Gulf of Guinea

March 5, 2013 | Dawit Giorgis CNN |

Why We Should Be Watching the Gulf of Guinea

As Washington has assessed the implications of Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical energy chokepoint, a crisis has loomed in another critical maritime e...

June 15, 2011 | World Defense Review

São Tomé and Príncipe: An African Exception?

That the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe might somehow escape the various "traps" – ethnic conflict, the "resource curse," poor governance, etc. – en...

June 14, 2011 | World Defense Review

An Inconvenient Flag

Liberia's Ship Registry in the Age of Global Terrorism

June 13, 2011 | Journal of International Security Affairs

Securing Africa

 On February 6, 2007, President George W. Bush launched a major evolution in American military posture when he formally announced that he had directed the Pentagon to establish a new unified...

July 26, 2010 |

U.S. Interests in Promoting Security Across The Sahara

While the United States has made promoting security in across the Sahara, from the Mediterranean coast of North Africa to the resource-rich West African waters of the Gulf of Guinea, a significan...

November 3, 2009 | World Defense review

Climate Change and Security in Africa

By Dr. J. Peter Pham For much of Africa's post-independence history, "African unity" was more an aspiration than a reality. Consequently, even when, as I...

October 2, 2008 | Worl Defense Review

AFRICOM Stands Up

By Dr. J. Pham A year and a half after it was first announced by President George W. Bush, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) becomes fully operational as the Pentagon's six...

July 10, 2008 | World Defense Review

Global Ripples from the Niger Delta

  On June 19, militants affiliated with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) launched their most audacious attack to date on the West African country's p...

July 4, 2007 | Dr. J. Peter Pham World Defense Review

Cabinda: The “Forgotten Conflict” America Can’t Afford to Forget

Because of the sense of urgency repeatedly communicated by this column as well as the parallel efforts of other "Africa hands," the precarious situation of Nigeria – which I have described...

June 6, 2007 | Dr. J. Peter Pham World Defense Review

Securing the New Strategic Gulf

In his 2006 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush issued a call for the United States to "replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025" and to "make...

April 25, 2007 | Dr. J. Peter Pham World Defense Review

New Fronts Call for New Capacities

As a longtime advocate for the creation of a unified regional combatant command for Africa; an idea for which, in a column published in this very space last year, I argued "the time is now"; I wa...

November 16, 2006 | World Defense Review

A U.S. Security Agenda in Africa: Part II

Since its inception, this column has been dedicated to the proposition that that Sub-Saharan Africa which, even in the best of times, has historically been treated as something of a stepchild by...

July 2, 2003 | Clifford D. May

Into Africa? Why the long-suffering continent matters.

Africa is failing. That's hardly headline news but maybe we can now begin at least to talk seriously about a continent that has been spiraling into chaos. In the past – for ex...