, and William Miner.
Pew surveyed public opinion of the United States and China in 36 countries, including 4--South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana--in Africa. Since the beginning of the Trump administration, positive perceptions of the United States in the 4 African countries vis-a-vis China have fallen, although the US still maintains a slight lead in Ghana.
Positive views of the United States and China today are:
South Africa: 35 percent for the US and 52 percent for China
Nigeria: 63 percent for the US and 78 percent for China
Kenya: 63 percent for the US and 76 percent for China
Ghana: 68 percent for the US and 64 percent for China
When asked if they are confident Donald Trump or Xi Jinping will do the right thing, the results were:
South Africa: 26 percent for Trump and 46 percent for Xi
Kenya: 63 percent for Trump and 73 percent for Xi
Ghana: 54 percent for Trump and 56 percent for Xi
Nigeria: 65 percent for Trump and 62 percent for Xi
The Third World Quarterly published on 17 June 2026 a research article titled "Navigating Cooperation with Great Powers: Elite Perceptions of U.S. and Chinese Economic Engagement in Ghana in the Twenty-first Century" by Monika Rozalska, Paulina Matera, and Bartosz Kowalski.
This study is based on in-depth interviews with a limited sample--22 Ghanaian university professors, government officials, and non-governmental leaders. It concludes that both China and the United States engage in neocolonial practices to varying degrees. While both countries promote development, it is questionable whether their activities align with Ghanaian priorities. Beijing and Washington emphasize access to raw materials over empowering local industrial development. As a result, Ghana pursues a policy of balance towards the United States and China.
Ecofin Agency published on 22 June 2026 an article titled "Guinea Is Africa's Fastest-growing Economy: The Boom Is Real--but Narrow" by Idriss Linge.
Due mostly to the export of bauxite and iron ore, Guinea is Africa's fastest-growing economy in 2026 at 8.8 percent. Guinea exports annually about $14.5 billion of raw materials; China is the largest importer at $4.5 billion.
The risk for Guinea is a reliance on bauxite and iron ore exports, a lack of processing of these minerals at home, and the relative lack of intra-African trade. A drop in commodity prices could severely damage Guinea's economy.
Thierry Pairault posted on 13 June 2026 an analysis titled "The African Cocoa Industry and the Chinese Tariff Exemption."
He concludes that an African entrepreneur manufacturing chocolate for export to Europe would face a 30 percent customs duty, whereas the Chinese market is now tariff free. For exporters capable of meeting Chinese customs standards, there is a real comparative advantage. However, the tariff exemption does not create the productive and logistical capacities necessary to exploit this advantage. The risk is therefore a consolidation of primary commodity specialization rather than its attenuation.
The true obstacle is structural, not tariff related. The fundamental difference between African and Asian supply chains is not access to raw materials, but where value is created through processing.
Energy for Growth Hub published on 18 May 2026 an article titled "Four Ways African Countries Can Secure Better Outcomes from Chinese-supported Power Projects" by Naa Adjekai Adjei.
Ghana's experience with Chinese-supported power projects demonstrates that it is possible to achieve better results with cost benchmarking, competitive procurement, stronger finance negotiation, and project oversight expertise.
Foreign Policy published on 5 May 2026 an article titled "Russia's Africa Recruitment Web Is Expanding" by Maurice Oniang'o, a Kenyan journalist.
This article looks across Africa at Russia's successful program to recruit, usually based on disinformation, men to come to Russia for work but are then given minimal military training and sent to the front lines in the war against Ukraine.
The New York Times published on 4 May 2026 an article titled "'The Death Zone': How Russia Is Luring Africans to Ukraine" by Matthew Mpoke Bigg, John Eligon, and Zimasa Matiwane.
An estimated 1,000 Kenyans went to Russia and ended up in the war against Ukraine. Only 30 have returned to Kenya alive. In addition, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Botswana, Mali, and Cameroon have reported men being falsely recruited into the Russian army.
Reporters without Borders just published its 2026 "World Press Freedom Index." It ranks 180 countries. The United States dropped seven places to 64 compared to 57 in 2025.
Ten African countries had better scores than the United States. The top five African press freedom countries were Seychelles (35), Ghana (39), Cape Verde (40), Mauritius (42) and Gabon (43). But African countries were also well represented at the bottom of the list. The five worst performers were Eritrea (180), Egypt (169), Djibouti (167), Sudan (161), and Ethiopia (148). Curiously, all five are in northeast Africa.
B & FT Online posted on 29 April 2026 an article titled "Africa-China 2.0 with Paul Frimpong: Zero Tariff, Zero Excuses: Africa's Moment with China Has Arrived."
China's much heralded zero tariff policy for 20 more African countries, raising the total to 53 out of 54 countries on the continent, is an opportunity but will not guarantee significantly more African exports to China. African countries must develop new trade strategies to take advantage of the opportunity and meet remaining Chinese quality and safety standards.
Ecofin Agency published on 27 April 2026 an article titled "China-Africa Trade in 2026: Cooperation, but Not on Equal Terms" by Idriss Linge.
As exports to the United States fall sharply, China is turning increasingly to Africa to export its consumer and industrial products. During the first quarter of 2026, China-Africa trade reached $92 billion, up 27 percent year on year. But while Chinese exports to Africa rose 32 percent, African exports to China increased by only 18 percent. Africa's trade deficit with China for the quarter reached $29 billion, nearly $10 billion higher than a year earlier.
The zero-tariff policy announced for Africa by Xi Jinping beginning 1 May 2026 is largely cosmetic and will make little difference in the trade relationship because 95 percent of African exports to China already enter the country duty free.
Global Issues posted on 20 April 2026 an article titled "Russia's African Cannon Fodder" by Andrew Firmin.
The article reviews Russia's program to recruit Africans, often based on disinformation, to fight for Moscow in its war with Ukraine. The top African countries for providing mercenaries to fight in Ukraine are Egypt, Cameroon, and Ghana.
The American Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) published on 2 April 2026 a paper titled "False Promises: Russian Military Trafficking in Africa" by Sarahelena Marrapodi, FPRI.
Some 1,800 African men signed contracts to work in Russia as drivers, security guards, and other civilian jobs only to find themselves shipped off to the frontlines of Russia's war against Ukraine. The story provides background on the recruitment efforts and suggests that it may constitute human trafficking.
E-International Relations posted on 1 April 2026 my short paper titled "The Communist Party of China Reaches Out to Africa."
This is a post-COVID-19 update of efforts by the International Department of the Communist Party of China (ID-CPC) to strengthen ties with political parties in Africa. COVID-19 significantly interrupted the ID-CPC's interaction with African political parties. The ID-CPC has now returned to a high degree of engagement with them.
The National Interest published on 11 March 2026 an article titled "Why African Leaders Are Beginning to Speak Out Against Russia" by Thomas Kent.
African leaders are increasingly speaking up about a pattern in which paid recruiters in Russia and Africa coax young men to come to Russia with promises of civilian jobs or training. Once they arrive, they are urged or forced to join the Russian Arny and are then sent to the frontlines in Ukraine.
Aljazeera published on 5 March 2026 an article titled "'Our Children Were Sold Off': The South Africans Sent to Fight Russia's War" by Chris Makhaye.
Russia recruited South Africans to become VIP bodyguards who were then given brief military training and conscripted by a paramilitary group to fight in Ukraine. Most of the South Africans became cannon fodder on the Russian front lines. An appeal by South Africa's president to Vladimir Putin managed to get their return to their families.
