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Securing North Africa's Future: Geopolitical Dynamics, Regional Stability, and Strategic Cooperation

21
August 2026
By Helmut Sorge & Lana Bleik

In this episode, Lana Bleik examines how North Africa has become a contested geopolitical hub where external powers (US, China, Russia, Turkey, Gulf states) compete through infrastructure, energy and security ties rather than formal alliances. She highlights water scarcity, desertification and food insecurity as structural drivers of instability, and describes borders in the Sahara-Sahel region as interconnected trafficking and migration corridors requiring intelligence sharing. She also notes uneven AI and cybersecurity preparedness across the region, with Egypt, Morocco and Algeria leading while fragile states like Libya lag behind.

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