When President Donald Trump lost the 2020 US presidential election to democratic candidate Joe Biden, many leaders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) saw an ominous warning that democracy may again take center stage in US foreign policy, with autocrats trying to consolidate power in their hands.
One would think that Russia was busy with other matters, but on February 20, 2022 – at the height of the Ukraine Crisis – the Sudanese Foreign Ministry announced that the Vice Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti” would travel to Moscow at the end of the week and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov.[1] It is the first visit by a senior Sudanese official to Russia since the October 25, 2021 military coup in Sudan which removed the civilian part of the Sudanese government under Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok.
Exploited and abused for generations by white colonial powers and manipulative economic structures, there is a growing feeling of solidarity within parts of the African continent, as exemplified by the #NoMore movement. Covid vaccine inequality and environmental injustice, together with recent events in Ethiopia have galvanized people.
Introduction
In this paper, I will attempt to analyze the downward trend of collective intelligence among Ethiopia’s political leaders and elites. (1) The analysis covers a historical period that begins with the reign of Emperor Menelik II (2) (r. 1889–1913) until the premiership of Abiy Ahmed (since 2018). The study will therefore also cover two other monarchical periods: the era of Empress Zewditu (r. 1916–1930) (3), who was modern Ethiopia’s first female head of state, as well as the period of Emperor Haile Selassie (r. 1930–1974). Subsequently, the analysis will move on to the country’s conflicting experiments with republican governance: the military regime of Socialist Ethiopia, or Derg, (in power from 1974 to 1991) and the ethnic-federalist regime of the EPRDF/TPLF (1991 to 2018). It will conclude with the current regime, in power since 2018.
Policy differences between Europe and Africa have been widening, and while there may be warm words about a new partnership when the leaders of the EU and African Union meet in Brussels, there are unlikely to be breakthroughs on key African demands.
Evguéni Prigojine, homme d’affaires russe, a donné une interview exclusive sur la société militaire privée Wagner qui a récemment attiré l’attention de l’opinion publique mondiale.
« Je voudrais encore une fois souligner que la société militaire privée Wagner comme phénomène n’existe pas. Il s’agit de la légende de Robin des Bois. On lie tout ce qu’il se passe de bien dans le monde avec les Russes, et tous les Russes avec le groupe Wagner », a fait savoir Evguéni Prigojine.
Le businessman russe Evguéni Prigojine, qui est considéré comme le Chef du groupe Wagner, a dissipé les rumeurs sur l’existence de cette société militaire privée et a donné un aperçu des événements récents sur le continent africain.
Le gouvernement malien a invité la France à retirer sans délai les forces Barkhane et Takuba du territoire national sous la supervision des autorités maliennes, selon un communiqué publié ce vendredi par le ministre malien de l’Administration territoriale et de la Décentralisation, et porte-parole du gouvernement malien, Abdoulaye Maïga.
America Must Push Back—Without Getting Dragged In
The day after the military staged a coup in Burkina Faso in January, supporters of the new regime took to the streets waving Russian flags. The scene may sound like a throwback to the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union competed for influence in Africa, but the demonstrators were taken with more recent examples of the Kremlin’s actions on the continent. They spoke approvingly about Russia’s deployment of mercenaries in Libya, Mali, and the Central African Republic (CAR) to fight off Islamist insurgents. “The Russians got good results in other African countries,” a supporter of the coup told The New York Times. “We hope they can do the same here.” According to the Daily Beast, the lieutenant colonel who led the coup, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had tried and failed to get the incumbent president to invite in Russian military contractors to counter threats to the government—and now that he is in charge, he may well ask Moscow for military help.
The France government, yesterday, pledged to collaborate with Nigeria in a renewed bid by both countries to contain terrorism and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
France made the pledge as the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd), sought more proactive intelligence gathering mechanism and technological support to drive new information sharing regime in aid of the military campaigns in the country.