Ivory Coast is the main focus, while Chinese loans and contracts also proliferate in French-speaking Senegal, Mali, Niger and Togo. When Ivory Coast put out a tender to build a bridge over the lagoon in its commercial hub of Abidjan,…
For over 25 years, maritime strategy and port development in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden appeared relatively static. Eritrea looked inwards, neglecting its coast. Djibouti flourished, lucratively embracing Ethiopia’s trade, overseas investors and foreign military bases. Somalia’s shores…
Across the world, China is busy lending large sums of money to economically vulnerable countries and then leveraging that debt for strategic gain. That’s according to a new academic report prepared for the US State Department by the Harvard Kennedy…
The US will probably remove Sudan from the SST before end-December, owing to sustained progress in counter-terrorism co-operation and on regional security. Although President Bashir asked for Russia’s support against alleged “US aggressive acts” on 23 November, this is likely…
A car bomb exploded near Bilal Ben Rabah mosque in Suluq, eastern Libya killing the prominent leader of Awageer Tribe, Ebrik Al-Lawati. The car bombing came after Friday prayer according to sources from the city. This bombing is no accident,…
OBOR IN AFRICA SGR: a window on Africa opportunities and risks One of the highest-pro le infrastructure projects in East Africa is Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). At an estimated total cost of KSh1.2trn (US$14bn), the SGR constitutes the largest…
Key Points Diplomatic and economic relations with Saudi Arabia will decline further in 2017 as Egypt reassesses its domestic security requirements under its weak financial position. Cairo’s regional policy is likely to be motivated by a Russian-Iranian confrontation with Salafist-jihadist…
The main separatist group in northern Mali, the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), has suspended its participation in a committee charged with implementing a 2015 peace accord, according to a statement seen Tuesday by Reuters. The document, dated December 19…
The death of three DGSE officers in Libya on July 17 sheds light on the French external intelligence service’s activities in the country. At the forefront of missions in Cyrenaica, the DGSE does not work alone in Libya. It benefits from both…
ESISC: Since the beginning of the year the steady raise of violence in Nigeria’s southeast demonstrate a new alarming trend for regional security since Goodluck Jonathan, the first president from the Niger Delta regions, lost re-election in March 2015. The…