Tuesday
6th Jun 2023
The EU could be a global leader in marine sustainability and significantly reduce forced migration, if only it would challenge those who profit from ransacking African resources.
With 60 percent of African countries spending more on debt repayment than on national healthcare, the EU should use Global Gateway financing to address structural issues rather than conversations about finance.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most terrible colonial crimes in history — one which still has not been recognised nor whose people have ever been compensated for: Spain's chemical bombing of the Moroccan Rif.
The Brussels International Center (BIC) is an independent, non-profit, think-and-do tank based in the capital of Europe that is committed to developing solutions to address the cyclical drivers of insecurity, economic fragility, and conflict in the Middle East and Africa.
The Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements is a platform of European and African-based organizations that raises awareness about the impacts of the EU-Africa fisheries arrangements on African artisanal fishing communities.
Russia is gaining power in the Central African Republic as the EU pulls out, amid similar developments in neighbouring Sudan.
The violent chaos in Sudan might well end with Russia building a strategic naval base there as warlords court foreign sponsors, experts warn.
"Each morning, I see at least seven fish dead from pollution," says Abraham Npkor, a fisherman from Rumuekpe in Rivers State, southern Nigeria. He claims even those he can still bring to the market now "have an odour."
The relationship between one of Africa's smallest countries, run by the world's longest-serving dictator, remains difficult — especially after the European Parliament broke its 20-year silence on human rights in the country.
European governments are phasing out fossil fuels at home, but continuing their financial support for fossil mega-projects abroad. This is despite the EU agreeing last year to decarbonise export credits — insurance on risky non-EU projects provided with public money.
How political turmoil and repression — and an over-reliance on fossil resources — killed a flourishing tourism industry.
The search for an elusive "partnership of equals" between African states and the European Union remains a slow, unsteady and increasingly challenging work in progress.
"Africa has to unite behind a single agenda on debt resolution. We know what China wants, we know what the US wants, we know what the World Bank wants, but we don't know what Africa wants."
EU diplomats and civilians are fleeing Sudan amid concern Russian mercenaries will exploit the Western vacuum.
Mali has kicked out European forces. Instead, the Russians, and their Wagner paramilitaries are welcomed in. What can we learn from it? What do Mali's pro-Russian civil society actors themselves say? What drives the choice to invite Russia in?