Africa News

The Daily Signal covers Africa with reporting and conservative commentary on terrorism in the Sahel, Islamic extremism, Chinese Belt and Road expansion, humanitarian challenges, failed states, and America’s strategic interests in countering adversary influence on the continent.
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    • Opinion

    African Growth and Opportunity Act and Generalized System of Preferences Renewal Delayed by Fast-Track Debate

    After much delay, Congress has acted on two much anticipated trade preference programs: the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). But, unfortunately, the preference bills have been caught up in the controversies surrounding President Obama’s trade agenda. At the last minute, House leaders attached language to the renewal…
    Anthony B. Kim
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    • Opinion

    U.S. Should Support Media Freedom in Africa

    The state of media freedom in Africa is “grim,” according to the media freedom group Reporters Without Borders, which took stock of the situation recently on World Press Freedom Day. Outside the traditional bastions of democracy—North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan— the media in much of the world are increasingly troubled. In the Middle East…
    Helle Dale
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    • Opinion

    Renewing the African Growth and Opportunity Act

    In a recent event, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R–Utah) emphasized the importance of the timely renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA): [W]e have to renew [AGOA] before the end of this summer. As you all know, the AGOA program encourages African countries to further open their economies to international trade…
    Anthony B. Kim
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    • Opinion

    Nigeria’s Successful Election Is an Example of Democracy for African Nations

    The main opposition contender in Nigeria’s presidential election, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has been declared the winner, unseating incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan. Buhari, leading the All Progressives Congress, won by more than 2.57 million votes, a 53.95 percent majority. Compared to the last presidential elections in 2011, Buhari did not cede any states to Jonathan, but in…
    Charlotte Florance
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    • News

    Rand Paul: Democrats Taking African-American Vote ‘For Granted’

    In a video clip you won’t see anywhere else, Sen. Rand Paul tells a group of pastors that the Democrat Party is taking African-American voters for granted. “There’s an eagerness for someone to meet with them,” Paul, R-Ky., said. “The Democrats have completely taken this whole body of voters for granted.” When talking about a…
    David Brody
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    • Opinion

    This African Country Was Once the World’s Third Poorest. Here’s How It Turned Things Around.

    GABORONE, Botswana—Western governments, well-intentioned NGOs and good-old-fashioned profit-seeking capitalists have been trying for decades to help bring development and prosperity to Africa, often unsuccessfully. Botswana embraced democracy, free markets and the rule of law. In other words, economic freedom. But buried in the heart of Southern Africa lies a success story that could be a model…
    Ed Frank
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    • Opinion

    Sub-Saharan Africa Is Struggling to Achieve Economic and Democratic Freedom

    Two new reports show that Africa still has significant room for improvement in the areas of economic and democratic freedom. The Sub-Saharan Africa region improved only slightly in the 2015 edition of The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal’s annual Index of Economic Freedom: Thirty-nine of the region’s economies remain “mostly unfree” or “repressed.” In the Freedom…
    Daniel Patrick Shaffer
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    • News

    ‘We Need Inspirations All Over the World Right Now’: Why This Small North African Country Might Be It

    Four years since Tunisia became known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring, the tiny North African country is fast becoming something else: a democracy. Mark Green, who has made a life out of fighting poverty and promoting democracy in Africa, traveled to Tunisia in October as its citizens voted in the country’s first full…
    Josh Siegel
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    • News

    ‘A Little Like a War:’ He Treated Ebola in Africa, Now Helps Prepare at Home

    When Ebola hit America and a cascade of unfortunate events followed, Tim Mosher began nudging his hospital to enhance its planned response in case the deadly virus were to come there. Mosher, who had confronted the disease in West Africa and treated it successfully, is the only person at the Ohio-based hospital with such experience….
    Josh Siegel
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    • News

    From Africa to the US: Ebola in One Timeline

    President Obama calls the Ebola virus a “serious disease.” The World Health Organization classifies the outbreak an “international health emergency.” Below are the facts, tracking the spread of the West African epidemic to the United States. >>> Use the arrows to advance or jump to an event using the scrollbar at the bottom.
    Philip Wegmann
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    • Opinion

    Ebola Cases, Already Rampant in West Africa, Expected to Double Every 3 Weeks

    Ebola’s devastating impact throughout West Africa—along with several cases in Europe and the United States—has garnered global attention, but the affected countries are now suffering from a hidden impact of the outbreak. Non-Ebola deaths are skyrocketing in West Africa because of the increased strain on an already weak medical and emergency response capability. According to…
    Charlotte Florance
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    • News

    ‘Horrific, Hellish and Awful’: Ohio Man Treats Ebola in Africa, Helps Save U.S. Aid Workers

    Dr. Kent Brantly, the American doctor infected with Ebola while working in West Africa, only saw Tim Mosher’s eyes. As part of his mission in Liberia with the nonprofit aid group Samaritan’s Purse, Mosher treated Brantly, a colleague whom he had never formally met but whose life he was now helping save. With six or…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    Unlocking Energy Opportunity in Africa

    Visiting America for the U.S.–Africa Leaders Summit last week, heads of African nations had plenty to say about the need to increase access to reliable, affordable energy. Yet some are trying to dissuade African investment in conventional energy sources such as coal and natural gas in an effort to stave off global warming. Roughly 550…
    Katie Tubb
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    • Opinion

    Obama’s Africa Summit: A Few Positive Notes, More Questions

    The first U.S.–Africa Leaders Summit concluded this week. President Obama has, quite expectedly, characterized it as “an extraordinary event, an extraordinary summit.” The three-day summit yielded some positive notes and outcomes. Yet on balance, the summit was the Administration in a nutshell—compelling theatrics, nice sounding rhetoric, ambitious promises, and lingering doubts about implementation and follow-through….
    Brett Schaefer
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    • Opinion

    Ghana Woes a Warning to Other Oil-Rich African Countries

    African leaders are in Washington this week for the White House–sponsored U.S.–African Leaders Summit, a meeting of nearly 50 African heads of state meant to promote trade and investment. But for Ghana, the optimism surrounding the conference and a second U.S. aid compact have been drowned out by economic troubles at home. One of West…
    Ryan Olson
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    • Opinion

    The Obama Administration Needs to Stop Ignoring Africa: Seven Ways the U.S. Could Help

    African leaders and citizens had great expectations in 2008 that the election of President Barack Obama would elevate the prominence of Africa and its concerns in U.S. government deliberations. These expectations have not been met. Shortly before the 2008 election, a senior Obama campaign Africa policy adviser outlined an agenda of (1) accelerating Africa’s integration…
    Brett Schaefer
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    • Opinion

    Q&A: Ebola in Africa Not Yet a National Security Issue

    This latest outbreak of the Ebola virus is getting a great deal of attention, as it should. Here are some questions that need to be asked and some answers you need to know: What is Ebola? The Ebola virus is a severe, often fatal disease that is in the hemorrhagic fever category. The symptoms include…
    Charlotte Florance
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    • Opinion

    West African Countries Finally Create a Coordinated Intelligence Unit

    After years of disconnected and uncoordinated counterterrorism efforts in West Africa and the Sahel, recent attacks by Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansaru, and other al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups in Africa have pushed many countries to accept the need for a coordinated intelligence effort. Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, and many other al-Qaeda affiliates act…
    Lauren Aragon
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