Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Senior Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. It was a tumultuous week for tens of thousands of African asylum-seekers in Israel, though it ultimately produced no clarity on whether some or all of them might be permitted to stay in the country and where they might go if they’re kicked out. On Monday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government and the United Nations refugee agency had reached an “unprecedented understanding” by which more than 16,000 of the African asylum-seekers, many of whom [...]
Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Associate Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Though the deal was approved on a Friday night, Ghana’s opposition made sure it wouldn’t be buried. A week ago, lawmakers in the West African country passed a new agreement on military cooperation with the United States. It features terms that have proven controversial, including granting the U.S. access to Ghanaian radio channels and tax exemptions on imported military equipment. Perhaps most importantly, it also gives the U.S. military the “unimpeded” freedom to deploy across the country. “We will [...]
Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Senior Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. What good is an African free trade deal that doesn’t include the continent’s two largest economies? That’s the question economists are asking after both Nigeria and South Africa refrained from joining the 44 countries that signed onto the African Continental Free Trade Area, or ACFTA, during a summit meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, on Wednesday. Though they were not the only holdouts, they were by far the most significant. Taken together, the two countries represent one-third of Africa’s gross domestic [...]
