The Complexities of Mediating African Conflicts: Insights from Paul-Simon Handy

The concept of a “Wider Atlantic” has been finding its way into mainstream discourse, as it is progressively molding into an alternative to the present-day understanding of transatlantic relations. The attention is being refocused to a wider geographic area around the Atlantic basin, which includes Southern Atlantic states in the policy and opinion-shaping conversation (s). With 23 states now comprising the Western Atlantic Coast of Africa, this continent has an ever-growing role to ...

Un enlèvement au Bénin Le 1er de ce mois de mai, alors qu’éclatent au Bénin des violences au sujet des résultats des élections, deux touristes français sont enlevés au parc de Pendjari, au Nord-ouest du pays, à proximité des frontières avec le Burkina Faso. Trois jours, plus tard, les autorités béninoises confirment l’enlèvement et soulignent la découverte, dans le cadre de l’enquête, du corps d’un homme qui s’avérera, par la suite, être celui du guide béninois des touristes enlev ...

The trade tensions between the United States and China will cause only minor immediate damage to their giant economies. However, tariffs have important and diverse effects on individual sectors and cause heightened uncertainty. The main adverse effects on Sub-Saharan Africa will therefore be through global investor confidence, economic growth and commodity prices, and these effects could be severe if the dispute escalates further and endangers the rules-based trading system. The tra ...

Throughout my last 15 years working in multilateral institutions, many times around the world I was asked to speak about the success of poverty reduction in Brazil during the new millennium. Last week, someone who was on such an occasion in October 2013 in Nairobi asked me what my numbers had become after these recent years of precarious macroeconomic performance and high unemployment in the country. I replied that they have changed ... in part! Indeed, the fact that, even without ...

The year 1912. The ocean liner “Titanic” was a technical wonder of the world. At least for the British. The unsinkable pride of the “White Star Fleet”, built in Northern Ireland, made to board 3511 passengers and crew. In the early hours of April 15th, 1912, the glory on the sea hit an iceberg, nature   displayed the fragility of progress and technology.  A tragedy. Realizing his  time had come, too soon but  nevertheless, Wallace Hartley, an onboard band leader, chose the  appropri ...

Sur quelles contraintes faut-il anticiper lorsqu’on évoque la croissance de l’Afrique? Comment guider les décideurs politiques dans les priorités à définir pour piloter l’économie et arriver à bon port dans le monde qui vient? Le séminaire organisé le 11 avril à Paris par le PCNS et le Centre de développement de l’OCDE a apporté des éléments de réponse. La discussion s’est ouverte en prenant appui sur le rapport de référence publié en 2018 par l’Union africaine et l’OCDE sur les “D ...