Alex Vines

The scramble for resources: African case studies

Chinas renewed interest in Africas resources is a mixed blessing. China is offering infrastructure packages that are especially attractive for post‐conflict countries but it is also helping countries with poor governance to avoid western pressure for economic and democratic reform.

Can UN arms embargoes in Africa be effective

Calls in 2007 for new UN sanctions on Iran and Burma reflect a current swing back in favor of using sanctions as a way of putting pressure on a regime without resorting to direct military engagement. This article assesses the effectiveness of UN sanctions in Africa and in particular of the most commonly imposed form of sanctions the arms embargo. The article argues for an analysis of what sanctions achieve and suggests that for the most part UN embargoes have not stopped weapons reaching Africa not only because of the lack of capacity to implement them in some states, but also because of the lack of political will in others. In some post-conflict situations such as Liberia, UN sanctions have been adapted to support economic reconstruction and security sector reform effectively. However, in the future there is likely to be a decrease in the use of UN sanctions in Africa but an increase in their use by the Africa Union and some of Africas Regional Economic Communities.

Engagement with the African Indian Ocean Rim states

The article analyses the strong and growing ties between India and the African countries to which it is linked by the Indian Ocean, both in terms of trade and investment as well as security due to the strategic transport links in the region. The piece also analyses the work and usefulness of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Co‐operation (IOR‐ARC).

Angola: Thirty Years of Dos Santos

Jose Eduardo dos Santos will mark his thirtieth year as President of Angola in September 2009. Since 2004 Angola has boomed, sustained by high government spending and a rapid increase in oil export...

Bullets to ballots: The reintegration of UNITA in Angola

Angola has enjoyed mostly peace since April 2002 and is preparing for legislative elections in September 2008—the first since 1992. This paper charts the fortunes of the former rebel movement, UNITA, the Union for the Total Independence of Angola, assesses how successfully it has transformed itself from a rebel movement into the leading party of the democratic opposition and what its future prospects are. Many of the problems that UNITA faces are similar to other political opposition parties in Africa and there are few signs that UNITA is any longer disadvantaged by its violent past. The biggest threat to UNITA is that it loses badly in the September 2008 legislative elections and makes these ex-rebels irrelevant to the majority of Angolans.

Dousing The Flames of Resource Wars

The international community has had patchy success in using levers such as sanctions to end African conflicts over resources, make errant governments more accountable and ensure greater transparency in revenue management. The article highlights some of the successes and failures of the international system in this regard.

To Brexit and Beyond: Africa and the United Kingdom

Chapter 6 argues that British foreign policy over Africa in the Cold War era seems to be one driven by guilt over colonialism, migration worries, and fears of terrorism, and the looming trade-stress test and interests mainly with South Africa. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition and its successor Conservative government have rebooted trade and investment promotion, and have been rebuilding the UK’s diplomatic network in Africa. Britain has been engaged in UN peacekeeping, contributing to deployments in South Sudan and Somalia. It is also engaged in some military capacity-building, but only in selected African countries such as Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Gambia. But with Brexit, the author predicts that there is likely to be greater de-prioritisation of Africa in British policies as the Theresa May administration shifts the goal posts.