Africa and the 2026 World Happiness Report

 Gallup just released its "World Happiness Report 2026" that assesses 147 countries from 2023 through 2025.  The 2026 edition highlights the role social media plays in social connection, trust, and shared experiences worldwide.

The happiest African countries based on the social media focus were Mauritius (73), Libya (81), Algeria (83), Mozambique (93), and Gabon (96).  The least happy African countries were DRC (140), Botswana (143), Zimbabwe (144), Malawi (145), and Sierra Leone (146).

Comment:  There are surprises, at least for me, at both ends of the scale.  The focus on social media probably accounts for them

Artificial Intelligence for Africa's Defense Forces

 The Africa Center for Strategic Studies published in February 2026 a major study titled "Artificial Intelligence for Africa's Defense Forces: A Toolkit for Defense Sector AI Strategy and Adoption."

This toolkit is a resource for African defense professionals to develop and adopt artificial intelligence policies, strategies, guidance, systems, and tools.  It defines and illustrates some of the most relevant use cases, discusses how to guide the development of AI systems, processes, and personnel, suggests how to adapt AI to Africa's security environment, and outlines good practices that can be used to inform the development of defense sector AI strategy.

AI is no longer a futuristic prospect for Africa's defense forces, but an increasingly embedded tactical reality shaping military operations from the Sahel to the Cape.  Like past inventions such as steam power, electricity, and the internet, AI is fast becoming an essential technology that will underpin the future of warfare.  

Trump Administration Ends Humanitarian Aid to Seven African Nations

 Press TV posted on 23 February 2026 an article titled "Trump Admin Terminates 'Lifesaving' Aid Programs to Seven African Countries: Report."

The Atlantic magazine reported that the Trump administration has decided to end humanitarian aid programs in seven African countries because there is no strong connection between the humanitarian response and US national interests.  The seven countries are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, and Zimbabwe.  

Russia Lures/Recruits Africans to Fight against Ukraine

 The Washington Post published on 2 February 2026 an article titled "Kenyan Job Seekers Were Lured to Russia, Then Sent to Die in Ukraine" by Rael Ombuor and Katharine Houreld.  

The story is based on interviews with four Kenyans who fought for Russia in Ukraine and family members of nine other Kenyan recruits. Ukraine sources have identified 1,436 nationals from 36 African countries fighting for Russia.  Some of the Africans were recruited to fight on the side of Russia while others were lured to Russia for civilian employment and forced to fight for Russia.  

Slashing Climate Resilience Programs Does Not Put America First

 Foreign Affairs published on 16 January 2026 an article titled "Less Foreign Aid, More Climate Risk: The Massive Costs of Gutting USAID" by Alice Hill and Lindsey Doyle.

Modest investment in USAID-financed climate-resilience projects has been gutted by the Trump administration.  Slashing funding and decimating the institutions that deliver it is neither fiscal prudence nor putting America first.  

US Travel Restrictions Take Aim at Africa Mostly for Visa Overstays

 The White House posted on 16 December 2025 a fact sheet titled "President Donald J. Trump Further Restricts and Limits the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States."

The United States added 15 countries to the list impacted by partial or full travel restrictions.  There are now 34 countries subject to some kind of restriction; 26 are in Africa.  The stated purpose of this policy is "to protect the Nation from national security and public safety threats."  

The proclamation continues full restrictions and entry limitations of nationals from 12 "high-risk" countries.  This includes the following African countries: Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan.  

It adds full restrictions and entry limitations on 5 additional countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and South Sudan.

It imposes full restrictions on 2 countries that were previously subject to partial restrictions, including Sierra Leone.

It continues partial restrictions on nationals of 4 original "high risk" countries, including Burundi and Togo.

It adds partial restrictions and entry limitations on 15 new countries.  They include Angola, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The Associated Press published on 16 December 2025 an article titled "Trump Expands Travel Ban and Restrictions to Include an Additional 20 Countries" by Rebecca Santana.

This article includes a map that clearly demonstrates the impact of this policy on African countries.

The New York Times published on 16 December 2025 an article titled "Trump Expands Travel Ban and Restrictions to 20 More Countries" by Tyler Pager and Hamed Aleaziz. 

The article reports that homeland security secretary Kristi Noem recommended to President Trump that he institute "a full travel ban on every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies."

Comment: Most of the African countries on the list are there because of "high visa-overstay rates and refusal to repatriate removable nationals" from the United States.  Visa overstay means that an individual received a visa at a US embassy overseas to be in the United States for a limited period of time, for example 3 months to visit relatives or one year to study.  They stayed longer than the allotted period, which is a violation of US law.  But it has little or nothing to do with US national security. 

The fact sheet contains some African countries that do have unusually high visa overstay rates.  But others are not especially high.  Mauritania's B-1/B-2 visa overstay rate is 9 percent.  Nigeria has a B-1/B-2 overstay rate of 6 percent and F, M, and J visa overstay rate of 12 percent.  Senegal's B-1/B-2 overstay rate is 4 percent and F, M, and J overstay rate of 13 percent.  

The US policy seems more focused on cracking down on immigration and keeping certain foreigners out of the country than US national security.  As for Kristi Noem's comment on countries in the travel ban, has America fallen to this low level?   

Worsening African Trade Deficit with China

 B & FT Online posted on 10 December 2025 an article titled "Africa's Huge Trade Deficit: A Case of Lagging Processing Power" by Brian Muloni.  

In 2024, Africa's trade deficit with China, its largest trade partner, was $61 billion and it is on track to worsen significantly in 2025.  There are several reasons for this long-standing trade deficit with China, but the most important factor is that African exports to China are mainly raw materials while imports from China are mainly finished or manufactured goods.

Africa and World Happiness Report

 The Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford published the World Happiness Report 2025.  The focus of this year's report is the impact of caring and sharing on people's happiness.  It includes factors such as giving money to charity, volunteering, and helping strangers.  It tries to measure the degree of benevolence in each of the 147 countries that it evaluates.  

The five highest ranked African countries are Mauritius (78), Libya (79), Algeria (84), South Africa (95), and Mozambique (96). Seven of the ten lowest ranked countries are in Africa: Lesotho (138), Comoros (139), DRC (141), Botswana (142), Zimbabwe (143), Malawi (144), and Sierra Leone (146).

US Looks Beyond China and to Africa for Rare Earths

 Fox News posted on 26 October 2025 an article titled "Trump Administration Works to Break China's Rare Earth Stranglehold on Africa" by Paul Tilsley.

Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, and South Africa expect to open rare earth mines by 2029.  The United States now imports 70 percent of its rare earth elements from China but hopes to secure new sources in Africa.  

If you can't access the article in the above link, try doing so here.

China Pressures African Governments on Beijing's Core Domestic Interests

 The Associated Press published on 9 April 2025 an article titled "Beijing Ups Diplomatic Pressure on Africa as the US Pulls Back" by Dake Kang.

The government of China pressured Malawi and Gambia to withdraw from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a group of lawmakers from 38 countries concerned about how democracies approach Beijing.  IPAC has coordinated sanctions on China over rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong and rallied support for Taiwan.  These actions by China raise questions about its claims that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of African countries. 

Comment:  This policy by Beijing is consistent with its long-standing willingness to push back when African governments take exception to any of China's core domestic issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, island building in the South China Sea, and human rights policies. 

China and the West: Different Approaches to African Debt Relief

 Megatrends Afrika published on 15 June 2023 a commentary titled "Debt Relief in Africa: Conflicting Interests between the West and China Hinder Multilateral Solutions" by Karoline Eickhoff and Rainer Thiele.  

The paper discusses the different approaches to African debt relief taken by China, on the one hand, and Western countries and Western-dominated institutions on the other.  

China, Africa, and Rare Earth Elements

Brookings published on 29 December 2022 a paper titled "Could Africa Replace China as the World's Source of Rare Earth Elements?" by Gracelin Baskaran. 

China now has 60 percent of global production and 85 percent of processing capacity of rare earth elements.  Africa's potential in rare earths is largely untapped given low levels of exploration.  Scaling up exploration of rare earth elements could put it in a position to compete with China.

China's Parliament Diplomacy in Africa

 Aljazeera published on 14 October 2022 an article titled "Analysis: Does China's 'Palace Diplomacy' Benefit Africa or Beijing?" by Thomas O'Falk.

China has been financing and building parliaments across Africa, most recently in Zimbabwe.  It has financed and built others in Mozambique, Lesotho, Guinea-Bissau, and Malawi.  It is often not clear if the financing terms are commercial loans, interest-free loans or grants, but China's goal is to gain political influence through these projects (and make a profit if the financing is based on commercial loan terms).

China-Malawi Relations

 The most recent issue of the Journal of Humanities, published by the University of Malawi, contains four open access articles dealing with China-Africa or China-Malawi relations.  They are:

--Retrospect and Prospect of Sino-Africa Cultural Exchange in the 21st Century by You Yonghong.

--Umunthu as an Undergirding Philosophy of Education for Malawi: Lessons from Confucianism by Beaton Galafa.

--A Comparative Study of Malawian and Chinese Policies on Girls' Education by Jim Chatambalala.  

--Framing the China-Malawi Story: A Content Analysis of Stories Published by Nation Publications in Malawi.

Barbaric Working Conditions at Chinese Factory in South Africa

 The Citizen published on 23 June 2022 an article titled "Home Affairs Condemns 'Slave-like' Working Conditions at Chinese Factory in Ekurhuleni" by Faizel Patel.  

The South African Department of Home Affairs condemned the barbaric working conditions at a Chinese-owned plastics factory that employed illegal immigrants from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and China.

Racism Is Universal; China Is No Exception

 Panda Paw Dragon Claw published on 21 June 2022 a commentary titled "BRI Notebook: 'Racism for Sale'" by T. J. Ma.  

This commentary discusses a BBC investigative report "Racism for Sale" of a Chinese online industry that has set off a storm in the China-Africa space.  The particular online video exposed by the BBC is a clear case of racism, but it is part of an industry that is much less clear and poses challenges for ending. 

Only Ten African States Vote to Expel Russia from UN Human Rights Council

 The UN General Assembly voted on 7 April 2022 to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council because of its human rights abuses in Ukraine.  The vote was 93 in favor, 24 opposed, 58 abstaining, and the remainder not voting.  

Only ten (Chad, Comoros, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Sierra Leone) of Africa's fifty-four countries voted to expel Russia.  Nine (Algeria, Burundi, CAR, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Mali, and Zimbabwe) voted alongside Russia in a failed effort to defeat the resolution.  The two major surprises opposing the resolution were Ethiopia and Gabon.  Twenty-four African states abstained and eleven did not vote.  

China's Role in Debt Service of African Countries

 The Green Finance and Development Center at Fudan University in Shanghai published on 21 March 2022 a study titled "Brief: China's Role in Public External Debt in DSSI Countries and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2020" by Mengdi Yue and Christoph Nedopil Wang.  

The study looks at 68 countries, most of them in Africa, eligible under the debt service suspension initiative (DSSI).  It is estimated that 26 percent of the total debt service paid by the 68 DSSI countries in 2022 would go to China, compared to 17 percent to bondholders and 9 percent to the World Bank-IDA.

The five countries experiencing the highest percentage change in outstanding public external debt to China between 2019 and 2020 were Guinea (95 %), Lesotho (60 %), Burkina Faso (55 %), Sierra Leone (43 %) and Rwanda (33 %).  

Africa and the World Happiness Report 2022

 The World Happiness Report 2022 has just been published.  The country rankings of happiness are based on a three-year average from 2019 through 2021 for 146 countries globally, including 39 in Africa.  The study uses six variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption. 

The highest scoring African country was Mauritius at number 52.  Eight African countries held positions in the bottom ten: Zambia (137), Malawi (138), Tanzania (139), Sierra Leone (140), Lesotho (141), Botswana (142), Rwanda (143), and Zimbabwe (144).  

The Impact of Putin's War on Africa

 African Business published on 3 March 2022 an article titled "How Will the Russia-Ukraine War Affect Africa?" by Shoshana Kedem.

Surging commodity prices will create winners and losers in Africa.  Large importers of wheat like Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana and of oil like Kenya will experience negative impacts.  Exporters of oil like Nigeria and Angola will benefit.  But Russia accounts for only 2-3 percent of Africa's trade, although it is 8 percent for Malawi and 7 percent for Uganda.  Nor is Russian FDI in Africa significant, less than 1 percent of total FDI in Africa.  Sanctions on Russia will decrease FDI even more.