Africa

The Atlantic Initiative, announced by King Mohammed VI in November 2023 to provide landlocked Sahelian countries with access to the Atlantic Ocean via Moroccan territory, promises to profoundly reshape the bilateral relationship between Rabat and Nouakchott. This research paper examines how this unprecedented project creates new strategic opportunities while raising shared challenges for Morocco and Mauritania. Diplomatically, the rapprochement around the Atlantic Initiative unfolds ...

Ce travail apporte un éclairage critique sur l'alignement des dispositifs publics d'orientation des étudiants marocains à l'étranger avec les ambitions de développement du pays. Il interroge la capacité de ces mécanismes à transformer la mobilité étudiante d'une potentielle "fuite des cerveaux" en un véritable "gain de cerveaux". S'appuyant sur une étude de cas qualitative, nous avons mené une analyse de contenu systématique (cartographie) de 204 programmes promus par le ministère d ...

This Policy Paper analyzes Jacob Zuma’s July 2025 visit to Morocco as a revealing episode in the reconfiguration of South African foreign policy. Far from being mere protocol issue, the event activated multiple registers of mobilization—anti-apartheid legacy, territorial integrity, and diplomatic coherence—while shifting a dossier long confined to elites into the public sphere. Drawing on a corpus of 2,200 posts on X, and 20 South African press articles, the study shows that the con ...

This paper explores the evolving legal, geopolitical, and technical dynamics surrounding the extension of the coastal shelf of Atlantic African states beyond 200 nautical miles under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). As several coastal states pursue rights over seabed areas beyond their exclusive economic zones, the paper highlights the growing strategic importance of these claims for resource access, particularly hydrocarbons and minerals, and maritime b ...

Ce Policy Paper analyse la visite de Jacob Zuma au Maroc en juillet 2025 comme un épisode révélateur des recompositions de la politique étrangère sud-africaine. Loin d’une simple question de protocole, l’événement a activé des registres de mobilisation multiples — fidélité à l’héritage anti-apartheid, intégrité territoriale, cohérence diplomatique et a déplacé un dossier longtemps confiné aux élites vers l’espace public. À partir d’un corpus de 2 200 publications sur X et de 20 arti ...

In 2019 - well before the onslaught of COVID-19 and the wars in Europe and the Middle East - the central thesis of a policy paper by this author, analyzing the relationship between Africa and the Caribbean, characterized it as one of missed opportunity due to the lack of consistent, meaningful engagement between the two regions - despite the relationship’s special significance given their shared history. Underinvested: The Caribbean African Relationship (PCNS 2019) chronicled the li ...

After 1994, everything was a priority, and our people were completely broken. But we made three fundamental choices that guide us to this day. One—we chose to stay together. Two—we chose to be accountable to ourselves. Three—we chose to think big. — His Excellency President Paul Kagame, 20th Commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi (April 7, 2014) Rwanda’s socio-economic progress since 1994 has been remarkable. Rwanda is rightly considered a showcase of the enduring ...

L’Initiative Atlantique, annoncée par le Roi Mohammed VI en novembre 2023, visant à offrir aux pays sahéliens enclavés un accès à l’océan Atlantique via le territoire marocain, promet de redessiner en profondeur la relation bilatérale entre Rabat et Nouakchott. Cet article examine comment ce projet inédit crée de nouvelles opportunités stratégiques tout en soulevant des défis partagés pour le Maroc et la Mauritanie. Sur le plan diplomatique, le rapprochement autour de l’Initiative A ...

La parution de la dernière édition (la 74ème) de la Statistical Review of World Energy (SRWE, 2025) est une bonne occasion de faire le point sur certaines grandes tendances du monde de l’énergie. Dans cette note, nous nous centrerons sur le continent africain. Tous les chiffres ci-dessous sont extraits de ce document et portent sur l’année 2024, sauf indication contraire. Les chiffres de la SRWE portent sur les énergies qui font l’objet d’échanges commerciaux, ce qui inclut les éner ...

The Mattei Plan, launched by far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, aims to redefine Italy’s engagement with Africa through a strategic blend of political vision, development cooperation, and economic diplomacy. Framed as a non- predatory alternative to traditional models, the Plan seeks to position Italy as a credible and constructive partner by promoting co-creation with African stakeholders and delivering concrete, results-oriented projects. Central to its approach is t ...

China's ascent to the position of the world's most prominent energy consumer has altered global energy markets and fundamentally reshaped the geopolitics of energy security. As China navigates the complexities of sustaining its economic momentum, ensuring access to reliable, affordable, and diversified energy sources has become an existential imperative, intricately woven into its foreign policy strategy. In parallel, Africa's immense wealth of both conventional and renewable resour ...

The author of this opinion, Imane Lahlou, is a 2014 alumna of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders Program.Seeing the Script“What if you heard the same idea, delivered in the same words by two people, one from Sweden, the other from Senegal. Would it land the same? Whose room do you think would fill up first if both spoke on the same topic, for the same ticket price?”These were the opening questions of a charged conversation with two dear friends, as we began naming the ...