US Critical Minerals Policy in Africa

 The Global South Policy Hub, a Washington-based nonpartisan think tank, published on 17 August 2026 a paper titled "Aligning U.S. Critical Minerals Policy with Africa's Development Agenda" by Alaka Lugonzo.  

Africa holds about 30 percent of the world's critical minerals that power renewable energy technology.  Africa's critical mineral wealth is rapidly reshaping its relationship with the United States.  The author argues that current US mineral partnerships remain heavily tilted toward securing supply chains rather than delivering shared economic benefits.  

The United States has an opportunity to rethink its approach by moving away from extractive relationships toward transparent industrial partnerships along the lines of the African Union's African Green Mineral Strategy (AGMS).  A more sustainable approach would align US strategic interests with Africa's development agenda.

Comment:  While this is sound advice, China is a much larger importer of Africa's critical minerals than the United States.  It would be useful if some organization, particularly one in Africa, could offer similar advice for Beijing.

Long-term Impact of South Sudan Flooding

 Deutsche Welle published on 4 August 2026 an article titled "South Sudan: How Climate Change Can Turn Toxic" by Buster Emil Kirchner and Marco Simoncelli.

Devastating flooding in South Sudan's Unity State in 2021 continues to have negative impacts on the environment and the wellbeing of people living in the affected area.  More than 50 of South Sudan's 400 oil wells remain submerged, which has contaminated water and farmland.  This has led to a variety of health problems.

Illegal Gold Mining in Ghana and the Chinese Role

 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.  

China, the US and Africa Green Minerals Strategy

 China-Africa Security Radar published on 5 July 2026 a commentary titled "China, the United States, and Africa's Green Minerals Vision" by Paa Kwesi Wolseley Prah.

In 2025, the African Union adopted a continental policy framework called Africa Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS), which aims to turn Africa's critical and green minerals endowment into sustainable, value-adding industrialization that supports a just energy transition and regional supply chain integration.  

China has the processing capacity, investment scale, implementation speed, and institutional flexibility to advance African industrialization--but its commercial incentives run directly against allowing Africa to independently climb the value chain.

The US offers somewhat more transparent financing structures, stronger governance standards, and procedural models that on paper seem to better protect African states from debt traps--but it lacks the industrial ecosystem and the genuine political will to support African manufacturing rather than African extraction for American consumption.   

How Conflict in Africa Shapes Chinese Investment

 China-Africa Security Radar published on 21 April 2026 an article titled "Recent Study Maps How Conflict in Africa Shapes Chinese Investment."

A recent study by scholars affiliated with the People's Public Security University of China maps how China's expanding presence in Africa intersects with regions already characterized by persistent and, in many cases, escalating conflict.  The study tracks how armed conflict across Africa has evolved between 1997 and 2024 and what this shift means for China's economic and strategic exposure, particularly under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The authors identify a consistent pattern, which is that in certain contexts, weaknesses in labor relations, environmental management, and community engagement can contribute to local dissatisfaction.  In some cases, this dissatisfaction escalates into protests or localized unrest around Chinese projects.  As China's economic presence expands across conflict affected regions, the question of protecting overseas assets and personnel has become more central.  

Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe Warns Its Mining Companies

 Reuters published on 19 March 2026 an article titled "Beijing Tells Chinese Firms to Strengthen Zimbabwe Risk Prevention after Mineral Export Ban."  

The Chinese embassy in Harare warned Chinese mining companies to uphold local laws and regulations after Zimbabwe suspended exports of raw minerals and lithium concentrate.  

China, Africa, and Cobalt

 Delaware-incorporated Farmonaut posted on 7 March 2026 a promotional piece titled "Cobalt Shares: China, Africa and the Global 2026 Refining Share."

In 2026, China will control over 75 percent of global cobalt refining capacity, although it mines less than 2 percent domestically.  Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of Congo, supplies more than 70 percent of the world's cobalt, but refines less than 5 percent of its own product.  This promotion looks especially at the use of cobalt in the agricultural and forestry sectors.  

The Plusses and Minuses of China's Investment and Trade in Africa

 The Conversation published on 10 March 2026 a commentary titled "China in Africa: Investment and Trade Work Well When There's Strong Oversight, and Badly When There Isn't" by Vincent Tawiah, Dublin City University.

The author concludes that Chinese investment, loans, and trade in Africa offer substantial economic opportunity, but they can also lead to the rapid depletion of vital energy and forestry resources, undermining long-term development goals if institutional guardrails are weak.

China Replaces South Africa as Primary Chrome Processor

 Discovery Alert posted on 1 March 2026 an analysis titled "China Becomes World's Leading Chrome Processor Overtaking South Africa" by Muflih Hidayat.  

Ferrochrome production, which is essential for stainless steel, requires consistent, energy-intensive processing.  Although South Africa is the source of much of the world's chrome ore, China's coal-based power generation is more reliable and cheaper than South Africa's electricity.  Consequently, processing of the ore has shifted from South Africa to China.

Chinese Mining-Energy Investments in Zimbabwe

 The South African Institute of International Affairs published in January 2026 a paper titled "Examining Integrated Chinese Mining-Energy Investments in Zimbabwe" by Yaseen Tayob and Adrian Joseph.

The paper assesses Chinese investments in Zimbabwe's mining and energy sectors and shows that they provide identifiable economic value to the Zimbabwean economy, particularly in the country's lithium mining sector.

Chinese Construction Company Under Fire in Nigeria

 Nigeria's Newstimes published on 8 February 2026 an article titled "FG Issues Deadlines to Chinese Road Contractors."

The government of Nigeria warned China Harbour Engineering Company and its sister firm, China Harbour Engineering and Maintenance Company, that it has received complaints of substandard work, slow mobilization, and environmental hazards on key road projects across the country.  The government called on the Chinese companies to take remedial measures, adding it would no longer tolerate poor execution, undue delays, or disregard for contractual standards.

China's Distant-Water Fishing in Indian Ocean Has Multiple Motives

 Mizzima, a non-profit foundation that supports social change and development in Myanmar, published on 28 January 2026 a commentary titled "Weaponising the Trawl: China's Maritime Militia, Distant-Water Fishing, and the Strategic Contest in the Indian Ocean."

Chinese fishing fleets maintain a massive presence in the Indian Ocean region.  What appears on the surface as fishing is, in practice, a grey-zone strategy, blending economic exploitation, intelligence gathering, and coercive presence to reshape the maritime realities without triggering open conflict.

In addition, see Sweekriti Pathak's "Fishing and Force: China's Dark Fleets and Maritime Militias" dated 29 January 2026 published by India's Observer Research Foundation.  

China's Critical Minerals Strategy in Africa

 The Africa Center for Strategic Studies published on 9 December 2025 a paper titled "China's Critical Minerals Strategy in Africa" by Paul Nantulya.

China controls over half of global critical minerals production and an estimated 87 percent of its processing and refining capacity.  It also produces nearly 70 percent of rare earth minerals.

China's strategy for dominance in critical minerals includes a tolerance for high-risk projects, generous government support to Chinese companies, diversified access to minerals, financial support of African infrastructure linked to mineral extraction, financing the development of African mineral projects, and strategic stockpiling of critical minerals in China.  

Building Resilient Cities in Somalia

 The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies published in December 2025 a study titled "Building Resilient Cities: Environmental Protection and Construction Safety in Somalia's Urban Development" by Abdullahi Ali Mohamed.  

The study highlights how unregulated construction, environmental degradation and intensifying climate shocks are reinforcing urban fragility amid weak institutional capacity.  It outlines an integrated policy framework focused on sustainable urban planning, professionalizing the construction sector, and strengthening climate resilience.  

Will African Countries Stand Up to China?

 The BBC posted on 2 December 2025 an article titled "Devastating Toxic Spill Seen as Test of Whether African Countries Will Stand Up to China" by Mayeni Jones.

The collapse in Zambia of a tailings dam for a Chinese copper mining company resulted in a toxic mess for the local population.  It is now up to the Zambian government to hold the company fully responsible.  This has become a test of how hard Zambia is willing to pressure a company whose government holds $5 billion of its debt.  

China Takes Lead at COP30 but Africans Suffer

 Foreign Policy published on 4 December 2025 an article titled "Africa Was the Biggest Loser of China's COP30 Triumph" by Nathaniel Mong'are, speaker of Kenya's Young Parliamentarian Association.  

Beijing, in the absence of the United States and wavering of the European Union, asserted leadership at the COP30 summit in Brazil, preserving the status quo for Big Oil, petrostates, and the world's largest emitters.  While China, which produces a third of the world's emissions, was the summit's de facto climate champion, it received a positive reputation that it does not deserve.  The losers were African countries whose mines and forests are experiencing environmental damage by Chinese extraction companies.  

The US Can Outcompete China in Africa

 The American Enterprise Institute published on 26 November 2025 a commentary titled "The U.S. Can Outcompete China in Africa" by Liam Karr and Yale Ford.

AEI argues that American companies have a better track record than Chinese companies on issues such as protecting the environment, worker safety, and labor standards.  US companies are less likely to make some of the mistakes made recently in Africa by Chinese companies.  Consequently, African countries should be attracting more US investment, and US companies should win more construction contracts than Chinese companies.

Comment:  In theory, this is a valid argument, but it overlooks financing advantages often offered by Chinese state banks and state-owned companies, a larger on the ground presence in Africa by important sectors such as Chinese construction and IT companies, a willingness by Chinese companies to take higher risks, a greater willingness by Chinese companies to engage in corrupt practices that are all too common in Africa, fewer governmental incentives available to American companies, and just less interest in Africa by American companies.  There is no indication this situation will change anytime soon.  

Ethiopian Volcano Eruption Impacts Indian Air Travel

 The BBC published on 25 November 2025 an article titled "Ethiopian Volcano Eruption Sends Ash to Delhi, Hitting Flight Operations" by Abhishek Dey.

An Ethiopian volcano dormant for several thousand years recently erupted sending an ash column to India, where it interrupted air travel.  

China-Zambia Relations

 The South China Morning Post published on 19 November 2025 an article titled "Railway Deal and a Toxic Spill Likely to Top Agenda as Chinese Premier Visits Zambia" by Jevans Nyabiage.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Zambia in route to the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Key issues on the agenda will likely be new funding for rehabilitating the Tanzania-Zambia railway, the aftereffects of a major toxic spill by a Chinese mining company in Zambia, and terms for Zambia's repayment of debt to Chinese banks.  

DRC Suspends Chinese Company after Major Acid Effluent Spill (in French)

 The Business & Human Rights Resource Center posted on 6 November 2025 an article titled "RDC: Les autorites suspendent les activites de la societe miniere CDM apres une pollution par une fuite d'effluents industriels."

The Democratic Republic of the Congo suspended the operation of Chinese company Congo Dongfang Mining following a serious spill of industrial effluents, polluting several districts in the city of Lubumbashi.  The company had no control system and no emergency plan to deal with such a problem