My #WeekendRead is GW Arts & Sciences Prof. Eric H. Cline’s new book on why some Late Bronze Age societies survived the great shocks of the “First Dark Age” while others did not — interesting parallels to our present period of upheaval with both innovations & barbarians inside the gates.

Congratulations to H.E. President Julius Maada Bio and to the Government and people of #SierraLeone 🇸🇱 on the 63rd anniversary of your independence, with best wishes for progress and prosperity for all the people of #SweetSalone .

Félicitations à S.E. le Président Faure Essozimna GNASSINGBÉ ainsi qu’au Gouvernement et au Peuple du #Togo 🇹🇬, à l’occasion du 64ème anniversaire de votre l’ #indépendance , avec reconnaissance pour vos nombreux efforts en faveur de la paix, de la stabilité et du développement dans la région.

I could not agree more with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Ranking Member Jim Risch. For more on Department of State’s irrational fetish for rump #Somalia 🇸🇴, how it undermines key #USA 🇺🇸 interests & values see my recent National Interest essay about the “One Somalia” delusion: nationalinterest.org/feature/washin…

At the end of a week with several notable setbacks for #USA 🇺🇸 interests in #Africa , reassuring to see some progress as Samantha Power, Ambassador Tulinabo Mushingi & other officials ride the railway on the US Partnership Global Infrastructure & Investment-backed strategic #LobitoCorridor connecting #Angola 🇦🇴, the #DRC 🇨🇩 & #Zambia 🇿🇲.

Another setback for #USA 🇺🇸 in the #Sahel under the Biden admin: Eric Schmitt reports that the extremely modest contingent of American military personnel in #Chad 🇹🇩 are being pulled out after host questions what they are doing there since security assistance is very limited.

#Denmark 🇩🇰, the #EU 🇪🇺, #Germany 🇩🇪, #Norway 🇳🇴, #Sweden 🇸🇪 & the #UK 🇬🇧 welcome announcement of election date in #Somaliland . Is the current #USA 🇺🇸 admin so wedded to failed regime of rump #Somalia 🇸🇴 — which hasn’t had a real election since 1969 (!) — that U.S. Embassy Mogadishu, Somalia can’t join in?

Exclusive report from The Somali Digest: the #USA 🇺🇸 has suspended supplies to rump #Somalia 🇸🇴’s Danab special ops unit after finding that bulk food & fuel provide to the supposedly elite Somali National Armed Forces troops were being sold on the open market. Not surprised!😂 thesomalidigest.com/u-s-stops-rati…

Statement from Department of State on #USA 🇺🇸 withdrawal from #Niger 🇳🇪: “We have been unable to reach an understanding with the Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie to continue... security cooperation in a manner that addresses the needs and concerns of each side.”
state.gov/on-the-withdra…

Quoted by The Africa Report’s Julian Pecquet: “No one doubts that Gécamines stands in dire need of an image ‘makeover’...Whether Mercury can help them with it will depend in no small measure on whether or not...it has substantially changed for the better.”
theafricareport.com/345538/drcs-ge…

Quoted by John Vandiver in Stars and Stripes: “There is no avoiding that the loss of access to the two air bases in #Niger 🇳🇪 is a setback” for the #USA 🇺🇸, but “in the long run, it will be the people of Niger who pay the price for the junta’s choices.”
stripes.com/theaters/afric…

Report from Reuters: the “upward momentum that has propelled #copper prices to within a whisker of the psychological $10,000 a metric ton mark is expected to be sustained.” The #DRC 🇨🇩 is now the #2 producer of the metal critical to the #energytransition . reuters.com/markets/commod…

Just arrived! Congrats to my friend Zeinab Badawi on her new book, which traces #Africa ’s history from the origins of humanity to the independence era from the perspectives & through the voices of Africans themselves — while still remaining “realistic rather than starry-eyed.”

Warmest wishes to my Jewish friends in #Israel 🇮🇱, the #USA 🇺🇸 & around the world preparing to celebrate #Pesach ( #Passover ) this evening, along with prayers for the quick deliverance of those held captive by Hamas and for “the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6). #ChagPesachSameach

Fascinating study highlighted by John McDermott of The Economist shows that a low-income worker earning $1,000 a month in #SouthAfrica 🇿🇦 takes home not even half of what a peer with same pay in #Vietnam 🇻🇳 does. As #SouthAfrica Decides what happened to African National Congress’s #LeaveNoOneBehind ?

Honored to be received by H.E. Foreign Minister Taye Atske Selassie at The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of #Ethiopia 🇪🇹 for a discussion about #Ethiopia 🇪🇹’s strategic role in #Africa & the strategic #HornOfAfrica in particular, its legitimate national interests (including sea access), and current & future #USA 🇺🇸 relations.

The Financial Times’s Harry Dempsey writes that Rainbow Rare Earths’ Phalaborwa #REE project in #SouthAfrica 🇿🇦 is “a testing ground for #USA 🇺🇸 attempts to fight #China 🇨🇳’s global dominance” of supply chains for #CriticalMinerals . (I am a non-executive director of the firm.) ft.com/content/37966c…

While in Addis Ababa I spoke with Ethiopia News Agency about geopolitical & economic realities in the region and #Ethiopia 🇪🇹’s legitimate rights & interests, including the MOU with #Somaliland trading recognition in return for strategic access to commercial port & lease of naval base.