The 2026 Addis Ababa Summit revealed a tension between idealism and urgency. The rhetoric of unity, justice, and water security speaks to a continental aspiration for dignity. Yet hard power realities — fiscal distress, insurgency, geopolitical competition — press in from all sides.

Shifting geopolitical, economic, and demographic realities are creating new political space for African states to flex their power. It’s time to use it.

The physical "caliphate" of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria collapsed years ago, but its apparition failed to disappear, instead finding new life in local conflicts across Africa.

A highly fluid crisis is playing out in Central Africa as the M23 rebels expand their territorial footprint in eastern DRC.

Russia has re-engaged with Africa as an important plank in its anti-Western diplomacy. However, the situation has evolved since the Cold War.

Among other things, the upcoming summit may see the African Union added to the ranks of the G-20.

Africa has emerged as a diplomatic priority for Turkey, as evidenced by President Erdogan’s recent tour through the region.

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s mandate has expired and no new elections are on the horizon. Has Somalia’s 2012 constitution reached its breaking point?

Zambia is expected to become the first country to default on its debt since the COVID-19 epidemic hit. It likely won’t be the last.

Changes to the electoral code align with broad democratic backsliding in the region.

Ivory Coast has all of the necessary elements for conflict over the upcoming October election.

Unless deep-rooted socioeconomic and security issues are addressed, Africa’s development miracle risks being derailed. Nowhere is this truer than with the G5 countries in the Sahel.

Can the African Union make this an “African Century,” or is it destined to share the same fate as the Organisation of African Unity that preceded it?

Signing the landmark agreement was a relatively simple exercise; the true test is yet to come.

After a three-decade absence from the Horn of Africa, Italy is re-engaging with the region – and its ambitions go well beyond the issue of migration.

Madagascar has cobbled together a national unity government, but will it be enough to stabilize the political process and a delicate economic recovery?

Kenya has much to gain from actively working to de-escalate the growing crisis in Ethiopia’s Oromia region.

The international community should not take the ceasefire in Western Sahara for granted.

Will the discovery of surveillance bugs in the AU's headquarters reverberate in wider China-Africa relations?

The honeymoon period for Zimbabwe's new president could be exceedingly short.