Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: Africa

U.N. Forces in the Congo Are Having Little Impact

U.N. Forces in the Congo Are Having Little Impact

As a new rebellion remains active in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, talk of a neutral force, comprised entirely of neighboring African nation troops from the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), is heating up. This rebellion, which began in April, has already displaced over 250,000 residents in […]

read more

Grace, Milly, Lucy…Child Soldiers (2010)

Grace, Milly, Lucy…Child Soldiers (2010)

This documentary is excellent. It documents the after effects of war on three young women who were abducted as children and forced to serve in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). That rebel Ugandan force, led by Joseph Kony, is notorious for kidnapping and forcing those captured to fight. For more than 20 years his group has abducted […]

read more

South African Miner’s Strike: When Will the Government Step In?

South African Miner’s Strike: When Will the Government Step In?

News over the weekend that platinum-producing giant Anglo American Platinum (Amplat) had fired 12,000 workers from its mining operations in Rustenberg, South Africa, just north of Johannesburg, added fueling to an already highly combustible situation. The workers are striking in hopes of obtaining higher wages and improved working conditions from the world’s largest platinum producer. This comes shortly […]

read more

Is the World Doing Enough for the Congo?

Is the World Doing Enough for the Congo?

While the civil war in Syria continues to grab headlines, prompting some in the international community to call for immediate intervention, another major conflict, displacing thousands of civilians, rages in Central Africa. Despite the rising number of refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as the reports of massive human rights violations being committed against the local […]

read more

The Listening Project (2008)

The Listening Project (2008)

Four Americans traveled to 14 countries to find out what ordinary people think of the United States. The responses were predictable: most professed admiration for Americans but vehemently disliked the United States government. There were few surprises in this documentary, which was filmed in “pre-Obama” time. The more touching scenes involve an Afghan woman who lost […]

read more

A New Cure for Malaria?

A New Cure for Malaria?

Recently, researchers at the University of Cape Town (UCT) announced that they had developed a single-dose treatment for malaria. As National Geographic reports, the drug developed at UCT kills malaria parasites in animal test subjects “instantly,” including those that are drug-resistant—and with no adverse side effects. Clinical trials will begin in 2013. South Africa-based eNews has a little […]

read more

U.S. must tread carefully in Zimbabwe

U.S. must tread carefully in Zimbabwe

Council of Foreign Relations senior fellow Ambassador John Campbell recently released a policy innovation memorandum entitled, “Zimbabwe: An Opportunity for Closer U.S.-South Africa Relations.” It is heartening to see analysts writing on topics they perceive as beneficial to closer relations between the United States and South Africa. Campbell, a former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, makes […]

read more

Food crisis forcing more child marriages in Niger?

Food crisis forcing more child marriages in Niger?

Posted by contributor Andres Santamaria. A recent Washington Post article by Sudarsan Raghavan reports about the abundance of teenage girls getting married as a result of food shortages in Niger.  Nearly one of two girls gets married before the age of 15 in hopes of exchanging dowries to provide much needed food and financial support […]

read more

Deal of the Century: Will Chinese Investment Save Congo?

Deal of the Century: Will Chinese Investment Save Congo?

by Nathan William Meyer   Twenty-four trillion dollars.  It is a number that beggars the imagination, almost 40% of the global economy, and it is buried in one of the world’s poorest and most violent countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Failed state, rape capital of the world, humanitarian catastrophe – the Congo personifies all […]

read more

Aid shortfall threatens refugees in Dadaab

Aid shortfall threatens refugees in Dadaab

Housing nearly half a million people, the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya been a growing haven for those fleeing drought, famine and chaos in neighboring Somalia, albeit one with problems of its own.  This past week, aid agencies reported that funds needed to keep servicing the camp are falling short by nearly $25 million. “The […]

read more

Meet the African Union Chair Madame Zuma

Meet the African Union Chair Madame Zuma

Call it the century of African women! First, there was the Nobel winner Ma Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the current president of Liberia. Then, there was the grassroots women’s rights activist Joyce Hilda Banda, who was sworn in April 2012 as the president of impoverished Malawi after the death of wa Mutharika . And now, the […]

read more

A Tale of Two Mothers: Food Insecurity in Ethiopia

A Tale of Two Mothers: Food Insecurity in Ethiopia

A video slideshow from the BBC illustrates the circumstances of two Ethiopian women, each dealing with food insecurity.  Fitsum Birhan Tadele is a 20-year old mother of two who lives in Ethiopia’a arid Hintalo Wajerat district, whose people rely on food aid each dry season. The slideshow also shows how a food-for-work irrigation project can […]

read more

U.S. Calls Out Boko Haram

U.S. Calls Out Boko Haram

Why is it that the media in the West seem to fixate on some stories while completely ignoring others? The strategic analysis firm Stratfor recently sent their subscribers a report by Robert Kaplan that contained the following quote that provides an insightful answer: The media love people stories; they love to humanize everything about a […]

read more

A Barrage of Stories

A Barrage of Stories

Very early tomorrow morning I head to South Africa for my first trip there in nearly a year. I’ll be there for three weeks and will be upping my frequency and volume of posting. But in the meantime, here is a deluge of stories that have been piling up in my tabs: At The Atlantic […]

read more

A Candid Discussion with Steve Killelea

A Candid Discussion with Steve Killelea

Interview conducted by Reza Akhlaghi. One of Australia’s leading business leaders, Steve Killelea is the founder and Executive Chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). Mr. Killelea is also the driving force behind the Global Peace Index (GPI), the world’s first and leading measure of global peacefulness. GPI measures ongoing domestic and international conflicts, safety, and […]

read more

About Us

Foreign Policy Blogs is a network of global affairs blogs and a supplement to the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions program. Staffed by professional contributors from the worlds of journalism, academia, business, non-profits and think tanks, the FPB network tracks global developments on Great Decisions 2014 topics, daily. The FPB network is a production of the Foreign Policy Association.