Africa's windfall from critical minerals is arriving at precisely the moment the continent can least afford to be complacent about...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The coordinated attacks that allowed extremist forces and rebel groups to seize strategic positions across Mali – and assassinate the country’s defense...
By deploying personnel to Haiti's new Gang Suppression Force, Chad is not merely answering a UN call - it is asserting a strategic vision for African...
Two nations defined by studied neutrality and resource wealth have more in common than geography would suggest - and both stand to gain from a closer...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu For former French colonies in Africa, inheriting the metropole’s model went far beyond language and lycées. It meant adopting the Constitution of...
A conflict Africa did not start, and cannot stop, is reshaping the continent's economic prospects - and its political landscape.
The DR Congo's child soldier crisis demands urgent attention - West Africa's hard-won lessons show what is at stake if the world looks away.
The African Land Forces Summit reveals an underappreciated truth: institutions alone cannot hold the continent's security architecture together.
Kinshasa's pledge to neutralize the Hutu rebel group is overdue - and its success is far from guaranteed.
Houthi missile strikes on Israel are reviving the strategic logic behind a little-noticed diplomatic gambit - and the Horn of Africa may pay the price.
For once, both Kigali and the rebels are negotiating under genuine pressure - and that changes everything.
By Fidel Amakye Owusu On Saturday, March 14, 2026, Rwanda announced it may pull its troops from Cabo Delgado, the northern Mozambican province where an Islamist...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In mid-2022, West African heads of state made a pragmatic, if uncomfortable, concession. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) lifted...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The continent can no longer afford to wait for the world’s attention to turn its way. As conflict in the Middle East...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The violent aftermath of a drug kingpin’s elimination offers a sobering warning for a continent that may be sleepwalking into a narco-state...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The destabilization of the Sahel did not happen overnight. It is the product of decades of political failure, opportunistic radicalism, and the...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Economic inequality remains the defining fault line of African political stability – and the world’s emerging powers are taking notice. For a...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Great-power competition has returned to Africa. But this is no simple reprise of the Cold War – it is more chaotic, more...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Strategic equity demands and infrastructure investments signal a new era of African economic sovereignty. The landscape of African resource control is undergoing...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Most African nations inherited their juridical sovereignty from colonial administrations that dominated the continent from the mid-19th century. Their borders – drawn...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu For decades, Liberia stood as a beacon of stability in West Africa. Then came the late 1980s, when civil war shattered that...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The pattern has become grimly familiar across Africa: military coups followed by promises of democratic transition, then a return to authoritarianism. But...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The proposition that Africa’s fifty-four sovereign nations should negotiate as a single bloc is not radical – it is rational. Continental political...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Ghana’s president recently articulated what many African leaders are thinking but few dare say aloud: “While no specific name has yet been...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Better late than never – though in geopolitics, lateness often means irrelevance. The Contradictions of French Liberalism Three years ago, I argued...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When Washington announced its withdrawal from United Nations agencies providing critical development assistance and humanitarian support to Africa last week, the move...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Two ambitious crown princes have emerged in the Gulf, each possessing formidable charisma, transformative visions for their respective nations, and deeply conservative...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In an undergraduate political science seminar years ago, we studied a hierarchy that divided nations into categories: superpowers, great powers, strong states,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The collapse of the G5 Sahel should serve as a wake-up call: African states cannot defeat violent extremism through fragmented, go-it-alone strategies....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When Israel formally recognized Somaliland earlier this week, the international community responded with predictable outrage. The African Union (AU) condemned the move....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The Alliance of Sahel States has finally operationalized its founding ambition, but the implications extend far beyond military posturing. What began as...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Southern Africa stands apart. While military coups have swept across West and Central Africa with alarming regularity, the Southern African Development Community...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu A stark challenge has emerged to the diplomatic consensus taking shape in Washington last week: while world powers negotiate with governments over...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When discussing insecurity in Africa, a familiar narrative often takes hold: widespread chaos, economic paralysis, and state fragility. But reality is rarely...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Guinea-Bissau’s military has once again seized power, plunging the small West African nation into yet another cycle of political instability. While this...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Diplomacy, in its ideal form, is a subtle art of calibrated language and mutual respect. The recent exchange between Abuja and Washington...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When Angola finally gained independence from Portugal in 1975 – following decades of anti-colonial struggle and a transformative military coup in Lisbon...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the sudden removal of Nigeria’s four top military commanders – including the Chief of Defence Staff...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu A century ago, Europe’s descent into the First World War was hastened not by a single spark – but by a continent...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Efforts to broker peace in Sudan are faltering once again. Despite renewed pledges to revive the stalled Jeddah talks, violence continues to...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Last Friday, I arrived in Lomé for the second edition of the Lomé Peace and Security Forum – an event that has...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In a region long scarred by cycles of violence and broken accords, a new peace agreement brokered in Doha offers a glimmer...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In recent years, a troubling refrain has gained traction across Africa: “Democracy is not good for Africa.” I heard it echoed last...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the heart of the Indian Ocean, Madagascar is teetering on the edge of political collapse. Acute shortages of water and electricity,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu It is tempting to downplay the role of the Church in African politics, but such a view overlooks one of the continent’s...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu For decades, Africa – the world’s second-most populous continent, home to 54 nations, 1.4 billion people, and a quarter of all UN...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Across the Sahel, the Lake Chad Basin, and the forests of northern Mozambique, a dangerous paradox is unfolding: Africa’s borders are simultaneously...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Twenty-four years after the towers fell, the world still measures global terrorism through the lens of 9/11 – as if the attacks...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu On September 12, 2025, in a high-stakes diplomatic move, a newly formed “Quad” coalition – comprising the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Last week, global attention turned to Beijing as China staged an elaborate commemoration marking the 80th anniversary of World War II. Among...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 1963, as African nations emerged from colonial rule, Ghana’s visionary leader Kwame Nkrumah made a bold call: the continent needed a...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu On August 27, 1975, the world learned of the death of Emperor Haile Selassie – a moment that marked not just the...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu As Africa’s security landscape becomes increasingly complex, defense chiefs from across the continent are meeting in Nigeria to address the urgent challenges...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In conflicts around the world, women and children are rarely the main combatants – but they are often the most devastated. Among...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Every year, Africa hemorrhages an estimated US$580 billion due to corruption – a staggering sum that could reshape the continent’s future. To...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has entered a dangerous new phase. Just as the world’s attention...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In recent weeks, Angola has joined a growing list of African nations confronting one of the most politically perilous yet economically imperative...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the annals of African economic history, few policies have sparked as much debate – or left as deep a legacy –...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the early 2000s, Ghana faced a symbolic dilemma: its seat of government was still housed in a colonial-era trading post –...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu On November 6, 1982, Paul Biya assumed the presidency of Cameroon. This year, as he marks his 43rd year in office, the...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Mr. President, your willingness to engage in the Nile River dispute is a rare opportunity – one that could redefine U.S. leadership...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu As Liberia once again finds itself in the global spotlight following President Joseph Boakai’s recent visit to the White House, it’s worth...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is more than just a regional dispute – it is,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In a landmark announcement, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared the full completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa’s largest...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu “Democracy is not good for Africa.” This statement, often repeated by critics and even some African leaders, deserves closer scrutiny. During an...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In May 2011, I was a Political Science student at the University of Ghana when news broke that Osama bin Laden had...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Last week, Belgian prosecutors reignited a decades-old wound by announcing they are pursuing a 92-year-old former diplomat in connection with the assassination...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Three months ago, I found myself in a strategic planning meeting with one of my executive partners at DefSEC Analytics Africa Ltd....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The Thirty Years’ War between Catholics and Protestants in 17th-century Europe not only devastated the continent but also gave rise to a...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Eritrea: Honestly, I wasn’t even asking for the spotlight. Chad: Hey, I just held an election not too long ago. And wait...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 2024, Gabon emerged as the world’s second-largest producer of manganese, churning out 4.6 million metric tons of the critical metal –...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, one of the central pillars of the global counterterrorism strategy became the disruption of terror...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Resource nationalism is often misunderstood as resource nationalization – but the two are not synonymous. I explored this distinction in detail a...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo are currently grappling with devastating floods, as relentless rains cause rivers to overflow and displace...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu More than a year after this piece was first written, the presence of the Gulf states in Africa has become increasingly pronounced....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Last year, Chad issued a stark warning: it might withdraw from the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), the regional coalition established to...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) is one of the UN’s longest-standing missions, rooted in the early...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Since rejoining the African Union in 2017, Morocco has steadily expanded its influence across the continent, with a particular focus on West...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When it comes to global influence, is presence truly more impactful than absence? As the United States announces the closure of several...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu As part of my regional analyses and forecasts for Africa in late 2023, I highlighted Kenya as a nation to watch closely...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The introduction of new tariffs has reignited discussions about free trade across Africa, particularly in West Africa – a region grappling with...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Years ago, the discovery of vast natural gas reserves off the coast of Mozambique ignited hopes for a brighter economic future. For...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In a significant step toward continental integration, Ghana and Morocco have agreed to initiate a broad visa waiver for all categories of...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu At the dawn of the 21st century, Africa boasted no shortage of nations with the diplomatic clout to mediate regional conflicts. Angola,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Namibia is a country of breathtaking landscapes, rich history, and immense potential. Once a German colony known as “German South West Africa”...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Last Sunday, I received a call from Doha. An Al Jazeera journalist had requested an interview seeking my analysis on the influx...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Burundi, one of the world’s poorest nations, finds itself burdened with the disproportionate impact of a regional conflict. With one of the...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Strategically located at the crossroads of these regions, Uganda plays an indispensable role in maintaining regional stability. Despite being landlocked, Uganda connects...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The decision by three landlocked nations—Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – to leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In September 2021, a group of soldiers, led by a senior commander, seized power in Guinea. Their resistance was swift and overwhelming,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, many expected international organizations formed during that era...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The current structure and regulations of the United Nations make it nearly impossible to pass an effective resolution against Russia in the...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Can one truly be great on their own, for their own sake? History suggests that the answer is no. The 2010 Haiti...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When Portugal finally relinquished control of Angola in 1975, the nation was thrust into a devastating civil war that spanned nearly three...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In mid-2023, when a coup unfolded in Niger, neighboring Nigeria expressed deep concern over the unfolding situation. As the most populous country...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu On Tuesday, February 4, 2025, I had the distinct honor of being a guest speaker at the US Army War College Africa...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu For centuries, economists and social theorists have debated the impact of rapid population growth. In the 19th century, many feared that unchecked...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Professor Barry Buzan’s Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) offers a useful lens for understanding Africa’s political and security challenges. By categorizing Africa...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The uranium used in the creation of the first atomic bombs was largely sourced from the mines of the Lubumbashi area in...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu A closer examination of the ongoing insecurity in the Sahel region reveals that the strength of extremist groups is closely tied to...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The remarkable rise of China and other East Asian nations can, in large part, be attributed to an educated population that was...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When the late leader of Iran decided to tour Africa in mid-2023, he chose to visit states in East and Southern Africa....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When the Bretton Woods institutions – the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – were established in the aftermath of...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu While the different geopolitical zones across Africa have dynamics worth the attention of observers in 2025, the Horn of Africa and North...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The history of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is that of a resource-rich territory that is faced with one conflict or...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu With the highest number of countries in the world, being the second-largest continent, and with a diverse sociocultural landscape, the security dynamics...
West Africa has been in the news in recent times due to the security challenges it faces. In the north, east, and the eastern half of...
On 24th June 2012, Ghana lost a sitting president for the first time in its existence as a state. That same day, John Mahama, his deputy,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Southern Africa was one of the regional security complexes in Africa that was pronouncedly affected by the Cold War. In the 1960s...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In recent years, Africa’s stance on global events and its relationships with major powers have been the subject of increasing discussion and...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Founded in the mid-1970s, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) aimed to advance regional integration, prioritizing economic collaboration over political...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The 1966 coup that ousted Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah, marked the beginning of a prolonged period of political instability. This era...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 2011, amid the Arab Spring uprisings and the fall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, one of the issues he reportedly raised...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 2021, a coup in the Republic of Guinea ended over a decade of constitutional governance. The military justified their actions by...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 2022, Gabon and Togo became the newest members of the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary association of countries originally established in...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Southern Africa emerged as a significant regional security complex profoundly influenced by the dynamics of the Cold War. During the 1960s and...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In February, I engaged in a discussion about the evolving security landscape in West Africa with an American business executive based in...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In my analyses of the crisis in Sudan, both through writing and public discussions, many have expressed a keen interest in understanding...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 2022, Mali unilaterally withdrew from the G5 Sahel after the military alliance raised concerns about the country’s internal affairs. This decision...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Africa is home to numerous lakes spread across the continent, many of which are naturally formed, along with some significant artificial lakes....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Over the past thirty years, Africa has made remarkable strides in various areas of development and nation-building. The skylines of capital cities...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The Republic of Niger, the largest country in West Africa by land area and the third largest in the Sahel after Chad...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the 1950s and 1960s, as African nations achieved independence, a crucial question arose for these emerging countries: which development strategy would...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Amid various conflicts, coups, and protests across Africa, the topic of stability remains one of the most widely discussed across the continent....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In his exploration of the “Regional Security Complex Theory,” British International Relations Professor Barry Buzan thoroughly analyzed Africa but noted that limited...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The map above highlights the top ten mineral-producing or extracting countries in Africa for 2022. With the surge in commodity prices, several...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The global competition for influence in Africa and its potential benefits for various international players has become a key issue in recent...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The Rovuma River serves as a natural geographical boundary between Mozambique and Tanzania, defining part of the border along the Indian Ocean...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Africa’s abundant natural resources, emerging markets, strategic geographic position, and critical role in global security have turned it into a battleground for...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the early 1990s, as Cold War tensions began to subside, Algeria held legislative elections that saw a significant Islamist presence in...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The Lake Chad Basin, located in the upper central region of Africa, serves as a critical transition zone with significant implications for...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In junior high school, particularly in a subject called “social studies” under the Ghanaian curriculum, we were taught that the assassination of...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Earlier this week, on Monday, September 16, 2024, the United States announced the complete withdrawal of its military forces and equipment from...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In recent years, food insecurity has emerged as a significant concern across Africa. Earlier this year, Nigeria declared a national emergency on...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu After the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s, the creation of the G20 or Group of 20 emerged as a response to...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The Global Terrorism Index, a comprehensive study evaluating the impact of terrorism in 163 countries, covers about 99.7 percent of the world’s...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Earlier this month, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio called for reform of the United Nations Security Council. He argued that Africa...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When the conflict in Sudan began in April 2023, it seemed like a minor skirmish that could be resolved quickly with a...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When Portugal finally withdrew from Angola in 1975, the nation quickly descended into a civil war that would last nearly 30 years....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu During the last United Nations General Assembly session, the Guinean leader emphasized that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Years ago, I read a report highlighting how South Korea’s economy experienced significant growth through infrastructure development, contributing about 3 percent to...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia in the early 1990s technically made Ethiopia the largest landlocked country in the world by population...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When the current junta in Mali staged its first coup in 2020, the regional body – Economic Community of West African States...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Some time ago, I read a book that explored aspects of European political culture using a comparative approach. The author(s) argued that...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Recently, I had the chance to discuss the dynamics of the second round of legislative elections in France. The next day, the...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu At an international conference last year, I heard the foreign ministers of Mali and Burkina Faso echo this sentiment in their presentations....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Despite Africa having 54 sovereign countries, each with multiple borders, the continent’s state evolution has not been marked by many full-scale interstate...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The support of local actors from various groups and backgrounds has been crucial for achieving tactical, operational, and strategic military success, particularly...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 2022, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), the second-largest and fourth-most populous country in Africa, joined the East African Community...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The rise in extremist activities across various regions of Africa has deeply destabilized local populations, with women and children being the most...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Eleven months ago, I wrote about Africa’s food crisis, suggesting it was more severe than it appeared. As expected, there were differing...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Recently, I received a message from a media agency based in Europe. The purpose was to invite me to discuss two significant...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu There are several core values that are fundamental to democratic systems around the world. These include human rights and freedoms, transparency, accountability,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Republic of Benin spearheaded Africa’s democratic wave, marking a pivotal shift towards civilian rule...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Last year, a friend suggested that China’s colorful and elaborate receptions for African leaders in Beijing play a significant role in attracting...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 1980, Leopold Senghor, the founding president of Senegal, voluntarily stepped down from power and handed the reins to his prime minister....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu It is widely known that many African presidents wield more power within their countries than a US president does in the United...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In recent months, significant events in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) have created potential risks that could destabilize neighboring countries...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When the United States declared war on global terrorism in 2001, it was equipped with the world’s most powerful military in terms...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu During the Cold War, the West held significant influence in West Africa, particularly through France, which had considerable control over many countries...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In December 1990, the late Idriss Déby, and his insurgent Patriotic Salvation Movement, overran the country’s capital, N’Djamena, having invaded from Libya...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Throughout Africa, a prevailing narrative centers on the ongoing struggle against the subjugation of women, painting the continent as predominantly patriarchal. Various...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Last year, I stumbled upon a video capturing a compelling exchange between a US Congressman and the Commander of the US Africa...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu One of the pivotal factors that remains indelible when dissecting the origins of the First World War (WWI) is the relentless arms...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Amidst the tragic surge in fatalities caused by the floods in Kenya, prioritizing investment in disaster preparedness emerges as an undeniable imperative...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu During the American Revolution, the disparate militia of the colonies sought backing from France and other sympathetic European powers to secure their...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In mid-2022, leaders from West Africa convened to lift economic and diplomatic sanctions imposed on Mali and Burkina Faso. These measures were...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Before the conclusion of the Cold War, a prominent characteristic of populist leaders and administrations was their inclination towards the nationalization of...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Several months ago, Philip Reynolds, PhD, a friend and former co-editor of The Defence Horizon Journal, with whom I have collaborated on...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The military junta in Niger has declared an end to its military collaboration with the United States, denouncing the agreement that facilitated...