The concept of the African Standby Force needs to adapt to the modern realities of conflict.
People carry some of their belongings as they flee clashes between M23 rebels and government forces near Sake on 7 February 2024.
Photo by Aubin Mukoni /AFP via Getty Images
Regional countries are embroiled in a geopolitical struggle over influence and survival.
People protest against the conflict in eastern DRC during an African Union assembly in Addis Ababa on 17 February 2024.
Amanuel Sileshi /AFP via Getty Images
The international effort to address three decades of violence in eastern DRC has drawn in the UN, east African troops and now a southern African force.
Soldiers on patrol in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in November 2022.
Guerchom Ndebo/AFP via Getty Images
A comprehensive strategy does not seem to be an immediate priority for Congolese authorities with an eye on elections.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi waves an official copy of the nation’s Constitution during his swearing in on January 24, 2019.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images
African leaders can make strategies to fight COVID-19 more accessible to the people.
Soldiers from the Mozambican army patrol the streets in Mocimboa da Praia following an attack by suspected Islamists in October 2018.
Adrien Barbier/AFP via Getty Images
The Mnangagwa regime’s coercive acts are a continuation of the violence and brutality of the Mugabe era, while he seeks global re-engagement and selective national dialogue.
The port of Mombasa in Kenya, which was the first country, with Ghana, to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in 2018.
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Frank Mattheis, University of Pretoria and Ueli Staeger, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)
Africa’s new continental free trade area, the AfCFTA, is a remarkable achievement. However, decisive diplomatic, technical and social action is needed for it to succeed.
If Africa’s maritime territories are strengthened this will open the door to sustainable blue economy opportunities.
Ismail Zetouni/Reuters
If African countries and their regional bodies want to reap substantially from the blue economy, then it’s time for the continent to invest heavily in securing its maritime resources.
Chinese President Xi Jinping reviews the guard of honour on a state visit to Zimbabwe.
Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo
Cobus van Staden, South African Institute of International Affairs and Chris Alden, London School of Economics and Political Science
A narrow interest in whether Beijing actively pushed for Mugabe’s fall is based on the assumption that the China-Africa relationship is an isolated phenomenon.
The coup in Zimbabwe means Mugabe’s long and disastrous presidency is finally over. The questions that remain are the precise details and mechanics of the deal which secures his departure.
A fisherman prepares his boat on Lake Malawi about 100 kilometres east of the capital Lilongwe.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Whatever the limitations of mediation – even a painfully slow one – Malawi stands to gain more from a consensual resolution in the boundary dispute with Tanzania.