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.

J. Peter Pham Debates Security Threats in Mali on the RT Television Network’s “Cross Talk”

April 06, 2012

J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, was a guest yesterday on the Russian state-owned television network RT’s flagship “Cross Talk” program, hosted by Peter Lavelle.

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J. Peter Pham Authors NDU Report on Nigerian Militant Islamist Group Boko Haram

April 05, 2012

J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, authored a new report on the Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) at the National Defense University.

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J. Peter Pham at US Institute of Peace to Discuss Liberian Security Sector

April 04, 2012

J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, was a featured speaker at a US Institute of Peace (USIP) event today on Security Sector Transformation in Post-Conflict Liberia.

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Counter-Piracy Task Force: Lessons Learned From Naval Counter-Piracy Operations

April 04, 2012

On April 4, the International Security Program and the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a meeting of the Atlantic Council Maritime Piracy Task Force, chaired by Atlantic Council Board Director Franklin D. Miller. This is the fourth meeting in a series of discussions looking into the challenge of piracy and possible strategic approaches.

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IntelBrief: Islamists Gain Ground Amid Mali Coup

April 04, 2012

In a new collaboration, the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center will be occasionally partnering with the Soufan Group, an international strategic consultancy, to make available short timely reports on African security issues as part of the latter’s “IntelBrief” series.

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J. Peter Pham Discusses Western Sahara at Council on Foreign Relations

April 03, 2012

J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, was a featured speaker on a panel today on “The Western Sahara Crisis: Why U.S. Leadership is Needed Now,” sponsored by the Moroccan American Center, at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Luncheon Colloquium on Africa Strategy with Lieutenant-General Jean-Paul Perruche

April 03, 2012

On April 3, the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center organized a luncheon colloquium today for Lieutenant-General (ret.) Jean-Paul Perruche, research director for Euro-Atlantic security at the French Ministry of Defense’s Institute for Strategic Research-École Militaire (IRSEM) and a member of Atlantic Council’s Strategic Advisors Group, and Maya Kandel, research fellow at IRSEM.

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The Mess in Mali

J. Peter Pham | April 02, 2012

In less than two weeks, the West African nation of Mali has gone from being a rare oasis of democracy and stability to a near failed state whose troubles threaten to ripple across the Sahel where the security situation, always delicate even in the best of times, is especially stressed in the wake of the flow of refugees, fighters, and arms from the Libyan conflict last year.

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J. Peter Pham Testifies before House Panel on China’s Role and Influence in Africa

March 29, 2012

J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, testified at a House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on “Assessing China’s Role and Influence in Africa.”

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Building Capabilities to Sustain Growth: A Conversation with H.E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda

March 29, 2012

On March 29, the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted H.E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, for a roundtable luncheon discussion with senior policy makers and opinion leaders at the Army and Navy Club in Washington, DC.

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