Chadian peacekeepers with the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) patrol a check point, Tessalit, northern Mali, Nov. 3, 2013 (U.N. photo Marco Dormino).

Who can do the best job of fighting terrorists in Africa? Islamist extremist groups such as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, Somalia’s al-Shabab and northern Nigeria’s Boko Haram are garnering increasingly intense international attention. Last week, the U.S Army chief of staff was in Tanzania to discuss the threat with his African counterparts. In the meantime, United Nations Security Council ambassadors were visiting Somalia, while Western and Arab foreign ministers met in Vienna to discuss Libya, where the self-declared Islamic State has a foothold. Also last week, the Nigerian government claimed a symbolic victory when it announced that it had […]

View of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dec. 9, 2007 (Flickr photo by irene2005 licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license).

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the impact of falling oil and commodities prices on resource-exporting countries. Last week, the prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), proposed a new budget that included cutting government spending by 30 percent in a bid to avoid hyperinflation, as the economy continues to suffer from low global commodities prices. In an email interview Yvan Yenda Ilunga, a doctoral student in the division of global affairs at Rutgers University, discussed the effect of declining revenues from commodities on the DRC’s economy. WPR: How important are commodities […]

Cuban dissident Miguel Alberto Ulloa holding his prison release document, Havana, Cuba, Jan. 9, 2015 (AP photo by Ramon Espinosa).

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and host Peter Dörrie discuss the challenges facing NATO, South Sudan’s unstable peace, and Kim Jong Un cementing his power at North Korea’s party congress. For the Report, Ted Henken, joins us to explain what normalization with the U.S. and reforms mean for Cuba’s economy and political opposition. Listen: Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant articles on WPR: From Russia to Refugee Crisis, NATO Faces Biggest Test Since the Cold War Machar’s Return Only the First Step in Bringing South Sudan Back Together North Korea Party Congress Shows Kim’s Power—and […]

U.N. peacekeepers on patrol with Congolese soldiers near Tongo, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, March 19, 2014 (U.N. photo by Sylvain Liechti).

There will be a major crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before the end of 2016, and nobody really knows what to do about it. This is neither an alarmist nor even a particularly contentious statement. Diplomats, United Nations officials and independent analysts agree that trouble is looming over the DRC’s presidential election, which is supposed to take place in November. The constitution bars the sitting president, Joseph Kabila, from running for a third term. However, almost all observers believe he intends to cling onto power, potentially unleashing serious violence. Nobody can predict exactly how ugly this could […]

Aerial view of a 500W solar system in a rural village, Uganda, April 1, 2015 (Photo by Sameer Halai for USAID).

Earlier this year, the U.S. Congress passed the Electrify Africa Act, ensuring the continuation of U.S. President Barack Obama’s “Power Africa” initiative, which aims to expand power-generation capabilities across the continent. In an email interview, Ilmi Granoff, a senior research associate at the Overseas Development Institute, discussed the state of Power Africa and power generation in Africa. WPR: Broadly speaking, what are the current power-generation capabilities of sub-Saharan Africa, and where are the biggest shortfalls? Ilmi Granoff: The entire installed capacity of sub-Saharan Africa is about 76 gigawatts (GW). The shortfalls are enormous: South Africa has 48 of those 76 […]