Africa Program

The Africa Program conducts research and analysis on major elements of U.S. policy toward Africa that is centrist, activist, and forward looking.

The core mission of the CSIS Africa Program is to conduct sustained and timely research and analysis on the major elements of U.S. policy toward Africa, with the aim of substantially shaping discourse in Congress, the executive branch, and among private interest groups. The program fills a critical need in Washington for Africa policy analysis that is centrist, activist, and forward looking, defining what is at stake and offering policy recommendations that are timely, nonpartisan, and pragmatic.

The program's substantive focus is forward looking, emphasizing new and emergent dimensions of U.S.-Africa policy, including U.S. policy to combat HIV/AIDS and infectious disease; priority conflict zones; critical bilateral relations; and rising U.S. energy and security interests. The program assembles a diversity of important U.S. interests from the human rights community, the corporate sector, relief organizations, congressional staff, administration officials, academics, and activists. The program also provides a platform to visiting African opinion leaders and seeks to integrate African perspectives into the Washington policy dialogue. The program is led by Jennifer Cooke, director.

Africa and Global Health
The Africa Program considers how U.S. policymakers can address Africa’s immense health challenges and strengthen the long-term capacity of African governments to provide effective treatment to citizens.
Africa Policy after President Bush
A new CSIS publication, U.S. Africa Policy beyond the Bush Years, assesses the Bush administration’s Africa policies and provides recommendations to the Obama administration.
China in Africa
The Africa Program examines the implications of China’s engagement in Africa for the United States and the African region.
Conflict Resolution
The Africa Program monitors conflict across the continent, recognizing that unresolved conflict can lead to grave humanitarian challenges and regional destabilization.
East Africa Forum
The East Africa Forum examines how the United States can more effectively address governance challenges in the Horn of Africa while simultaneously confronting broader security threats in the region.
Online Africa Policy Forum
Each week, the Africa Policy Forum publishes an essay on a significant Africa policy topic and then opens that essay for comment and discussion in order to facilitate the Africa policy debate.
Rising U.S. Energy Interests
The Africa Program addresses how the United States can engage African energy producers to ensure support for stability, transparency, and good governance as they manage and develop their resources.
U.S. Security in Africa
The Africa Program assesses how the United States can utilize the newly created U.S. Africa Command in combination with its other civilian agencies to address the complex security challenges in Africa.

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WEST AFRICA’S INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRADE
Nov 6, 2009
By Stephen Ellis

Two years have gone by since the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) sounded an alarm about West Africa's role in the international drug trade. In 2007, the UNODC published a report identifying the Portuguese-speaking state of Guinea-Bissau in particular as an emerging narco-state that provided a convenient halfway stop for Latin American drug traders exporting to Europe.
The Obama Administration’s Sudan Strategy
Oct 21, 2009
By Jennifer Cooke and J. Stephen Morrison

After months of internal debate, mounting impatience among U.S. activist groups, and rapidly approaching deadlines in the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the Obama administration unveiled its strategy toward Sudan this week, calling for frank dialogue with the government in Khartoum and promising “calibrated steps to bolster support for positive change and to discourage backsliding.”