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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio boards a military airplane on March 12, 2025.
Out of Africa? US may be planning to pull diplomats
The Trump administration may be planning the most far-reaching overhaul of the US State Department in generations. A leaked draft executive order obtained by The New York Times outlines a sweeping restructuring plan that would prioritize “transnational threat elimination,” downsize the foreign service, and hire personnel who are in “alignment with the president’s foreign policy vision.” Climate, refugee, democracy, and public diplomacy offices would be eliminated, as would diversity-based fellowships. And instead of regional bureaus, America’s foreign service would be divided into four specialized “corps” regrouping the major regions of the world.
Except Africa, that is. The draft proposes to eliminate the Bureau of African Affairs and replace it with a “special envoy” focused solely on counterterrorism and resource extraction. Nearly all American embassies and consulates in sub-Saharan Africa would reportedly be shuttered by Oct. 1, with diplomats dispatched only for “targeted, mission-driven deployments.”
US diplomats were alarmed by the report, with one telling Politico that the plan was “bonkers crazypants.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the story “fake news,” but he didn’t deny the document’s existence. The NYT issued a disclaimer that “It was not immediately clear who had compiled the document or what stage of internal debates over a restructuring of the State Department it reflected.”
If implemented, however, it would mark not just a reordering – but a retreat – from America’s diplomatic footprint on the continent and beyond, potentially opening the door for countries like China and Russia to fill the breach.Members of the M23 rebel group stand guard as people attend a rally addressed by Corneille Nangaa, Congolese rebel leader and coordinator of the AFC-M23 movement, in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 27, 2025.
Could peace finally come to the DRC?
Representatives of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 rebel group held peace talks in Doha, Qatar, last week to resolve the armed conflict that has engulfed eastern DRC since January. Qatari mediators began facilitating private discussions ahead of the first formal meeting between the two groups, planned for April 9. It is the second such attempt since March, and a source close to the negotiations described the talks as “positive,” as evidenced by the M23’s withdrawal from the town of Walikale as a gesture of goodwill.
What’s behind the conflict? Hostilities stem from the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and competition for the DRC’s extensive mineral resources. The M23, an ethnic Tutsi-led rebel group formed in 2012, is allegedly funded by Rwanda – a charge Kigali denies.
There were supposed to be peace talks in Angola three weeks ago, but those collapsed after the European Commission sanctioned Rwandan officials for plundering mineral wealth in the DRC. The decision prompted Rwanda to expel Belgian diplomats and raised fears of a greater regional war.
Over 7,000 people have died in the DRC since January, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced, including 35,000 people who have fled to Burundi and 487,000 who have sought refuge in Uganda, straining resources in neighbouring states – an outcome next week’s talks are designed to head off.
FILE PHOTO: Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport before the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, in Beijing, China September 3, 2024.
US sanctions Sudanese leader
The United States on Thursday imposed financial sanctions on Sudan's army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The move came a week after Washington imposedsimilar sanctions on the leader of the rebel Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, whose militia has been warring with government forces for the past 18 months, ina conflict that has killed up to 150,000 people,displaced 11 million, and caused 26 million to go hungry.
Why sanction both sides? US officials said Thursday that the Sudanese army deployedchemical weapons against the RSF at least twice, and there are concerns they may use them in populated areas in the capital, Khartoum. They have also committed humanitarian violations and used starvation as a weapon of war.
As for the RSF, on Jan. 7, Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the group ofperpetrating a genocide against the non-Arab Masalit people, killing boys and men and committing sexual violence against women and girls because of their ethnicity.
Washington doesn’t want to pick sides but to pressure them into a ceasefire. The RSF currently controlshalf of Sudan, including almost all of Darfur, Khartoum, and southern regions, and there are concerns thata partition of the country would lead to “state disintegration,” provoking an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.
FILE PHOTO: Members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) stand guard against the M23 rebel group in Lubero, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo October 27, 2024.
Rwanda-backed rebels seize towns in Congo
The rebel March 23 Movement, aka M23, reportedly supported by Rwanda,captured the strategic town of Masisi in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province from the army and pro-government militias on Saturday. Masisi, population 40,000, sits just 50 miles north of Goma, the provincial capital, home to two million Congolese — and is a key sanctuary for refugees.
The takeover comes just two days after M23 captured Katale, another town in North Kivu. Since 2021, the group has occupied vast areas of eastern Congo, displacing hundreds of thousands of refugees, and local leaderswarn of an escalating humanitarian crisis.
The Congo accuses Rwanda of using the rebels to loot its minerals including gold, cobalt, and tantalum, a charge Kigali denies. In December, Congo announced it was suing Apple for using such “blood minerals.” In response, Apple has stopped accepting tin, tantalum, tungste, and gold from both countries.
Meanwhile, talks between DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagamewere canceled on Dec. 15 over disagreements about the terms of a proposed peace deal, and there is no sign they are resuming. We’re watching how far M23 goes, as even the scant attention paid to central Africa in Western capitals may diminish under a tumultuous Trump administration.
US President Joe Biden shakes hands with Angolan President João Lourenço at the Presidential Palace in Luanda, Angola, on Dec. 3, 2024.
Why is Joe Biden in Angola?
There’s also a security angle here. Angola isn’t just oil-rich; it has large reserves of copper and is home to large deposits of critical minerals, like the lithium and cobalt needed to make batteries for electric vehicles. That’s an arena of intense US-China competition.
The main focus for Biden this week is his proposed 835-mile rail line to connect the cobalt, lithium, and copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the copper-belt region of Zambia with the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic, from which these increasingly precious commodities can be exported to the US and Europe. Construction of the so-called Lobito Corridor is not yet underway.
Angola and many other sub-Saharan African countries have an angle here too. Lourenço knows that competition among China, the US, Russia, Japan, Europe, and others for African resources and infrastructure projects can give African leaders a negotiating leverage they don’t yet have.
Lourenço and Biden can both hope that incoming US President Donald Trump will see the value of these projects as new investment opportunities that score points against China.
A person holding smartphone
Will AI help or hurt Africa?
AI technology might be able to help poorer nations “leapfrog” entire development phases, the Financial Times wrote this week — just like how some nations skipped mass landline adoption and went straight to mobile phones in the last two decades.
AI startups are popping up across Africa, trying to tackle problems in health care, education, and language and dialect differences. And foreign firms are starting to invest too: Microsoft and the UAE-based fund G42 announced a $1 billion investment in Kenya to build data centers, develop local-language AI models, and offer skills training to people in the country. Amazon has said it’s investing $1.7 billion in Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure across the continent. For its part, Google has begun developing African-language AI models and given $6,000 microgrants to Nigerian AI startups.
But there’s also concern that AI could deepen existing digital divides — especially if popular large language models aren’t developed with Africa in mind, don’t support local languages, or if the continent lacks the infrastructure to run high-powered models efficiently.
UN Security Council: Liberia’s top diplomat joins calls for Africa’s representation
Will Africa's push for permanent representation on the UN Security Council succeed? Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti echoed the region’s calls for reform, challenging the council’s control by wealthy nations.
The UN Security Council was originally set up post-WWII when many African nations were still under colonial rule, but today they feel sidelined in global governance.
“Many African countries have had different experiences that have led many of us to believe that the current configuration for global governance on peace and security is no longer fit for purpose. The needs of countries during conflict, post-conflict for reconstruction, are not being met in line with the expectations,” Nyanti told GZERO at the SDG Media Zone during the 79th UN General Assembly in New York City. Nyanti echoed recent calls for African countries to be granted permanent seats on the Security Council. “It needs to happen,” she said, emphasizing that Africa is the source of “most of the resources of the world” and “critical to global governance.”
Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, delivers a speech at the high-level panel discussion on ''Education in Peril: The Human Cost of War'' during the opening session of the 5th Observance of the UN International Day to Protect Education from Attack at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) in Doha, Qatar, on September 9, 2024.
Liberia’s top diplomat calls for “total overhaul” of UN Security Council
UNITED NATIONS – African countries are ramping up calls for permanent representation on the UN Security Council, contending that it’s a paralyzed institution dominated by a few wealthy countries and in desperate need of reform.
When the Security Council was first established in the aftermath of World War II, many African countries were still under colonial rule. In the time since, the framework of the Security Council has largely remained the same, but the world it represents has changed dramatically.
“Many African countries have had different experiences that have led many of us to believe that the current configuration for global governance on peace and security is no longer fit for purpose. The needs of countries during conflict, post-conflict for reconstruction, are not being met in line with the expectations,” Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti told GZERO at the SDG Media Zone during the 79th UN General Assembly in New York City.
“It's important that voices are heard. We talk about leaving no one behind. And if the countries that are affected don’t feel they have adequate and just and equitable representation, then there’s a problem,” Nyanti added.
Nyanti echoed recent calls for African countries to be granted permanent seats on the Security Council. “It needs to happen,” Nyanti said, emphasizing that Africa is the source of “most of the resources of the world” and “critical to global governance.”
“You cannot have a rules-based world order that does not reflect all of the world's people adequately,” Nyanti said.
On Wednesday, during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, many African countries, including Sierra Leone, Algeria, and Mozambique, pointed to the council’s ineffective response to the spiraling situation in the Middle East as evidence of the need for reform.
“Increasing geopolitical competition has increasingly turned this chamber into a battleground,” said Manuel Gonzalez, Vice Minister of Mozambique’s Foreign Affairs, referring to Russia’s backing of Iran — which supports Hezbollah — while the US stands alongside Israel. “The security council must restore its relevance and impartiality, therefore Mozambique reiterates its calls on the need for Security Council reform which also takes into consideration the African common position.”
The US recently endorsed granting permanent seats to two African countries but without the veto power wielded by the original five members: the US, Russia, China, France, and the UK. When asked whether permanent seats without veto power would effectively be symbolic, Nyanti said, “I think just talking about veto or non-veto is not the issue. It's about overhauling the entire system.”
“I believe very, very strongly that we need to go back to the beginning, go back to the foundation, look at what’s there, and look at what needs to be totally overhauled and reformed,” she said.
Watch John Haltiwanger's full interview with Foreign Minister Nyanti here.