Program Publications
África según Xi
IntelBrief: The Horn of Africa's Undervalued Asset
IntelBrief: Managing Africa's Youth Bulge
IntelBrief: Implications of the Kenyan Elections
IntelBrief: Eritrea on the Edge
Ansari Center in the News
5-16-13: "GOP Using Benghazi to Smear" (CNN)
5-14-13: "What Canada is contributing to Mali and why the situation is getting worse" (Globe and Mail)
5-10-13: "Une mise en avant d’un partenariat stratégique essentiel à la stabilité et au progrès dans la région" (MAP)
5-9-13: J. Peter Pham Interviewed on Ansar al-Sharia (Fox News)
5-7-13: Bronwyn Bruton Interviewed on the United Kingdom's Pledge to Send Security Aid to Somalia (BBC Radio 4)
5-2-13: J. Peter Pham Interviewed on Somali Famine (BBC News Hour)
5-2-13: J. Peter Pham Interviewed on Somali Famine (BBC World News)
5-2-13: "Samakuva e Chivukuvuku buscam apoios no ocidente" (O Pais)
5-1-13: "Post-Intervention Prospects for Mali's Tuareg: Part II" (World Politics Review)
5-1-13: "Post-Intervention Prospects for Mali's Tuareg: Part I" (World Politics Review)
4-25-13: "المدير السابق لوحدة مكافحة الإرهاب الأفريقى بالبنتاجون لـ الوطن : مصر تحولت إلى «محطة ترانزيت» للجهاديين" (EWN)
4-25-13: "Embassy Row: Shadow democracy in Africa" (Washington Times)
4-23-13: "In Nigeria Battle, Militants Reveal Bolstered Firepower" (Wall Street Journal)
4-23-13: "La position du Maroc a été écoutée en très haut lieu à Washington et à l’ONU" (La Nouvelle Tribune)
4-23-13: "Des experts américains mettent en avant l'importance du Maroc pour les intérêts stratégiques des Etats Unis" (MAP)
4-22-13: "Somaliland: President To Visit Washington D.C." (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization)
4-16-13: "Dénaturer le mandat de la Minurso va à rebours des impératifs géostratégiques, vérité historique irréfragable" (MAP)
4-15-13: "Chad’s Leader Says Troops Ill-suited to Mali’s Emerging Guerrilla War, Will Leave" (Associated Press)
4-11-13: "How to Fight Africa’s Wars" (Global Post)
4-9-13: "In Mali, a war ends but instability lingers" (Christian Science Monitor)
4-8-13: J. Peter Pham Interviewed on Sahel and Maghreb Challenges (World Affairs Council Radio Show)
4-5-13: "New Combat Focus for U.S. Africa Command" (Stars and Stripes)
4-2-13: "Next for Kenya: President on Trial in The Hague, Though a Push to Drop Charges Begins to Form" (Associated Press)
4-2-13: J. Peter Pham Interviewed on Continued Fighting in Mali (BBC World News)
3-28-13: "Obama Meets with Leaders of 4 Small African Nations, Hails Continent’s Democratic Potential" (Washington Post)
3-26-13: "Plusieurs organisations humanitaires mondiales contre le paiement de rançons aux terrorists" (Le Temps De d'Algérie)
3-26-13: J. Peter Pham Interviewed on the Situation in the Central African Republic (China Central Television News)
3-26-13: J. Peter Pham Interviewed Live on Rebel Takeover of the Central African Republic (CTV News)
3-26-13: "Ethiopia’s Ruling Coalition Completes Transition After Meles" (Reuters)
3-26-13: J. Peter Pham Interviewed on China in Africa (Secure Freedom Radio)
3-25-13: "Xi Tries to Ease African Concerns About China’s Influence" (VOA News)
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.
IntelBrief: Kenya: Bringing Terror Home
October 19, 2012
In the eleventh of a series of “IntelBriefs” on African security issues being produced by the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center in partnership with the Soufan Group, an international strategic consultancy, Ansari Center Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton draws attention to police persecution of Kenya’s Somali population and warns that a homegrown radicalization problem is brewing.
Ansari Africa Center Hosts Visit by Sierra Leonean Delegation
October 16, 2012
The Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a visit today by a delegation from the Office of the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, led by Professor V.E. Strasser-King, director of the Strategy and Policy Unit, and Caroline King, coordinator of policy benchmarking.
J. Peter Pham: Dealing With Mali's Plunge Into Failed State Status (US News & World Report)
October 16, 2012
J. Peter Pham, director of the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, published the op-ed "Dealing with Mali's Plunge into Failed State Status" for US News & World Report.
J. Peter Pham on Ghana’s Detention of Argentine Warship in The National Interest
October 16, 2012
J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, published an essay on the significance of Ghana’s continued detention of an Argentine warship on behalf of the Latin American country’s creditors, “Ghana Takes on Argentina,” in The National Interest.
Gérard Prunier Delivers Keynote Address at ASMEA Conference
October 15, 2012
Gérard Prunier, senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, delivered the keynote address on “Gaddafi’s Downfall and its Impact on Sub-Saharan Africa” at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA).
Cry Libertad: Ghana's Blow for Rule of Law, Fiscal Probity
J. Peter Pham | October 05, 2012
Slowly, but surely, word is getting out about Africa’s overall buoyant economic prospects. What just a few years ago was universally pitied as the “hopeless continent” is today home to six of the world’s fastest growing economies.
Bronwyn Bruton Speaks on Panel at USIP Somalia Event
October 01, 2012
Bronwyn Bruton, deputy director at the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, spoke on a panel at an event entitled “Whither Somalia,” held at the US Institute of Peace (USIP).
IntelBrief: Yemen and Somalia: Assessing the Threat
October 01, 2012
In the tenth in the series of “IntelBriefs” on African security issues being produced by the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center in partnership with the Soufan Group, an international strategic consultancy, Ansari Center Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton weighs the evidence of and potential for operational cooperation between the various Islamist extremist groups in Yemen and Somalia, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Ansar al Sharia, and al Shabaab.
J. Peter Pham Defends Drones in Africa in BBC’s Focus on Africa
September 26, 2012
J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, wrote an invited commentary for the current issue of the BBC’s Focus on Africa magazine defending the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, popularly known as “drones”) in Africa.
Launch of the 2012 African Economic Outlook Report
September 26, 2012
The Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center partnered with the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution and the African Development Bank to host the Washington launch of the latter’s 2012 African Economic Outlook (AEO) Report with a panel discussion at the Council today.
Program Staff
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Senior Fellow PROGRAM EVENTS
Briefing on Somalia by Former Coordinator of the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea
The Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted Matt Bryden, director of Sahan Research and former coordinator of the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea for a briefing on the current situation in Somalia.
Briefing by Leadership of Angola’s Main Political Opposition Party, UNITA
The Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a briefing and roundtable discussion today with the leadership of Angola’s largest opposition political party, the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA).
Somaliland’s Achievement in a Fragile Region
The Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a speech today by His Excellency Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo, president of the Republic of Somaliland, on “Somaliland’s Achievement in a Fragile Region.”
Discussion with Zimbabwean Minister of Finance Tendai Biti
The Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a not-for-attribution roundtable discussion with the Right Honourable Tendai Biti, MP, minister of finance of the Republic of Zimbabwe and secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Former French Prime Minister François Fillon, Senator Chris Coons Discuss Threats in Northwest Africa in Capitol Hill Briefing
The Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center organized a briefing on Capitol Hill on “Collective Security Threats in North and West Africa” featuring a keynote presentation by former French Prime Minister François Fillon and remarks by Senator Chris Coons, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs.
Youth Unemployment in Africa: Addressing the Challenge
The Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), hosted a discussion on youth employment in Africa with Mario Pezzini, director of the OECD Development Centre.
The African State and the Failure of US Counterterrorism Initiatives in Africa
The Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a luncheon presentation by Hussein Solomon, senior professor in the department of political science at the University of the Free State in South Africa, on “The African State and the Failure of US Counterterrorism Initiatives in Africa.”
