Search

The article presents a paper on the overlapping crises in the Western African country of Mali. It explains how these crises came about including the return of insurgent groups after Mali's democratic government was overthrown by a military coup in March 2012 and the collapse of Muammar al Qadhafi's regime in Libya. It explains how U.S. policymakers should respond to Mali's crisis in carrying out its efforts to promote democracy and to counter terrorism in Africa.

The article discusses the initiatives of the U.S. government in fighting the militant Islamist organization Al Qaeda in the Middle East and Africa. Topics covered include the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in air strikes deployed in Afghanistan, Yemen and Libya, the implementation of the Terrorist Interdiction Program restricting terror mobility, and the introduction of countering violent extremism initiatives under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The article discusses the presence of militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda and its affiliates in the Middle East and Africa, and the initiatives of the U.S. government in addressing possible retribution from the group. Topics covered include the emergence of alliances such as Al Qaeda in Iraq, Al Shabaab and the Nusra Front, the U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, Yemen and Libya to ward off hostilities, and the 42.5 billion dollars allocated to Overseas Contingency Operations.

The article focuses on the debate in the U.S. Congress over the reauthorization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) as it expires in 2015. Topics include the benefits of reauthorization, the evaluation of the AGOA's trade and investment performance by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and the issues that are focus of the reauthorization debate including investor uncertainty, intra-African trade and economic integration, and lack of U.S. access to beneficiary countries.

The article offers information on geographic Combatant Commands such as the U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM), and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM). The USAFRICOM is described to protect and defend U.S. national security interests through strengthening defense capabilities of African states which account for 14 of the world's 20 weakest states. Al Qaeda activities, and illicit trafficking are cited as threats in the region. Cooperation among nations is stated to be promoted by the USCENTCOM.

The article presents an overview of issues relating Sudan and South Sudan, highlighting current issues for Congress and U.S. policy. It details the separation of Sudan and South Sudan, and the continued violence and insecurity plaguing the two countries. Peace and stability in the two Sudans reportedly remain among the highest U.S. foreign policy priorities in Africa. The Sudans' engagement in an economic "war of attrition" for much of 2012 is discussed.

The article provides information on the U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM). The primary mission of USAFRICOM is discussed. A background on how USAFRICOM was first created as a unified combatant command is Africa is presented. The functions and roles of the subcomponents of USAFRICOM are also discussed, which include the U.S. Army Africa (USARAF), U.S. Naval Forces, Africa (NAVAF) and U.S. Air Forces, Africa (AFAFRICA).

From September 20 to 22, 2010, heads of state and government convened at United Nations (U.N.) Headquarters for a High-level Plenary Meeting to review progress toward the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are a group of measurable development targets agreed to by 189 U.N. member states-including the United States-as part of the 2000 Millennium Declaration. The Goals, which governments aim to achieve by 2015, include (1) eradicating extreme hunger and poverty; (2) achieving universal primary education; (3) promoting gender equality and women's empowerment; (4) reducing the under-five child mortality rate; (5) reducing the maternal mortality rate; (6) combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases; (7) ensuring environmental sustainability; and (8) developing a Global Partnership for Development. Since 2000, governments have worked to achieve the MDGs with mixed results. Experts generally agree that while some MDGs are on track to be met, the majority of Goals are unlikely to be achieved by 2015. Many have also found that progress toward the Goals is unevenly distributed across regions and countries. India and China, for example, have made considerable progress in achieving the MDGs, while many countries in Africa have failed to meet almost all of the Goals. President Barack Obama supports the MDGs and attended the September High-level meeting. In July 2010, the Administration published The United States' Strategy for Meeting the Millennium Development Goals, which identifies four "imperatives" for achieving the Goals-innovation, sustainability, measuring outcomes, and mutual accountability. Members of the 111th Congress may be interested in the MDGs and the September High-level meeting from three primary perspectives. First, Congress may wish to consider the MDGs in the context of authorizing and funding broader U.S. development assistance efforts. Second, Members may wish to be aware of the commitments made by the United States at the High-level meeting. Additionally, Congress may consider conducting oversight of international progress toward the MDGs, including U.S. efforts and the future of the Goals. While evidence of MDG effectiveness in advancing global development is uneven a decade after the Millennium Declaration, the international community-and many policymakers in the United States-continue to use the Goals as a paradigm for development assistance. This raises a number of overarching questions for Congress about the role and future of the MDGs, including In what areas, if any, have the MDGs been successful? Are the MDGs practical? What is the role of U.S. foreign aid in the MDGs? Who is accountable for MDG progress? This report will be not be updated further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its May 2009 budget request for FY2010, the Obama Administration has requested $96.8 million for the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI). GPOI was established in mid-2004 as a five-year program with intended annual funding to total $660 million from FY2005 through FY2009. (Actual funds allocated to the GPOI program from FY2005 through FY2009 totaled, as of April 2009, some $480.4 million.) The centerpiece of the Bush Administration's efforts to prepare foreign security forces to participate in international peacekeeping operations, GPOI's primary purpose has been to train and equip 75,000 military troops, a majority of them African, for peacekeeping operations by 2010. In October 2008, the National Security Council's Deputies Committee approved a five-year renewal of GPOI's mandate. Congressional approval of the FY2010 budget request would provide funding for the first year of this extension. To date, GPOI also provides support for the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU), an Italian "train-the-trainer" training center for gendarme (constabulary police) forces in Vicenza, Italy. In addition, GPOI promotes the development of an international transportation and logistics support system for peacekeepers, and encourages information exchanges to improve international coordination of peace operations training and exercises. Through GPOI, the United States supports and participates in a G* Africa Clearinghouse and a G8++ Global Clearinghouse, both to coordinate international peacekeeping capacity building efforts. GPOI incorporates previous capabilities- building programs for Africa. From FY1997 to FY2005, the United States spent just over $121 million on GPOI's predecessor program that was funded through the State Department Peacekeeping (PKO) account: the Clinton Administration's African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) and its successor, the Bush Administration's African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program. (ACOTA is now GPOI's principal training program in Africa.) Some 16,000 troops from ten African nations were trained under the early ACRI/ACOTA programs. Some $33 million was provided from FY1998 to FY2005 to support classroom training of 31 foreign militaries through the Foreign Military Financing account's Enhanced International Peacekeeping Capabilities program (EIPC). Within a year after GPOI was initiated in late 2004, the Administration began expanding its geographical scope to selected countries in Central America, Europe, and Asia. In 2006 and 2007, the program was further expanded to countries in Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific. GPOI now includes 53 "partner" countries and two partner organizations throughout the world, although the emphasis is still on Africa. According to figures provided by the State Department, almost 57,600 peacekeeper trainees and peacekeeper trainers were trained as of January 31, 2009. Congress has tended to view the concept of the GPOI program favorably, albeit sometimes with reservations. Over the years, the State Department has addressed various congressional concerns. In a June 2008 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended several further improvements (GAO-08-754). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a report related to impact of global financial crisis on Sub-Sahara Africa released by the U.S Congressional Research arm of the U.S Congress, as of April 6, 2010. Topics discussed include decline in average economic growth, decrease in global trade and reduction in foreign investment. Other topics include breakdown of primary commodity exports and reduction in foreign aid.

In recent years, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has bolstered its diplomatic presence and garnered international goodwill in the developing world through financing infrastructure and natural resource development projects, assisting in the execution of such projects, and backing PRC state enterprises in many developing countries. This report examines China's foreign assistance and government-supported, often-preferential investment ventures in three regions: Africa, Latin America (Western Hemisphere), and Southeast Asia. These activities often are collectively referred to as "economic assistance" by some analysts and in this report. Much of China's "economic assistance" does not constitute "official development assistance" (ODA) as measured by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and as generally provided by members of the OECD. However, many activities have an aid component-they are secured through official bilateral agreements, promote development, and provide economic benefits to recipient countries that otherwise might not be made possible. Furthermore, they are not strictly commercial or do not result in foreign ownership of productive assets, and thus they do not qualify as foreign direct investment (FDI). In terms of development grants, the primary form of assistance provided by major aid donors, China is a relatively small source of global aid. However, when China's commercial and concessional loans, technical assistance, and state-sponsored or subsidized investments are included, the PRC becomes a major source of economic assistance. This report is largely based upon research conducted in 2007-2008 by graduate students at the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service under the supervision of Wagner School faculty and CRS specialists. The students' findings, while not comprehensive, suggest a dramatic increase in PRC economic assistance and state-sponsored investment from 2002 through 2007. The numbers provided in this report are not meant to be interpreted as reliable foreign aid totals. Furthermore, some PRC loans or aid pledges may not have been fulfilled and some aid pledges that include multiple projects or that span several years may have been counted more than once. According to the Wagner School research, during the 2002-2007 period, Africa received the greatest amount of loans and other economic assistance, followed by Latin America and Southeast Asia. The findings suggest that China's aid activities in Africa and Latin America serve the PRC's immediate economic interests, while those in Southeast Asia relate to longer term diplomatic or strategic objectives. In Africa and Southeast Asia, PRC-sponsored infrastructure and public works projects constitute the most common form of activity, while in Latin America, where some countries are more developed, Chinese natural resource development projects are more prominent. China is fast becoming a top trading partner with Africa and Southeast Asia, and it is second to the United States as a market for Latin American commodities and goods. Although the PRC's economic assistance activities are a highly visible reminder of China's growing diplomatic and economic influence, or "soft power," the European Union, the United States, and Japan continue to dominate foreign investment in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. This report will not be updated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civilians in Africa's conflict zones-particularly women and children, but also men-are often vulnerable to sexual violence, including rape, mutilation, and sexual slavery, carried out by government security forces and non-state actors, including, rebel groups, militias, and criminal organizations. Some abuses appear to be opportunistic, or the product of a larger breakdown in the rule of law and social order that may occur amid conflict. However, sexual violence has also been employed by combatant groups as a tool of war, seemingly designed to wreak damage on entire communities. While such abuses are by no means limited to Africa, weak justice systems in many African states can mean that victims have little legal redress; survivors are also often shunned by their families and communities. Sexual atrocities have been reported in many African conflicts over the past two decades, including in Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo), Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda. The issue has been particularly salient in eastern DRC, where security forces, rebel organizations, militias, and other armed groups have inflicted sexual violence upon the civilian population on a massive scale. This report provides a detailed case study of DRC and an index of active U.S. programs there. Multiple U.S. government agencies and implementing partners contribute to efforts to prevent and respond to sexual violence in African conflicts. Agencies and departments include the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Justice, and the Department of Defense, among others. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has taken the lead on the Obama Administration's initiative to address the issue, through speeches, official travel, public remarks, writings, and actions at the United Nations. In August 2009, Clinton traveled to Goma, in eastern DRC, where she pledged $17 million to support U.S. government efforts to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence in that country. The pledge includes $10 million in Economic Support Funds (ESF) for "programs and activities to assist victims of gender-based violence" in DRC provided by the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-32). The 111th Congress has repeatedly expressed interest in the issue of sexual violence in African conflicts and support for programs to address it through legislation, hearings, and other congressional actions. Potential issues for Congress include the authorization and appropriation of targeted assistance programs; oversight of Administration and multilateral policies; and oversight of coordination between U.S. government agencies and international donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the report "Sexual Violence in African Conflicts" by the U.S. Congressional Research Service as of November 25, 2009. Topics discussed include role of the U.S. Congress in preventing sexual violence in Africa, United Nations' peace keeping activities, and sexual violence by combatant as a tool of war. Also mentioned are sexual atrocities in countries including Burundi and Rwanda, role of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and economic assistance.

Africa has historically held a peripheral role in the transnational illicit drug trade, but in recent years has increasingly become a locus for drug trafficking, particularly of cocaine. Recent estimates suggest that each year between 46 and 300 metric tons of South American cocaine may transit West Africa en route to Europe. Recent cocaine seizure levels are sharply higher than those in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which in all of Africa rarely exceeded 1 metric ton a year. Africa’s emergence as a trafficking nexus appears to have resulted from structural shifts in international drug trafficking patterns, including heightened European demand for cocaine, international counternarcotics pressure driving drug traffickers away from traditional trafficking routes, and the operational allure for traffickers of low levels of law enforcement capacity and high rates of corruption in many African countries. The growth of drug trafficking through Africa poses new challenges to international counternarcotics efforts, as well as a variety of emergent threats to the United States. Novel strategies and adaptations of existing efforts may be required to track emergent drug flow patterns, dismantle major criminal syndicates involved in such trafficking, and prevent future hotspots from emerging. While most of the cocaine transiting Africa is destined for Europe, and little of it enters the United States, other illicit substances trafficked through the region, notably heroin and illegally traded chemical precursors used to produce illicit drugs, do enter the United States. The growing drug trade in Africa also poses other threats to U.S. interests. These include the reported involvement of Latin American criminal groups, including elements of at least one U.S.-designated terrorist organization, that are targets of U.S. counternarcotics or military operations. Other challenges include threats to U.S. policy interests and assistance programs in Africa, such as efforts to advance good governance, political stability, rule of law, and human rights, and programs to build African law enforcement and counternarcotics capacities. U.S. counternarcotics policy responses to the rise in trans-Africa drug trafficking are in the formative stages. Several U.S. agencies are evaluating the scope of the problem and identifying short-term remedies, such as efforts to expand drug monitoring and interdiction in Africa, and long-term efforts designed to strengthen local capacity to combat drugs in the region. In recent years, U.S. agencies have begun to devote greater resources to combating the drug trade in Africa. The State Department requested $7.5 million for counternarcotics assistance in Africa in FY2010, up from about $0.5 million in FY2006, while the Department of Defense (DOD) plans to allocate $19.3 million in FY2009 and $28 million in FY2010 to counternarcotics programs in Africa. The threat of drug trafficking in Africa has drawn attention in recent Congresses. P.L. 110-417, for instance, required that DOD submit a report to Congress laying out a counternarcotics strategy for the region. On June 23, 2009, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing entitled Confronting Drug Trafficking in West Africa. In responding to recent and ongoing executive branch efforts to devote increased resources and attention to this problem, Congress may choose to review existing authorities and funding levels for counternarcotics programs in Africa. Key policy questions that may arise in this respect include how best to reduce gaps in intelligence and data collection relating to the drug trade in Africa, how to balance short-term and long-term counternarcotics goals and strategies, how various U.S. civilian and military and international agency counternarcotics roles and responsibilities in Africa should be defined, and what types and levels of resources these efforts may require. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa ("Africa" hereafter) has been more severely affected by AIDS than any other world region. In 2007, the United Nations reports, there were about 22.5 million HIV-positive persons in Africa, which has nearly 12% of the world's population but about 68% of the global total of infected persons. The adult rate of infection in Africa in late 2005 was 6.1%, compared with 1% worldwide, but had dropped to 5% by 2007, compared to .8% worldwide. Nine southern African countries have infection rates above 10%. In 2007, 35% of all people living globally with HIV lived in Southern Africa, where 32% of all global new HIV infections and AIDS deaths occurred. About 90% of infected children globally live in Africa, where about 61% of infected adults are women. As many as 30 million Africans may have died of AIDS since 1982, including 1.6 million who died in 2007, accounting for about 76% of global AIDS deaths in 2007. AIDS has surpassed malaria as the leading cause of death in Africa. It kills many more Africans than does war. Experts attribute the severity of Africa's AIDS epidemic to poverty, lack of female empowerment, high rates of male worker migration, and other factors. Many national health systems are ill-equipped for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. AIDS causes severe socioeconomic consequences, e.g., declines in economic productivity due to sharp drops in life expectancy and the loss of skilled workers. It also devastates family structures. There are about 11.4 million African AIDS orphans, many of whom lack access to adequate nutrition and social services. Private organizations and the governments of donor and African nations have responded by supporting diverse efforts to prevent and reduce the rate of new infections and by trying to abate damage done by AIDS to families, societies, and economies. The adequacy of this response is much debated. An estimated 1.3 million Africa AIDS patients receiving antiretroviral (ARV) drug treatment in late2005, up from 150,000 in mid-2004. An estimated 4.8 million Africans needed such therapy in late 2005. U.S. and other initiatives are reportedly sharply expanding access to treatment. Advocates see this goal as an affordable means of reducing the impact of the pandemic. Skeptics question whether drug access can continue to be rapidly scaled up in the absence of costly general health infrastructure improvements. U.S. concern over AIDS in Africa grew in the 1980s, as the epidemic's severity became apparent. Congress has steadily increased funding for global AIDS programs. P.L. 108-25, signed into law on May 27, 2003, authorized $15 billion over five years for international AIDS programs under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Twelve of 15 PEPFAR "focus countries" are in Africa. Under the FY2008 budget request, these 12 countries would receive $3.421 billion under the State Department's Global HIV/AIDS Initiative. Many activists have praised the extent of such aid, but some urge that more funding or different programs be provided. Congress is likely to re-authorize PEPFAR, which expires after FY2008, or create a successor program. Other bills in the 110th Congress that focus on AIDS in Africa include S. 805 (Durbin), H.R. 3812 (Lee), H.R. 1713 (Lee), S. 2415 (Clinton), and S.Con.Res.31. Global AIDS appropriations are discussed in other CRS reports cited within this report, which will be updated periodically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the U.S. trade and investment relationship with sub-Saharan Africa. Topics discussed include the trade and investment policy for Africa, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and the U.S.-Africa trade and investment trends. Information regarding the economic growth, investment and growth challenges in the countries is also provided.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group is a regional development bank currently based in Tunis, Tunisia. It comprises three lending facilities: the market rate facility, the AfDB; a concessional lending facility, the African Development Fund; and a trust fund established by Nigeria to lend to low-income African countries. The Bank has 53 African members, as well as 24 non-regional members, including the United States. This report will be updated as events warrant. The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group is a regional development bank (RDB) "dedicated to combating poverty and improving the lives of people of the continent."1 In February 2003, the Bank temporarily relocated to Tunis, Tunisia from its permanent location in Abidjan, Co?=te d'Ivoire due to political instability in that country. At its February 2007 annual meetings, the AfDB decided to operate from its temporary relocation site in Tunis until summer 2008. Structure. The AfDB Group comprises three lending facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congress has dealt repeatedly with issues related to sub-Saharan Africa since the late 1950s. This report provides basic background on Africa and its history, U.S. policy, and congressional involvement, for the general congressional reader. The modern human species is believed to have emerged in Africa approximately 200,000 years ago. Perhaps 2,500 years ago, the Bantu people began to expand from a West African base, gradually spreading a complex agricultural system over much of the continent. Africanists generally agree that loyalties to large ethnic groups, a key factor in African politics today, were largely absent in pre-colonial Africa. The Atlantic slave trade, which began about 1450 and lasted 400 years, removed millions of people in their most productive years from Africa and left the continent illprepared to cope with the European "scramble for Africa." From the 1870s through the early twentieth century, nearly the entire sub-Saharan region was divided among the European powers. The Europeans built a basic economic infrastructure; but imposed a bureaucratic system of government and strengthened traditional chiefs and other "big men" to help them rule. These patterns deepened divisions in African societies and strengthened anti-democratic patterns of government. After World War II, African nationalists organized political parties and began to demand independence. By the early 1960s, independence had come to most of eastern and western Africa, but white minority rule persisted in southern Africa, ending only in 1994, when universal-suffrage elections were held in South Africa. In the first years of the 1960s, there were high hopes that the end of colonialism would bring rapid economic growth. Instead, Africa confronted a number of problems, including inefficient, state-centered economic systems; frequent military coups; ethnic strife; and corruption. The Cold War contributed to Africa's difficulties, flooding the continent with arms and strengthening a number of repressive regimes that had superpower backing. French policy also tended to bolster authoritarian governments in former French colonies. In the early 1990s, hopes for Africa's future revived following widespread political and economic reforms and the end of the Cold War. Later in the decade, however, the pace of reforms slowed and central Africa fell into an era of violent conflict. "Afro-pessimists" believe that these developments have gravely damaged Africa's prospects, but others argue that they are temporary problems masking an underlying "African Renaissance." The Clinton Administration sided with the "Afrooptimists," despite frustrations over the war in Congo (formerly Zaire) and other problems. The 106th Congress passed legislation to strengthen U.S.-African economic ties and to boost spending to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa and worldwide. Previous Congresses acted on a number of African issues, including African food security, apartheid in South Africa, and covert U.S. involvement in Angola. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides the various violence against women (VAW) types that are experienced from someone they know like parents, husbands and authority figures. It states that the most common VAW form is intimate partner violence involving forced sex, physical violence and psychological abuse. In the Middle East, one VAW type is honor killing which involves women being stoned , burned or beaten to death in order to preserve family honor. Female genital cutting is common in Africa.