Association For Strategic Culture and Research Foundation

IGAD's Chinese-backed infrastructure projects will eventually create a regional version of Beijing's vision for a Community of Common Destiny, one of the central philosophical tenets behind BRI.

Exclusive Interview by Kester Kenn Klomegah

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) held the 41st Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government in Lilongwe, Malawi on 17 to 18 August 2021 with a limited number of participants. The modest symbolism associated with the gathering was to observe strictly the COVID-19 protocols

The selection of the UAE, Uruguay and Bangladesh as the first three non-founding partners of the NDB indicates the intentions of BRICS – regional expansion with a focus on economic and transportation cooperation. This cooperation, as well as integration, is especially crucial as the world struggles to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout.

In recent decades, French foreign policy in Africa has been preoccupied with a jump-start of relations with the African nations, marked by a gradual curtailment of the Françafrique, a concept that provided for a direct military and political intervention in affairs of the French-speaking nations on the continent. France is now in search for a more balanced framework for interaction with the countries in the region.

United States investors are looking forward to exploring several opportunities in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a policy signed by African countries to make the continent a single market.

American administrations, have consistently backed the TPLF, who established close connections with the US government during their 27 years in power (1991-2018), contacts that they are making full use of now.

The AU and the EU, both together and individually, must focus their efforts on the appropriate vehicles for attaining this goal. For its part, the AU will need to establish stronger institutions capable of nurturing economic growth and ensuring that its gains are widely shared. As recent coups in West Africa show, many African countries have a long way to go to establish good governance and thereby provide for their populations.