The Rise of Eritrean Cyclists

 African Arguments posted on 15 September 2024 a commentary titled "Eritrean Cycling: How a Colonial Legacy Became a National Passion" by Mohamed Kheir Omer, an African-Norwegian researcher based in Oslo.  

Introduced by the Italians in the late 19th century, cycling has become a vital part of Eritrean culture.  Eritrean Biniam Girmay became the first African cyclist to win the Green Jersey at the 2024 Tour de France.  Eritrean success in cycling has occurred in spite of the fact that the government prioritizes military service over athletic development.  

Russia and the West: Trying to Get It Right in the Sahel

 The Foreign Policy Research Institute published on 30 July 2024 an analysis titled "The West's Loss of the Sahel: Not (only) Russia's Doing" by Dan Whitman.  

Russian disinformation alone is not responsible for the rejection of France and the United States in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.  Weak democracies, historic resentment of French colonialism, and disillusionment with Western military assistance contributed to the problem.  Russia just exploited African ire.  Are the Russians next to experience African disillusionment?  

China-Africa Symposium Highlights Left-wing Cold War Terminology

 The Review of African Political Economy posted on 24 July 2024 a commentary titled "Africa and China: Counter-Hegemonic Narratives --An Introduction" by Ying Chen and Corinna Mullin.

This piece is a summary of a symposium that took place in December 2023 at The New School titled "The African Continent and China: Counter-Hegemonic Narratives."  It assesses "the reductionist, orientalist and often racist depictions that dominate mainstream media and scholarly spaces on China-Africa relations."  It attributes African underdevelopment to "policies imposed by western dominated multilateral institutions like the IMF and World Bank under the neoliberal 'Washington Consensus'."

Comment:  Much of the jargon used in the symposium took me back to my African study days in the 1960s and 1970s when Cold War terminology was the predominate rhetoric.  The summary suggests that the presentations were quick to praise China's positive activities in Africa and gloss over or even ignore the negative ones.  While it is useful to assess accurately China's limited role in Africa's debt crisis, was there any discussion of China's mercantilist trade policy toward the continent where it sells almost entirely finished goods and buys almost exclusively natural resources?  And in recent years, China has consistently had a large trade surplus!

After reading this summary, it is all smiles in Beijing, and Moscow.  

South African Relations with China

 The American Security Project blog posted on 3 October 2023 a commentary titled "Assessing South Africa's Complicated Relationship with China" by Aaron Schwartz.

China has strong trade, investment, political party, military, and strategic ties with South Africa.  The author concludes the relationship "is starting to resemble a new type of colonialism."

Russian Flags Fly in Africa's Sahel Region

 The New York Times published on 1 October 2023 an article titled "The Hottest New Accessory in Niger? A Russian Flag" by Elian Peltier.

The Russian government is behind the spread of Russian flags in the Sahel region of Africa but it is also seen as "cool" by young Africans to wear shirts with Russian colors.  Young Africans see the flag and shirts as a protest against colonialism and as a way to thumb their nose at the West generally.  It is less clear, however, if this trend is translating into political influence for Moscow.

Podcast on Great Power Rivalry in Africa

 Network 20/20, an independent nonprofit organization, ran on 19 September 2023 a one hour discussion titled "Great Power Rivalry in Africa: Who Is Winning?" with Catrina Doxsee, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Joseph Sany, US Institute of Peace, and me.

This is a wide ranging discussion on the competing engagement and policies of the United States, China, Russia, and France in Africa with a focus on recent developments. 

Kenya-South Sudan Border Dispute

 The Conversation published on 16 February 2023 a commentary titled "Ilemi Triangle: How Resources Fuel East Africa's Border Conflicts" by Al Chukwuma Okoli, Nigeria's Federal University of Lafia.  

The Ilemi Triangle, land claimed by Kenya and South Sudan, is rich in oil and water.  The quest for resources drives the conflict.  It is one of many boundary disputes in East Africa that require a regional border management mechanism to find enduring solutions to disputes often driven by disagreements over natural resources.

Africa's Ukraine Dilemma

 Foreign Affairs posted on 5 September 2022 a commentary titled "Africa's Ukraine Dilemma: Why the Continent Is Caught Between Russia and the West" by Nanjala Nyabola, a Kenya-based political analyst.

Only a handful of African countries have taken a strong stance on Putin's war against Ukraine, and even those have focused primarily on denouncing aggression more broadly.  There is skepticism in African capitals about taking the Western side in a faraway war in Europe, a skepticism which is also rooted in a power imbalance between the West and African countries.  

There are also practical reasons for failing to take Ukraine's side such as Russian disinformation in Africa, significant Russian arms sales to African countries, Soviet support for earlier African liberation movements, and the current influence of Russian mercenaries in several African countries. The predominant African position is to avoid taking sides and to encourage peace and diplomacy.  

Outcompeting China in Africa

 The National Interest published on 27 July 2022 a commentary titled "America Can Still Out-Compete China in Africa" by Daniel Haile, US Army Officer.

The author argues that Washington needs to be a reliable African partner, not pre-impose its political ideology, and adopt a laissez-faire approach to the continent.  It also needs to stop relying on autocratic leaders to secure its geopolitical interests to slow the rise of Chinese influence.  

An African Calls Out Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

 Premium Times published on 25 May 2022 a commentary titled "Why Africa Must Not Celebrate Russian Bombing of Ukraine" by Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International deputy director for research in southern Africa.  

This is a hard-hitting condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine by a Zambian who stated that "Africans need to understand that Russian aggression is as immoral and harmful as Western colonialism or imperialism."  She added that "Africa risks going down a rabbit hole if it ignores the impact this invasion is likely to have on our continent's freedoms and development."

Push Back against Chinese Companies in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's Bulawayo 24 News published on 25 May 2022 a commentary titled "Zimbabwe Leaders Eagerly Defending Chinese Colonialism!" by Tendai Reuben Mbofana, social justice activist.   

The author argues that in 1980 Zimbabwe never really became independent.  It just switched from one colonial master to another.  Chinese companies have replaced white settlers and the British empire.  

Putin's War Has Lessons for Africa

 Nigeria's The Nation published on 3 March 2022 a commentary titled "Three Lessons for Africa from the Ukraine-Russia Crisis" by David Monda, City University of New York.

First, the Ukraine crisis has shown Africa that Russia still has designs of reestablishing its colonial style domination of its former republics and is not a benign middleman pursuing altruistic goals in Africa.  Second, the war in Ukraine has shown Africa that the post-9/11 world order is a loose and tenuous multi-polarity.  Third, Russia's actions in Ukraine illustrate to Africa that major power competition results in weak states suffering.  

Kenyan Rebuke of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

 UNTV posted on 22 February 2022 a four-minute speech titled "Kenya's Envoy to UN Cites Colonial Past as He Condemns Russian Move into Ukraine."

Kenya's ambassador to the United Nations, Martin Kimani, drawing on Kenya's colonial past, gave an eloquent and courageous speech that was a sharp rebuke to Russia's actions in Ukraine, called on the world to respect the territorial integrity of the Ukraine, and reject the recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk.  

Africans Have Agency with China If They Use It

 The Diplomat published on 11 February 2022 a commentary titled "African Opportunities in China-Africa Relations" by Ndidi Akahara, London/Abuja based Africa analyst.

The author argues that if African countries fall into excessive debt with China, African leaders and not China bear the largest share of responsibility.  Africans have the capacity to chart their own political and economic paths.  

Left-wing Analysis of China-Africa Relations

 The Review of African Political Economy published on 13 January 2022 a commentary titled "Africa-China Relations: South-South Cooperation or a New Imperialism?" by Kristin Plys, Amenophis Lo, and Abdulhamid Mohamed, all members of the Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa in Toronto. 

The authors present an old fashioned left-wing interpretation of the China-Africa relationship that reads more like a mild version of the Chinese interpretation of Western relations with Africa in the 1960s and 1970s.  The authors conclude that "as long as there remains a power differential in African states' individual dealings with China, it will remain a tie that will ultimately result in economic benefit for China and the exploitation of Africa."

Comment:  What goes around, comes around.  

China-Africa: Not a Colonial Relationship

 The Jamaica Observer published on 31 August 2021 a commentary titled "China and Africa Relations Should Not Be Viewed in Silos" by Shelly Ann Murphy.

The author concluded that while there are significant similarities between China's sourcing of natural resources from Africa and the practices of former colonial powers, numerous key differences give Beijing's activities a different character from that of colonialism.  

Ethiopia's Future: Ethiopian Professor Takes Issue with Kaplan's Analysis

 Foreign Policy posted on 22 July 2021 an analysis titled "Ethiopia's Problems Stem from Internal Colonialism" by Teferi Mergo, University of Waterloo in Canada.

The author takes issue with a recent commentary by Robert Kaplan (see 10 July below) and argues that the Yugoslavia analogy is much closer to the unfolding reality in Ethiopia.

Violence Begets Violence in the Red Sea

 Foreign Policy published on 26 July 2021 an article titled "How the Red Sea Became a Trap" by Nicholas W. Stephenson Smith.

The author argues that the Red Sea's history shows that violence begets more violence.  It began when colonialism planted the seeds of instability that persist to this day.  

South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda: The Role of Customary Authority

The Rift Valley Institute recently posted a study dated 2018 and titled "Customary Authorities Displaced: The Experience of Western Equatorians in Ugandan Refugee Settlements" by Bruno Braak, Van Vollenhoven Institute in Leiden, and John Justin Kenyi, independent South Sudanese researcher.

The report examines the consequences of conflict and displacement on customary authority among refugees in Uganda from former Western Equatoria state in South Sudan. Various forms of non-customary authority proliferate in these refugee settlements, in some ways filling the gap left by the missing chiefs. Despite a general decline in the fortunes of customary authorities in Western Equatoria, and their near absence in the Ugandan refugee settlements, they remain popular among the region's people.

Why Africa Loves China

Aljazeera published on 6 January 2019 a commentary titled "Why Africa Loves China" by Mehari Taddele Maru.

While the commentary contains a modicum of balance, it concludes that "China is already winning the hearts and the minds of Africans. The West will have to either change tact or forever play catch up."

The opinion piece contains some legitimate criticisms of widely held negative views in the West of China's policies in Africa, but errors by dismissing China's loans tied to Chinese companies, China's trade surpluses, its contribution to African debt, and its lack of support for the rule of law in Africa. And since when does one African speak for 1.2 billion Africans?