Nearly 1 million people have been displaced in eastern Congo since rebels from the March 23 Movement, or M23, reemerged in early 2022 after having been dormant for almost a decade. Since then, the insurgency has caused humanitarian needs in the area to skyrocket, while raising thorny questions about regional stability.
The failed rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin in late June has created uncertainty about the Wagner Group’s future operations in Africa. U.S. and European policymakers should focus on making Wagner unviable should it try to regroup from the debacle back home, while building an approach to do the same when Russia tries again with other outfits.
With the collapse of efforts to contain jihadist insurgencies in the Sahel, neighboring states are faced with acute dilemmas when it comes to the mass displacement engulfing West Africa. The plight of Fulani refugees in Ghana facing deportation back to Burkina Faso offers insights into how these conflicts have escalated so disastrously.
There is a general consensus in Washington that the Abraham Accords—the series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries launched in 2020—have been an overwhelming success and that expanding them to include Saudi Arabia will only increase their benefits. That might be an overly rosy assessment.
When Mali demanded last month that the U.N. withdraw peacekeepers from its territory “without delay,” it sent a chill through diplomats in New York. Many observers have speculated over whether Mali’s move could presage the end of other U.N. missions in Africa, dealing a blow to the institution’s contribution to security there.
After more than four decades of strained relations, Egypt and Iran have reportedly been pursuing mediation efforts for months. Several Iranian officials have publicly endorsed these efforts to end one of the Middle East’s longest-running but often-neglected feuds. For its part, Cairo has maintained a cautious stance on the issue.
In mid-June, attackers allegedly belonging to the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, murdered 42 people, including 37 students, at a school on the border with Congo. The attack has raised complex questions about the assailants’ goals, as well as the domestic implications of Uganda’s cross-border security operations in eastern Congo.