A bitter race to elect the head of Africa’s pivotal bank
America has lost interest, but the rest of the world should not
Combine the secrecy of a papal conclave with the national rivalries of the Eurovision Song Contest and you have a sense of what will happen on May 29th during the election of the next president of the African Development Bank (afdb).
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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “A continent divided”
Middle East & Africa
May 24th 2025
From the May 24th 2025 edition
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Donald Trump’s approach to Africa is very, well, African
What a meeting with five leaders says about his administration’s interest in the continent
Ending the war in Gaza is still fiendishly difficult
Donald Trump and Israel’s generals are pressing Binyamin Netanyahu to make a deal
The Israel-Iran war has not yet transformed the Middle East
Peace deals may be elusive, and Gulf states fear the war is far from over
Kenya’s president is bad news for Kenya and Africa
William Ruto’s tenure is a how-to guide for sowing cynicism about democracy
Iran’s “axis of resistance” was meant to be the Shias’ NATO
But today transnational political Shiism is struggling for its survival
Israel’s weird war clock: 12 days for Iran, 21 months in Gaza
Making peace with the Palestinians looks much harder than with Iran’s regime or Shias in Lebanon