Africa

China’s Soft-Power Advantage in Africa

Beijing Isn’t Just Building Roads—It’s Making Friends

When U.S. policymakers consider China’s influence in Africa, they often think of big-ticket infrastructure development programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the past two decades, Beijing has spent billions building dams, highways, railways, and ports in countries from Egypt to South Africa.

But those sorts of projects are only part of the story. China’s evolving presence in Africa, including the BRI, is based as much on investment in building social and human capital as it is on giant infrastructure projects. Since the beginning of this century, Beijing has invested heavily in cultivating political,

4,400 migrants lost at sea bound for Spain in 2021, double previous year

More than 4,400 migrants, including at least 205 children, were lost at sea trying to reach Spain in 2021, a monitoring group said on Monday – more than double the figure from the previous year and the most since the group began counting in 2018.

The group, Walking Borders, or Caminando Fronteras, blamed increasingly dangerous routes, inferior boats and the fear of some vessels to help migrants at sea for the surge in deaths, Reuters reported. According to Spanish official statistics, 39,000 undocumented migrants successfully reached Spain by sea or land last year, a similar figure to the previous year.

Sahel Conflict Set To Worsen In 2022 – Analysis

Islamist militant attacks increased this past year in the Sahel region, leading to political instability that saw a coup in Mali, an attempted coup in Niger, and calls for Burkina Faso’s president to resign. Burkina Faso experienced the deadliest terrorist attacks since the conflict began, but analysts say the worst could be yet to come.

2021 marks the ninth year of conflict in Africa’s western Sahel, and in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, violence has only worsened.

Egypt supports Cyprus against Turkey

Egypt has criticized Turkey’s plan for a two-state peace deal on ethnically divided Cyprus.

Egyptian criticism of Turkey’s plan for a two-state solution peace deal on ethnically divided Cyprus has come as the latest sign of ongoing tension between Cairo and Ankara despite previous diplomatic efforts to rebuild their relations.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that his country rejects the two-state solution Turkey is seeking to impose as a condition for the resumption of peace talks under the auspices of the United Nations.

Le « Maghreb », une invention coloniale ?

Le débat sur le concept de « Maghreb » a récemment ressurgi à l’occasion de la parution d’un ouvrage développant l’hypothèse d’une éventuelle origine coloniale. Une question complexe.

Un article paru le 9 décembre sur le site Orient XXI reprend le dernier ouvrage de l’anthropologue Abdelmajid Hannoum, qui interroge la notion de « Maghreb » pour savoir si elle est le fruit d’une invention coloniale française. La thèse est la suivante : par la conjonction de trois aspects, – représentation cartographique, archéologie, et mélange « langue, race, territoire »- le discours colonial ne se serait pas pas contenté de « bouleverser les identités et les traditions », il en aurait « créé de toutes pièces, sous les apparences du local mais sans l’avoir jamais été ».

Iranian Newspaper Puts Literal Targets on Israeli Sites in Public Threat

An English-language Iranian newspaper has put a literal bull’s-eye on dozens of sites inside Israel that it says the Islamic Republic will target if Israel makes “just one wrong move.” The Tehran Times published the article that topped its website on Tuesday, featuring a large map of Israel with pins representing potential targets, including in the West Bank and on the borders with Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.

1 Killed, 78 Rescued After Migrant Boat Capsizes Off Tunisian Coast

Tunisia’s navy retrieved the body of an Egyptian man who was killed, and rescued 78 survivors, mostly from Bangladesh and Egypt, who were trying to reach Europe, after the boat that was carrying them capsized off the coast of Tunisia on Wednesday. The migrants had left from Libya the previous night, Tunisia’s Defense Ministry said. The rescued migrants were turned over to municipal authorities, according to a report by the AFP.

In late November, 487 migrants, including 93 children, were rescued off the Tunisian coast as they tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in an overloaded boat.

Mali : entre Barkhane et Wagner, la guerre de communication fait rage

Le groupe russe Wagner mènerait une bataille de com’ sur les réseaux sociaux, flirtant avec la désinformation. Sur des médias maliens plus traditionnels, l’opération Barkhane y va aussi de ses spots publicitaires…

Au Mali, comme dans d’autres pays africains en mal de sécurité, grincent les dents des antennes militaires des chancelleries dès qu’est prononcé « Wagner », le nom du groupe paramilitaire russe. Question de principe d’abord : comment combiner, sur un théâtre d’opération, une coopération militaire publique jaugée par des contribuables européens, via leurs élus, et le concept commercial de mercenariat exonéré de considérations politiques ?
Désinformation

EU cooperation with Libya on migrants marred by ‘inhumane’ treatment

Efforts to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean have exposed a chasm between the EU’s stated humanitarian values and its actual practices. Mounting evidence of harsh abuses is increasing pressure on the EU border patrol agency to match actions to words.

For several years, Europe has been convulsed by the issue of migration, which has become a fiercely contentious subject of debate. And rather than reform its outdated and unworkable rules, which would be very politically sensitive, the European Union has outsourced migration control to countries beyond its frontiers.