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Sub-Saharan Africa

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Sub-Saharan Africa is not monolithic. While crises in the Sahel have attracted a great deal of attention, other regions also need to be monitored, and not just through the prism of security.

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Sub-Saharan Africa
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Publications
Date de publication
September 2025

Ramses 2026. A New Chessboard

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Ramses 2026 US
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Accroche

A world chessboard chopped up by the vertigo of power...

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Governing Cities in Africa. A Panorama of Challenges and Perspectives

Date de publication
17 February 2022
Accroche

By 2050, about 60% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa will live in urban areas. The governance of the rapid growth of capital and intermediary cities in Africa is one of the priorities of the international development agenda. 

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A Sino-Congolese Scandal. Illegal Exploitation of Minerals and Forests by Chinese Companies in South Kivu

Date de publication
09 February 2022
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Since 2020, the exploitation of gold from mining sites in the Wamuzimu chiefdom in the South Kivu province by Chinese companies has aroused great discontent among the population. 

Justin MWETAMINWA Thierry VIRCOULON
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Power to the Cooks! New Clean Cooking Opportunities for Sustainable Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Date de publication
01 February 2022
Accroche

2.6 billion people globally and 1 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) cook using biomass fuel. The detrimental effects on the environment and public health, as well as the time and money lost are considerable. If nothing new is done, this situation will worsen further in SSA.

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Booming Decentralized Solar Power in Africa’s Cities. Satellite Imagery and Deep Learning Provide Cutting-Edge Data on Electrification

Date de publication
18 January 2022
Accroche

The market for decentralized solar systems first developed in rural Africa, and today it is expanding to the continent’s cities, though these areas are already covered by each country’s central network.

Hugo LE PICARD Matthieu TOULEMONT
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New African Union Commission (2021-2025). Challenges and Issues After the Reform Initiated by Paul Kagamé

Date de publication
21 December 2021
Accroche

The election of the Commission to run the African Union (AU) on February 6 and 7, 2021 was an important step towards implementing its institutional reform. The Commission is the institution’s real government, setting the pan-African organization’s objectives under the leadership of the Heads of State who meet once a year at the Assembly. The Chadian Moussa Faki, who was re-elected as AU Commission (AUC) Chairperson, has the onerous task of undertaking this reform, initiated by the former AU Chair, Rwandan president Paul Kagamé, between 2016 and 2018.

Benjamin AUGÉ Félicité DJILO
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Uranium in Namibia: Yellowcake Fever

Date de publication
01 December 2021
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Mineral revenues are the driving force behind Namibia’s economic performance. Namibia is rich in mineral resources which include uranium, diamond, copper, gold, lead, lithium and zinc. However, these mineral riches are not always allocated and utilized in a transparent manner and seem to benefit disproportionately a small number of wealthy elites, many of them affiliated with the ruling party SWAPO.

Selma EL OBEID
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’Delenda est Cotonou ?’ The European Union and the ACP States: A Partnership without Partners

Date de publication
29 November 2021
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Although it has largely gone unnoticed in France, the agreement signed on December 3, 2020 between the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) is a major shift in the long-standing relations between the EU and countries in the Global South. 

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Chinese Influences in Africa. 1. The Political and Diplomatic Tools of the "Great Developing Country"

Date de publication
17 November 2021
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China and Africa have enjoyed a strong relationship since the wave of African independences in the 1960s. Nevertheless, relations between China and Africa have significantly expanded since the late 1990s and have been fueled by a growing discourse centered on a “win-win” partnership between China and Africa. 

Jean-Pierre CABESTAN Elisa DOMINGUES DOS SANTOS Zhao Alexandre HUANG Philippe LE BILLON Thierry VIRCOULON
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The Peuls Mbororo of North Cameroon: Insecurities of a Pastoral Society and Limits of a Hybrid Security Response

Date de publication
08 November 2021
Accroche

The Mbororo are Fulani who, unlike the Fulbe, have not become sedentary and have practiced nomadic herding for a long time. However, over the past several decades, they have been undergoing a sedentarization process in northern Cameroon (Septentrion), to the point that many of them have become semi-sedentary and agro-pastoralists.

This community of herders faces environmental, land, fiscal and criminal insecurities. 

Fanta DADA PETEL Thierry VIRCOULON

New Africa France Summit : the Concealed Continuation of Emmanuel Macron's Africa Policy

Date de publication
27 October 2021
Accroche

A “New Africa-France Summit” was held on October, 8 at Arena Sud de France in Montpellier.

The Recent Blossoming in Relations between China and Madagascar

Date de publication
20 February 2012
Accroche

The question of the Chinese presence in Madagascar is very accurate. It is an opportunity for us to portray the sino-madagarscan relations.

The Politics of Amnesty in the Niger Delta : Challenges Ahead

Date de publication
22 December 2010
Accroche

Armed groups, many affiliated to the Niger Delta-wide political organisation MEND, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, proliferated throughout the oil producing states, particularly from early 2006 onwards. In January 2006, MEND declared war on the oil industry pending the resolution of long term political grievances relating to poverty and underdevelopment, the poor regulation of an environmentally polluting oil industry, and the alienation of local people from rights to land and resources in the Niger Delta.

Kathryn NWAJIAKU-DAHOU

Arabs and Tuaregs in Colonial and Malian Armed Forces: A Story in Trompe-l'Oeil

Date de publication
24 June 2010
Accroche

This contribution consists in analyzing the unifying or opposing relations between the central State-power and the southern part of central-Saharan populations, mainly Arabs and Tuaregs, within the relational framework of colonial and Malian armed forces. The French Colonial State and the Malian independent State (from the 1960 independence movement) are both considered by Arabs and Tuaregs as external entities, whatever the form of their relation, good or bad.

Charles GREMONT

The Financial Challenges of the Sub-Saharan Africa Telecoms Boom

Date de publication
09 June 2010
Accroche

Telecom industry has taken a significant place within of the economy of most African countries. In this aspect, it is an undeniable source of economic growth and development. It impacts on the financial sphere at three levels. 

Henri TCHENG Jean-Michel HUET Mouna ROMDHANE
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GOVERNANCE OF OIL IN AFRICA : UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Governance of Oil in Africa: Unfinished Business

Date de publication
28 May 2009
Jacques LESOURNE William C. RAMSAY

Angolan Elections, September 2008: Interview with Indira Campos

Date de publication
01 September 2008
Indira CAMPOS Sylvain TOUATI

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Ramses Conference, 2024
Related centers and programs
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Macro view of a political map of Ethiopia
East and Central Africa Observatory
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The East and Central Africa Observatory is a 3-year research project (2023-2025) that Ifri is carrying out jointly with the French Institute of Research in Africa (IFRA) in Nairobi for the French Ministry of Defense, and more specifically its International Relations and Strategy Division (DGRIS). This observatory focuses on the main political, security and geopolitical developments taking place in the geographical areas covered by itself. This is achieved through the regular production of research notes, in English or French and the organization of an annual seminar around a key theme. For our research notes and conferences, we call on internationally acknowledged experts in the topics covered. This Observatory began in 2016, under the title of Observatory of Central and Southern Africa within Ifri's Sub-Saharan Africa Center. 55 notes were drafted between 2016 and 2020.

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Subsaharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa Center
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Founded in 2007, Ifri's Sub-Saharan Africa center produces an in-depth analysis of the African continent and its security, geopolitical, political and socio-economic dynamics (in particular the phenomenon of urbanization). The Center aims to be both, through various publications and conferences, a space for disseminating analyzes intended for the media and the public but also a decision-making tool for political and economic actors with regard to the continent.

The center produces analyses for various organizations such as the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the French Development Agency (AFD) and even for various private supports. Its researchers are regularly interviewed by parliamentary committees.

The organization of events of various formats complements the production of analyzes by bringing the different spheres of the public space (academic, political, media, economic and civil society) to meet and exchange analytical tools and visions of the continent. The Sub-Saharan Africa Center regularly welcomes political leaders from different sub-Saharan African countries.

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Sub-Saharan Africa
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