Ansari Africa Center

The Atlantic Council established the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center in September 2009 with a mission to promote strong geopolitical partnerships with African states and to redirect US and European policy priorities towards strengthening economic growth and prosperity on the continent.

The Africa Center provides thought leadership on emerging security, geopolitical, and economic challenges in Africa through congressional testimony, publications, briefings, events, and a robust media presence. The Center assists policymakers in addressing the complex security challenges facing Africa, including the problems of state collapse; humanitarian crises; piracy; the growing nexus between extremism and criminality in West Africa and the Sahel; the ongoing political transitions in North Africa; ongoing challenges in Central and Southern Africa; and the growing impact of Islamist extremism on African polities and economies. Within the context of the Atlantic Council’s work to promote constructive US leadership and engagement in international affairs, the Center supports and collaborates with the public and private sectors in forging practical solutions to challenges and opportunities—particularly economic opportunities—in Africa. The Center seeks to persuade policymakers and the public sector of the strategic importance of Africa while analyzing the efforts of new actors on the continent—including China, India, Brazil and Turkey—and their impact on US and European interests. In its newest initiative, to be launched in 2013, the Center will inform decisions about participating in Africa's economic and commercial opportunities by engaging in a collaborative partnership to create an innovative real-time African Investment Scorecard.

Over the course of the past year, the Africa Center has provided an important platform for assessing and revising US policy toward Sudan and South Sudan and has been at the cutting edge of analysis on the growth of extremism in the Sahel and West Africa as well as the fragile progress being made in Somalia. In addition to ongoing work on these specific geopolitical challenges, the Center’s programming focuses on five policy initiatives: Influencing African Security Policy, African Prosperity, Emerging Economic Powers in Africa, Conversations with African Leaders, and Leaders of Tomorrow.

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

To join the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center mailing list, email africa@acus.org.

NEW LOCATION

The Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center are located in the Atlantic Council’s Satellite Office at 888 16th Street, NW | 8th Floor | Washington, DC 20005.

Crisis in the Sahel: Mali Terrorism Threat Growing

Rudolph Atallah | May 23, 2013

Over the past year, things have escalated dramatically in Mali, causing further instability in the Sahara and the Sahel. Many skeptics underestimated the Islamist threat and claimed that the Saharan branch of Al-Qaeda in the Magreb (AQIM) was only focused on kidnappings for ransom and illicit trade, rather than jihadist activities.

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J. Peter Pham Speaks on Sahel Politics and Security in The Hague

May 23, 2013

J. Peter Pham, director the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, was one of four experts invited to address a high-level international conference on the crisis in the Sahel region convened today in The Hague.

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Rudolph Atallah Speaks on Regional Dynamics in the Sahel at the Carnegie Endowment

May 22, 2013

Rudolph Atallah, senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, spoke at an all-day conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace entitled “Perilous Desert: Security Challenges in the Sahara and Sahel.”

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Crisis in the Sahel: Overview

Rudolph Atallah | May 22, 2013

North Africa and the intertwined Sahel, from Egypt to Mauritania, is a region that has undergone profound and destabilizing political and social change in the last several years, especially since the “Arab Spring” of 2011. Nascent political systems, newly empowered non-state actors, and underlying structural problems in the region contribute to an increasingly volatile mix, the implications of which—especially terrorism—are global in scope.

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Rudolph Atallah Testifies before House Panel on Crisis in the Sahel

May 21, 2013

Rudolph Atallah, senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, testified at a House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on “The Growing Crisis in Africa’s Sahel Region.”

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J. Peter Pham Briefs House Foreign Affairs Committee Staff on Africa

May 20, 2013

J. Peter Pham, director the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, spoke on terrorism and other security issues in Africa at a briefing on the continent organized by the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs for committee staff and those from the offices of members of Congress serving on the committee.

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Briefing by Abel Epalanga Chivukuvuku, Leader of Angolan Opposition Political Coalition CASA-CE

May 20, 2013

The Atlantic Council's Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a briefing and roundtable discussion today with the leadership of Angolan opposition political coalition, the Convergência Ampla de Salvação de Angola--Coligação Eleitoral (CASA-CE).

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África según Xi

May 17, 2013

Casa África, the Spanish Government’s institute for promoting relations with Africa, has published a Spanish translation of an updated version article on Chinese engagements in Africa by J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center.

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J. Peter Pham Addresses Doha Security Symposium on “Arc of Crisis”

May 13, 2013

J. Peter Pham, director the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, was an invited speaker at the Doha Security Symposium in the Qatar, May 11-13.

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J. Peter Pham Discusses Ansar al-Sharia and Other African Militant Groups (Fox News)

May 09, 2013

J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s  Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, was interviewed by Jenna Lee on the Fox News Channel’s Happening Now in a segment on Ansar al-Sharia, the group linked to the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, and other extremist organizations in Africa.

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