My #WeekendRead : A feast for the eyes as well as the mind from The Metropolitan Museum of Art & The Cleveland Museum of Art explores the religious, cultural, artistic & economic contributions of #Africa — including kingdoms in today’s #Egypt 🇪🇬, #Ethiopia 🇪🇹 & #Sudan 🇸🇩 — to the glories of #Byzantium at its apogee.

Damning with faint praise? The Economist on the #USA 🇺🇸- #Africa policy record of accomplishment under President Biden: “Mr Biden’s administration can at least claim to have laid out an ambitious agenda for Africa, even if many of its aims have yet to be fulfilled.” economist.com/middle-east-an…

Yesterday, rump #Somalia 🇸🇴 delivered to the #UN 🇺🇳 a letter requesting the termination of UNSOM at the end of its current mandate in October. Coupled with the expiration of African Union’s ATMIS, the prospects for regime security in Mogadishu are not looking good.

Collect for the Feast of the #Ascension (BCP 1928): “Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell.”

Top The White House advisor amos hochstein to tells Milken Institute that “the #EnergyTransition is not going to happen” & the #USA 🇺🇸 will be left dependent on #China 🇨🇳 for #CriticalMinerals if U.S. firms shy away from mining in #Africa & other “risky” places.
foxnews.com/world/white-ho…

Quoted by Joshua Hammer in The Atlantic on #Russia 🇷🇺’s mercenaries in #Mali 🇲🇱: #Wagner “has been effective, if you don’t mind [the fact that they’re] shooting down everyone in sight. They don’t make the distinctions... between combatants and civilians.”
theatlantic.com/international/…

Thanks to Ali Rogin & the PBS NewsHour team for having me on #PBSNews Weekend today to discuss the causes & impact of the withdrawal of #USA 🇺🇸 military forces from #Niger 🇳🇪 & #Chad 🇹🇩 on not only #Sahel security, but geopolitics in #Africa . See the segment: pbs.org/newshour/show/…

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!
Христосъ воскресе! Воистину воскресе!
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!

Prayerful best wishes for a blessed & joyous #Pascha to all Christians who are celebrating #Easter this weekend according to the Julian calendar. #KaliAnastasi

Thanks to Kevin Roberts, James Jay Carafano & Heritage Foundation team for hosting ambassadors & reps from the African Diplomatic Corps for a robust discussion about #USA 🇺🇸- #Africa relations, our common interests in freedom, security & prosperity, as well as shared values & future. Project 2025

Read my interview with Louise Margolin in the just-published issue of Jeune Afrique magazine about #mining for #criticalminerals in #Africa , the need to invest in people & infrastructure (including integrated corridors like #Lobito ), and the role played by #USA 🇺🇸 gov’t & firms.

Acting on a resolution from the Legislature, President Joseph Nyumah Boakai of #Liberia 🇱🇷 signed an order setting up a long-awaited War & Economic Crimes Court. While the former offenses date back to the civil war, some of the latter are fairly recent. 👏
bbc.com/news/world-afr…

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 🇿🇲.