L’Union européenne (UE) a annoncé le 14 juillet une proposition de taxe carbone à ses frontières, qui devrait renchérir les importations de produits fortement émetteurs (acier, aluminium, ciment, électricité et engrais). Cette même taxe est déjà appliquée au sein de l’UE, qui veut désormais l’imposer aux fabricants étrangers.
The world woke on Monday August 23 to higher international reserves for all countries. A new allocation of US$650 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to its member countries had entered into force (SDR450 billion).
There is not much of an argument: some countries in mighty Africa faced and mastered the COVID-19 invasion as efficiently, or even better, than any nation on the globe, including former colonial powers in Europe. By June 2021, 140,400 Africans had died, compared to more than 500,000 virus victims in Brazil, or 600,000 plus in the U.S. Some experts explain the result as a product of long experience from a multitude of previous health crises: Ebola, AIDS/HIV, malaria, tuberculosis. Others mentioned the youth of Africa, pointing to giant Nigeria, with a median population age of 18. And only 2% of Africa’s population of 1.3 billion is aged above 70, whereas in many Western societies, the older population has been the most devastated by the pandemic. Nigeria, with a population of 211 million, reported to date only 2124 COVID-19 victims. Its capitol, Lagos, about 15 million inhabitants, reported only 220 COVID-19 deaths.
Il est bien connu que le poids de l’Afrique sur la scène énergétique mondiale est faible, ce qui est le reflet de son poids économique. En 2020, en termes de consommation, la part de l’Afrique dans le total mondial ne dépassait pas 3% à 4%. De plus, cette part n’a que très peu augmenté au cours des dix dernières années.
The Nile is a monster, at 6,650 kilometers the longest river on the planet. Control of its waters has kept rulers in power for thousands of years. The Blue and White Niles merge in Khartoum then flow northwards, travelling through Sudan to Egypt, the glorious land of Pharaohs.
La victoire éclair des Talibans en Afghanistan remet sur le devant de la scène un projet énergétique dont il est question depuis plus de 20 ans. Il s’agit d’un gazoduc qui relierait le Turkménistan au Pakistan et à l’Inde, en passant par l’Afghanistan. Le nom de ce projet est TAPI pour Turkménistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan et Inde.
L’actualité pétrolière très chargée de ces derniers mois a mis sur le devant de la scène une entité appelée OPEP+. Ce nom est aujourd’hui régulièrement cité par un grand nombre de médias dans des commentaires et analyses sur l’évolution du marché pétrolier mondial et des prix du pétrole.
Abdelhak Bassou is one of the leading national and African security experts. He is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and a highly appreciated professor at the elite University Mohammed VI, near Marrakech. His opinions provoke thoughts and comments, just as they should. The Policy Center for the New South’s Annual Report on Africa’s Geopolitics, coordinated by Mr. Bassou, contains numerous reports on the damaging effects of COVID-19 on Africa’s societies: ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Governance for the Peace and Security of Africa’;‘COVID-19: A Perfect Storm of African Securities’ or ’Covid 19, un révélateur des maux des sociétés africaines’, and ‘L’Afrique entre deux pandémies: la Covid-19 et la famine’. In his foreword to the report, Bassou nevertheless makes it clear that “the current edition opted to stand out from a certain form of media coverage which, by focusing on COVID-19 in Africa, has neglected other main issues on the continent and has therefore undermined efforts to address them”.
The International Monetary Fund’s tenth annual External Sector Report (ESR, August 2021) shows how current account deficits in the global economy widened in 2020 during the pandemic. On the other hand, the ESR also argues that overall, the misalignment between fundamentals and current account balances has not been exacerbated.
Pan-Africanism is a dream that never dies. A project of African politicians, united in a vision, as old as the settled Africa, which liberated itself from the shackles of colonialism: Africa for Africans, Afro Americans, or the dark skinned people of Cuba, or Haiti, African immigrants in Paris, or Rome, in step to rekindle hope, freedom, equality, cultural revival, to build a future, construct the foundations of a borderless continent, an Africa without tribal struggles, wars, or poverty.
