Geopolitics / Africa

Jan 18, 2013 at 12:05 | Editorial Dept

Incident: Islamic militants generally based in Mali launched an attack on Monday/Tuesday on a BP-operated gas field in the neighboring Algerian Sahara desert. They took over 600 hostages from 10…

Jan 10, 2013 at 13:54 | Editorial Dept

Incident: Just east of the capital Sana’a at least five people have been killed in fighting near an oil pipeline that began the last week of December. Tribes…

Dec 31, 2012 at 14:50 | Charles Kennedy

African exports to China have increased six-fold since 2000 alone, the bulk of it in oil, and this year, China surpassed the US and Europe as Africa’s largest trading partner.…

Dec 17, 2012 at 17:02 | Post Carbon

In the past, Russian foreign policy was mostly based in the decisions made by the Politburo—and then after by Boris Yeltsin’s foreign policy—the pursuit of an African policy not was…

Nov 27, 2012 at 17:18 | Charles Kennedy

Welcome to East Africa—home of a potential 28 billion barrels of recoverable oil, 440 trillion cubic feet of gas and 14 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.Recent success…

Nov 23, 2012 at 17:12 | Economywatch

Liberia is a nation rich with natural resources including iron ore, gold, diamonds, natural rubber, vast forest for logging and timber harvesting, and vast agriculture land for ensuring food security.…

Nov 20, 2012 at 17:48 | Chris Mansur

In the struggle to secure energy resources, the great powers consider all states to be fair game. Indeed, this is precisely what characterizes American foreign policy in the modern era.…

Nov 09, 2012 at 16:05 | Editorial Dept

Madagascar’s been sitting on some 20 billion barrels in oil reserves for quite a while. Investors have only recently shown interest, though. Extraction is technologically challenging, and no one was…

Nov 08, 2012 at 17:26 | Charles Kennedy

Newly independent, oil-rich South Sudan holds some 75% of Sudan’s total oil resources, but it may be too early to risk things here. Ask Total (NYSE: TOT). The government just…

Sep 21, 2012 at 17:21 | Gregory R. Copley

The surge in jihadist attacks on US diplomatic missions in September 2012 largely obscured the complex realities around a number of individual incidents and locales, particularly the Libyan situation.

Sep 13, 2012 at 17:45 | Charles Kennedy

People often ask me why the West doesn’t attempt a Libya-style intervention in Syria. After all, things are going so well in Libya. Oil production is up. But oil production…

Sep 06, 2012 at 17:29 | Gregory R. Copley

The announcement of the death of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi — possibly a month after he actually died — starts to focus the growing confluence of events in the…

Aug 24, 2012 at 14:53 | Geopolitical Monitor

The recent oil transit deal between Sudan and South Sudan, which is expected to come into effect by the end of this month, does not symbolize a fundamental change in…

Aug 08, 2012 at 17:25 | John Daly

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the midst of an 11-day trip across sub-Saharan Africa. Speaking on 1 August on the topic “Remarks on Building Sustainable Partnerships in…

Aug 07, 2012 at 17:11 | Daniel J. Graeber

South Sudan and Sudan made headway in resolving oil disputes lingering since January. A peace deal that secured South Sudan's independence last year called for equal divisions of oil revenue…

Aug 06, 2012 at 17:10 | Charles Kennedy

Sudan and South Sudan reached an agreement on oil transit fees over the weekend, and while unresolved security and border issues will continue to hinder peace, South Sudan has strengthened…

Jul 27, 2012 at 16:57 | Gregory R. Copley

Libyans went, on July 7, 2012, into their first national elections in decades, and foreign observers hailed the fact that the event took place so well, and that democracy had…

Jul 26, 2012 at 17:05 | Gregory R. Copley

The Emperor’s Ghost: How the Transformations in the Horn of Africa and Red Sea Reflect, and Help Change, the Global Energy and Geopolitical SceneThe Red Sea and Africa’s…

Jul 13, 2012 at 17:52 | Charles Kennedy

Kenya has raised the ire of Somalia by awarding offshore oil and gas exploration blocks to multinational companies in contested waters, and while the mainstream Western media glosses over this…

Jul 11, 2012 at 17:10 | Daniel J. Graeber

Oil ports in eastern Libya had reopened by Monday, ending a weekend shutdown that coincided with the first democratic elections in a generation. NATO forces last year intervened in a…