Into Africa

Yes, Chef! Mvemba is joined by Pierre Thiam, a renowned chef, author, and social activist. Hailing from Senegal, Chef Thiam is best known for bringing West African cuisine to the global fine-dining world. Chef Thiam and Mvemba discuss making it in the fine dining world in New York City, the stunning diversity of food from the continent, finding inspiration in tradition, the miracle grain "fonio" a...

Modeled after the Peace Corps, CorpsAfrica empowers African youth to work with local communities, emphasizing local ownership, collaboration, and participatory development. CorpsAfrica founder comments, “We’re creating a second Peace Corps, by and for Africans”. The organization aims to create a lasting impact by addressing community needs through a transformative and scalable model. Volunteers wo...

For too long Africa’s role in the fight against climate change has been overlooked and underestimated. While world leaders and non-governmental organizations have tried to address the challenge, both sustainable solutions and actions have not been seen on the continent. The inaugural Africa Climate Summit brought together indigenous activists, African youth, and civil society organizations to disc...

Burkina Faso (twice). Chad. Gabon. Guinea. Mali (twice). Niger. Sudan. The recent spate in coups has forced many to pause and ask difficult questions. Has democracy failed? Why do a minority of citizens support or tolerate military rule, and what does this backing say about the ineffectiveness of their previous governments? Kamissa Camara, Senior Advisor for Africa at the U.S. Institute of Peace a...

Mvemba is joined by Fyneface Dumnamene, the Executive Director of the Youth and Environmental Advocacy Center based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. They assess President Bola Tinubu's 150 days in office, the economic challenges faced by the Tinubu administration, and Nigeria’s oil economy. They also discuss Nigeria's leadership in ECOWAS and how it has impacted the regional bloc's response to the Niger...

Mvemba is joined by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, commonly known as Bobi Wine, to discuss youth movements' challenges in Africa, reflecting on his journey as a presidential candidate in the 2021 Uganda general elections. They highlight the challenges African youth movements face in pursuing democratic change. Mvemba and Bobi Wine dive into why democracy is crumbling in some African countries. Bobi W...

Mvemba is joined by Eric Kuikende-Banshona, a Provenance Researcher at the National Museum of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They highlight the importance of restituting African artifacts to move past European colonial history in Africa. They also urge African political leaders to focus on Africa’s cultural richness and collaborate with Western leaders to restore the history and cultures of the...

Mvemba is joined by CSIS’s Catrina Doxsee, Associate Director and Associate Fellow with the Transnational Threats Project, and ICG’s Delaney Simon, Senior Analyst with the U.S. Program to discuss the Wagner Group’s African operations. They highlight the quasi-independent Russian paramilitary group’s atrocious activities and how they have caused social, humanitarian, and economic harm in Africa. Co...

Mvemba is joined by David McNair, Executive Director for Global Policy at The ONE Campaign, W. Gyude Moore, Senior Policy Fellow at the Center for Global Development, and Savior Mwambwa, Senior Advisor at Open Society Foundations to discuss the state of indebtedness in Africa. They review the reasons why some African countries are defaulting on debt repayment and why others have chosen to prioriti...

Mvemba is joined by Major General Michael J. Turley, the Adjutant General of the Utah National Guard. Turley discusses the contribution of the Utah National Guard to the execution of United States foreign security assistance at a much-reduced cost and reduced time expenditure, and the participation of the Guard in African Lion, the largest US military exercise in Africa. He further describes the i...

Mvemba is joined by Rawan Hamadeh, Program Officer for Mental Health Programs at Project HOPE. Rawan highlights Project HOPE’s mental health and resilience initiatives and how the organization has been able to train over 100,000 health workers across the globe, of which 25,000 are from Africa. They discuss the limited mental health resources available to health workers around the world, and how CO...

Ghana, Africa’s shining black star, is grappling with a spectrum of challenges, from a faltering cedi to public discontent and security threats (both internally and across their borders). Mvemba is joined by Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar (Executive Director of West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism) for a diagnosis of Ghana’s politics, socioeconomic, and security landscape.

Mvemba is joined by Major General Todd Wasmund, Commanding General of the Southern Europe Taskforce Africa. They discuss the goals and objectives of the 11th ALFS, Africa's security landscape, and the evolving partnerships between the United States military and African armies. 

Mvemba is joined by Maria Burnett (Senior Associate, CSIS Africa Program) and Gyude Moore (Senior Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development). They discuss the slate of high-level U.S. government visits to Africa, culminating with Vice President Kamala Harris, and the impact of these visits on U.S.-Africa relations.

Mvemba is joined by Cameron Hudson, Senior Associate with the CSIS Africa Program. They unpack the long-term drivers of tensions between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the factors that have triggered the current deadly unrest, and its devastating impact on civilians. They also discuss concerns about the conflict spreading across the region and the fate of Sudan's...

Catherine Nzuki, Associate Fellow with the CSIS Africa Program, steps in for Mvemba this week. Catherine is joined by two Ghanaian clerics: Bishop Alfred Agyenta and Sheikh Dr. Hazic Hussein Zakaria. They discuss insecurity and peacebuilding in the Sahel, the drivers of conflict in Ghana, the power of religious peacebuilding and interfaith dialogue, and the long-term solutions to the crisis in the...

Africa’s coastline is over 18,900 miles (30,500 km). With 2023 marking the 10-year anniversary of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct and the first ever African Maritime Forces Summit in Cabo Verde, the time to discuss key threats, threat management frameworks, and strategic partnerships to the African maritime space is critical.  This week on Into Africa, Mvemba is joined by Rear Admiral Chase Patrick, D...

Mvemba is joined by Amaka Anku, Practice Head for Africa at the Eurasia Group. They offer their initial reactions to Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory, discuss the allegations of voter irregularities, and reflect on one of Nigeria's most competitive and consequential elections since the end of military rule in 1999.   This episode was recorded on March 02, 2023.

What’s better than coordinating a two-day virtual conference on pressing challenges to global democracy? Try adding several different time zones!  Mvemba is joined by Marti Flacks (Director of the Human Rights Initiative at CSIS), Tiseke Kasambala (Director of Africa Programs at Freedom House) and Kate Hixon (Africa Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA).  They discuss the March 2023 Summ...

Mvemba is joined by Claude Grunitzky, founder of TRACE and TRUE Africa. Mvemba and Claude discuss ways African investors can support Africa's creative future, and the importance of the next generation of young media creators, entrepreneurs, and investors on the continent owning their intellectual property and cultural contributions.

What happened during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December '22? Mvemba is joined by Aloysius Uche Ordu (Senior Fellow and Director of the Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings) and Kehinde Togun (Managing Director for Public Engagement at Humanity United) for a post-mortem of the summit. They identify areas of success and improvement, the commitments made, and how Washington can maintain mome...

Mvemba is joined by Succès Masra, a leading Chadian opposition figure and the president of Les Transformateurs, the major opposition party in Chad. They discuss the deadly crackdown on protestors in October 2022, the state of the transition talks, the power of social media for organizing political movements, and Chad’s uncertain future.

Mvemba is joined by Dana Banks, Senior Advisor to the President of the United States and Special Advisor for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. With the Summit officially kicking off on December 13, they discuss the challenges and opportunities for strengthening ties between the U.S. and African countries and how to maintain momentum beyond the Summit.

Mvemba is joined by Doussouba Konaté, Country Director and Global Program Manager for Accountability Lab Mali, an organization dedicated to shifting societal norms by working with young people to foster new ideas centered around government accountability, transparency, and openness. They discuss the landscape of life in Mali today, touching on several key people, political and policy factors for c...

Mvemba is joined by Ambassador Andrew Young, Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Engagement of U.S. Africa Command. They discuss the three dimensions of the department’s engagement in the region (defense, diplomacy, and development) over the past 14 years and unpack future goals of the strategic operation partnership.