IntelliBRICS

With trillions of dollars of investable wealth, the Gulf states have identified Africa as a profitable investment destination. This is excellent news for a continent poised for rapid economic growth. BRICS states are already the largest investors in Africa and a mega-deal between new members the UAE and Egypt indicates a growing interest in African investments that go beyond energy and mining projects typically favoured by countries like Russia and China. After joining BRI

It is hard to shake the feeling that the United States lacks a long-term strategy for engaging with the African continent in a productive manner. The Trump administration’s recent threat to widen controversial travel restrictions to include dozens of African states is openly discriminatory and starkly contrasts Beijing’s recent decision to remove all tariffs on African exports to China. Plans to expand the number of countries whose citizens could be barred from visiting the U

There is an ancient African proverb which says that when elephants fight it is the grass that gets trampled. This has certainly been the case in the war between Russia and NATO in Ukraine. When these military giants collided, African states were caught in the crossfire. Poverty and interest rates increased, along with the prices for much needed fuels, foods, and fertilizers. While direct trade exposure is relatively low, Africa still relies on Russia and Ukraine for key input

Nelson Mandela once described education as the most powerful weapon to change the world. Russian President Vladmir Putin agrees. With a surge in African students studying in Russian universities, the Kremlin appears to have identified education as a way of enhancing its influence in Africa. When Putin rose to power in the late 1990s, the number of African students studying at Russian universities stood at approximately 4,000, a sharp decline from the Soviet era when over 15

The United States has fallen behind the BRICS in Africa. China is the largest economic player on the continent, both in terms of trade and investment. Russia donates free food and fertiliser to struggling countries and is winning allegiance as a trusted security partner. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are investing heavily to secure access to critical minerals and India is expected to follow suit in line with its recently announced ‘Critical Minerals Mission’. This relative decline

In the world of geopolitics, water can be as powerful as oil, and the ongoing dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian...