<p>Sub-Saharan Africa is a study in diversity. Covering an area that spans the entire width of the continent beginning at the Sahara Desert and ending at the southernmost tip of South Africa, the region is home to countless cultures, languages, religions, plants, animals and natural resources. It&rsquo;s no surprise that it captured the imagination of Europe&rsquo;s earliest explorers &mdash; and that it continues to capture the imagination of current world powers eager to exploit it. And yet despite the region&rsquo;s diversity, Sub-Saharan African countries have common challenges &mdash; transnational terrorism, rapid population growth, endemic poverty and corruption &mdash; that prevent them from capitalizing on their economic potential. The coming years will be critical for the region, especially as its political institutions mature in a rapidly globalizing world.</p>

Covering an area that spans the entire width of the continent beginning at the Sahara Desert and ending at the southernmost tip of South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa is home to countless cultures, languages, religions, plants, animals and natural resources.

Sub-Saharan Africa

South Sudan

Angola

Benin

Botswana

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Cabo Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Cote d'Ivoire

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Djibouti

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Ethiopia

Gabon

Gambia

Ghana

Guinea

Guinea Bissau

Kenya

Lesotho

Liberia

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mozambique

Namibia

Niger

Nigeria

Republic of the Congo

Rwanda

Sao Tome and Principe

Senegal

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Somalia

South Africa

Sudan

Eswatini

Tanzania

Togo

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe

The Post-Apartheid Era Ends

The Politics of Pipelines

Old Leaders in a New Africa

Nigeria: Obstacles to Prosperity

Commodities: A Cautionary Tale

Crossing Borders

A Crude Recovery

Globalization

China in Transition

The Suitors of Sub-Saharan Africa

Assessments

(Florence Lo-Pool/Getty Images)

Cyber

Economics

Politics

In the coming years, China will diversify and expand trade and investment in Latin America and the Caribbean amid U.S. protectionism, but Beijing's influence will likely remain limited due to its declining financial capacity and the region's enduring ties with the West.

Despite Stronger Trade Ties, China's Influence in Latin America Will Remain Limited

(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Energy

Much has been made of U.S. President Donald Trump's recent tour of the Middle East, where he slammed the interventionist policies of his predecessors. "In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built. And the interventionalists [sic] were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand," he said in Riyadh, about the widely panned Iraq invasion of 2003.

Is the Era of U.S. Interventionism in the Middle East Over?

United States

M23 fighters are seen at the main border crossing between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda in Goma on March 1, 2025.

Military & Security

Mediation efforts from the Trump administration will likely see the two African countries ink a peace deal in the coming months, but implementation will prove challenging, sustaining the risk of a new military escalation in eastern Congo.

U.S. Mediation Brings Congo and Rwanda Closer to a Peace Deal

A worker inspects an oil drilling platform located roughly 35 kilometers away from Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta. 

The recent drop in global oil prices risks exacerbating Nigeria's already high inflation, which would ripen socioeconomic conditions for protests and threaten to fuel recruitment by jihadist and bandit groups.

Can Nigeria Navigate Lower Oil Prices? 

China

Taiwan

United Kingdom

Portugal

Poland

Romania

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 21 during an official trip to the United States.

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: South Africa's U.S. Reset, Three European Elections

Columns

On Geopolitics

Algeria

Morocco

France

A Gabonese brigade participates in a training exercise as part of a military program linked to the Franco-Gabonese partnership at the French military base Camp de Gaulle in Libreville on March 19, 2025. 

France's reduced influence in Africa will create space for local and foreign actors to take on greater leadership roles, but their inability to fill the security vacuum left by France's withdrawal would threaten to destabilize the region.

France, Africa and the Future, Part 2: The Age of Multi-Alignment 

A picture released on July 12, 1963, of then-French President Gen. Charles de Gaulle (2L) and Jacques Foccart (L) greeting African, Malagasy and French overseas territories veterans arriving in Paris for French Bastille Day celebrations.

After decades of cultivating tight-knit relationships with francophone African countries, France has effectively ended its forward military presence in West and Central Africa amid shifting political dynamics in both regions, which will weaken its influence on the continent but enable Paris to reallocate resources towards Europe's security.

France, Africa and the Future, Part 1: A New Balance of Power 

Snapshots

Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen holds a press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Jan. 28, 2025.

Rising tensions between the ruling ANC and its key coalition partner over the 2025 budget are raising the risk of a coalition breakdown, which would threaten policy paralysis and a marked depreciation of the rand.

What the Democratic Alliance's Exit From Government Would Mean for South Africa

Israel

Germany

Ukraine

A list of countries facing reciprocal tariffs on display April 2 at the White House.

Global Trade

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The Weekly Rundown: The Escalating Global Trade War, South Africa's Coalition Government on the Brink

U.S.-China Relations

U.S.-Iran Relations

A photo of Khartoum, Sudan, with columns of smoke rising in the background.

The SAF's military victory in Khartoum marks a turning point in the country's civil war, but a firm resolution remains out of reach as the RSF fights to consolidate control in the west.

What Next for Sudan After the Army Retakes Khartoum?

Iraq

Kuwait

Oman

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

Kazakhstan

Russia

OPEC+ agreed to increase oil production by 411,000 barrels per day in July, the organization announced in a May 31 communique.

Global: OPEC+ Approves Third Accelerated Production Hike, But Russia-Saudi Tensions May Rise

Former President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila made his first public appearance in the country since 2023 in the city of Goma, held by the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, Jeune Afrique reported on May 30.

Congo: Former President Kabila Makes Public Appearance in Goma  

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu asked Nigeria's bicameral National Assembly to authorize raising around $24 billion in external borrowing over the next two years, Bloomberg reported on May 27. 

Nigeria: Tinubu Requests Fresh Borrowing Splurge

The South African government formally offered to buy 75 million to 100 million cubic meters of liquified natural gas a year from the United States under a 10-year contract in exchange for duty-free access to the U.S. market for automotive parts and duty-free annual quotas of 40,000 vehicles, 385,000 tons of steel and 132,000 tons of aluminum sold in the United States, Reuters reported on May 26.

South Africa: Pretoria Eyes U.S. LNG Imports for Duty-Free Trade Perks

U.S. President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held a contentious meeting on May 21 in Washington that quickly soured after Trump raised debunked claims of a "white genocide" in South Africa, prompting a rebuttal from Ramaphosa, BBC reported the same day.

U.S., South Africa: Tense Trump-Ramaphosa Meeting Bodes Ill for Trade, Economic Relations

Sudanese U.N. ambassador Al-Harith Idriss accused the United Arab Emirates of directly conducting drone strikes on Port Sudan in early May, Africanews reported on May 20.

Sudan: Army Accuses UAE of May 4 Drone Attacks on Port Sudan

The center-right Democratic Alliance said it "cautiously" supported the third iteration of South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's 2025 budget presented to South Africa's National Assembly, News24 reported on May 21. 

South Africa: Democratic Alliance 'Cautiously' Backs Third Budget Iteration 

Uganda's parliament passed the controversial Uganda People's Defence Force (Amendment) Bill and the Political Parties and Organizations (Amendment) Bill, The Daily Monitor reported on May 20.

Uganda: New Laws Facilitate Civilian Trials in Military Courts, Curb Public Financing of Parties   

Sub-Saharan Africa

SITUATION REPORTS

Global: OPEC+ Approves Third Accelerated Production Hike, But Russia-Saudi Tensions May Rise

Congo: Former President Kabila Makes Public Appearance in Goma

Nigeria: Tinubu Requests Fresh Borrowing Splurge

South Africa: Pretoria Eyes U.S. LNG Imports for Duty-Free Trade Perks

U.S., South Africa: Tense Trump-Ramaphosa Meeting Bodes Ill for Trade, Economic Relations

Sudan: Army Accuses UAE of May 4 Drone Attacks on Port Sudan

South Africa: Democratic Alliance 'Cautiously' Backs Third Budget Iteration

Uganda: New Laws Facilitate Civilian Trials in Military Courts, Curb Public Financing of Parties

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