Africa Rising 21st Century

            The entire world is consumed by news and discussion of COVID-19.   It has killed millions of people and made many more millions sick, some critically so.   However, COVID has crowded out discussion and action on many other deadly diseases, not the least of which is the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome ( HIV/AIDS).   Because it is not discussed as much as in the past, some may think it is completely under control.   Unfortunately, it is not, and the millions of refugee situations worldwide make it even more problematic, nowhere more so than in Africa. Last year, Africa saw the most new internal displacements as conflict and violence flared in several countries across the continent. Millions of new displacements were recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Nigeria, triggered by increasing insecurity and human rights violations.  More than 2.2 million South Sudanese refugees have

              Russia has been involved with Africa for decades – militarily and economically.   The current crisis concerning Russia’s unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine has revealed just how complicated Russia’s relationship with African countries really is.             Observers were no doubt surprised to find so many Africans living in Ukraine when the Russians invaded.   In fact, almost 20% of the foreign students studying in Ukraine were African according to a 2020 count.   The African countries with the most students in Ukraine are Morocco (8,000), Nigeria (4,000) and Egypt (3,500).   Ghana’s government initially told its 1,000 students to shelter in place, while the Nigerian government said it would try to facilitate the evacuation of all its students who wanted to leave Ukraine.               Unfortunately, foreign students attempting to leave the country say they are experiencing racist treatment by Ukrainian security forces and border officials.   One African

              In 2013, Poly-GCL Petroleum Group, a partnership between China Poly and closely held Hong Kong-based Golden Concord Group Ltd., signed five production-sharing agreements with Ethiopia to explore for oil and gas in the country’s Ogaden region.   The Chinese company has been involved in the exploration and development project in the Ogaden basin since the end of 2013 and has confirmed new hydrocarbon deposits, which means that Ethiopia could have more oil and gas than previously thought.   Unfortunately, this economic boon appears to come at the cost of lives and health of Ethiopians experiencing a wave of mysterious illnesses in the area around the exploration sites.             Poly-GCL has identified other reserves in the Calub deposit alone that were initially thought to be 133 billion cubic meters. However, the quantity could exceed 200 billion cubic meters of gas reserves. Even crude oil could be surprisingly plentiful.   The Calub and Hilala reserves were initially