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July 5, 2023

Sierra Leone
Addressing Election Integrity in Sierra Leone

With recent questions surrounding the June 24 election in Sierra Leone, international partners must reevaluate their response to seriously flawed elections.

Election workers count ballots at a polling station in Sierra leone. A sign reads "polling station here."

March 1, 2023

Foreign Policy
Academic Webinar: U.S. Strategy in East Asia

Chris Li, director of research of the Asia-Pacific Initiative and fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, leads the conversation on U.S. strategy in E…

Play Map photo of East Asia

January 27, 2023

Sierra Leone
Women This Week: Women’s Rights Victory in Sierra Leone

Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post covers January 21 to January 27.

A Sierra Leonen woman carries a pot of peanuts on her head in Freetown, Sierra Leone, December 16, 2014.

August 4, 2021

Tanzania
Arrests of Tanzanian Opposition Underline Need for Constitutional Reform

On July 21, Freeman Mbowe, chairman of Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (the Party for Democracy and Progress, CHADEMA), and ten other party members were arrested in Mwanza, apparently for violating a ban on “unnecessary gatherings.” The ban, enacted the day prior, was officially billed as a measure to curb the spread of COVID-19. Yet its timing, coming just before a conference on discussing constitutional reform, and the charges levelled against Mbowe—the party leader is accused, without evidence, of funding terrorist activities aimed at assassinating government leaders—suggest the true intent is to suppress calls for much-needed constitutional reform.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and former President Jakaya Kikwete stand side-by-side.

July 13, 2021

Nigeria
T.B. Joshua: A Preacher Who Held Outsized Influence in Nigeria and Africa

Policy makers, diplomats, and commentators in the secular West often fail to take into account the profound influence of religious leaders in sub-Saharan Africa, whether among Christians, Muslims, or adherents of traditional religions. Heaven, hell, and what secularists regard as magic are literal realities, more immediate than government policy or the pronouncements of political leaders. What the preacher says is more credible than the utterances of politicians.

T.B. Joshua, a now-deceased Nigerian pastor, holds his hand on a woman's face. The woman holds her hands raised with her palms upward.