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Africa

Africa: U.S. Foreign Assistance Issues

Posted Fri, 02/11/2011 - 01:00

U.S. aid to Africa initially reached a peak in 1985, when global competition with the Soviet Union was at a high point. After the cold war ended, security assistance levels for Africa began to decline. In 1995, at the outset of the 104th Congress, substantial reductions in aid to Africa had been anticipated, as many questioned the importance of Africa to U.S. national security interests in the post-cold war era. As the debate went forward, however, congressional reports and bills emphasized U.S. humanitarian, economic, and other interests in Africa.

International Criminal Court Cases in Africa: Status and Policy Issues

Posted Fri, 04/02/2010 - 00:00

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has, to date, opened cases exclusively in Sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty-two cases are currently before the ICC, all of them pertaining to crimes allegedly committed in five African states: Kenya, Sudan (Darfur), Uganda (the Lord's Resistance Army, LRA), the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic. The ICC Prosecutor has yet to secure any convictions.

U.S. Trade and Investment Relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa: The African Growth and Opportunity Act

Posted Thu, 02/04/2010 - 01:00

Following the end of the apartheid era in South Africa in the early 1990s, the United States sought to increase economic relations with Sub-Saharan Africa. President Clinton instituted several measures that dealt with investment, debt relief, and trade. Congress required the President to develop a trade and development policy for Africa. The economic challenges facing Africa today are serious.

Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa

Posted Fri, 10/02/2009 - 00:00

In recent years, analysts and U.S. policymakers have noted Africa's growing strategic importance to U.S. interests. Among those interests are the increasing importance of Africa's natural resources, particularly energy resources, and mounting concern over violent extremist activities and other potential threats posed by uncontrolled spaces, such as piracy and illicit trafficking. In addition, there is ongoing concern for Africa's many humanitarian crises, armed conflicts, and more general challenges, such as the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS.

Illegal Drug Trade in Africa: Trends and U.S. Policy

Posted Wed, 09/30/2009 - 01:00

Africa has historically held a peripheral role in the transnational illicit drug trade, but in recent years has increasingly become a locus for drug trafficking, particularly of cocaine. Recent estimates suggest that each year between 46 and 300 metric tons of South American cocaine may transit West Africa en route to Europe. Recent cocaine seizure levels are sharply higher than those in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which in all of Africa rarely exceeded 1 metric ton a year.

Piracy off the Horn of Africa

Posted Mon, 09/28/2009 - 00:00

Pirate attacks in the waters off Somalia and the Horn of Africa, including those on U.S.-flagged vessels, have brought renewed international attention to the long-standing problem of maritime piracy. According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), at least 219 attacks occurred in the region in 2010, with 49 successful hijackings. Somali pirates have attacked ships in the Gulf of Aden, along Somalia's eastern coastline, and outward into the Indian Ocean.

The Global Economic Crisis: Impact on Sub-Saharan Africa and Global Policy Responses

Posted Tue, 08/25/2009 - 00:00

Sub-Saharan Africa has been strongly affected by the global recession, despite initial optimism that the global financial system would have few spillover effects on the continent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated in 2009 that average economic growth in Africa would slow to 1%, from an annual average of over 6% to 1% over the previous five years, before rebounding to 4% in 2010. As a region, Africa is not thought to have undergone a recession in 2009.

China's Foreign Aid Activities in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia

Posted Sun, 03/22/2009 - 00:00

In the past several years, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has bolstered its diplomatic presence and garnered international goodwill through its financing of infrastructure and natural resource development projects, assistance in the carrying out of such projects, and large economic investments in many developing countries. This report examines Chinas economic impact in three regions Africa, Latin America (Western Hemisphere), and Southeast Asia with an emphasis on bilateral foreign assistance. Chinas foreign aid is difficult to quantify.