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Southern Africa: The Largely Unsung Role of U.S. Former President Carter in Southern Africa

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Former US president Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday aged 100, was well known for his diplomatic skills and commitment to respecting human rights – much less so for his African legacy. And yet he was the first US president to visit sub-Saharan Africa and during his short term in office from 1977 to 1981 he worked hard to enable the transformation of racist Rhodesia into an independent Zimbabwe.
Carter signed the Camp David Accords in 1978, establishing the framework for a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
It’s seen as one of his major political achievements.
Yet looking back on his term of office, in 2002, he told history professor Nancy Mitchell: “I spent more effort and worry on Rhodesia than I did on the Middle East.”
Mitchell – author of Jimmy Carter in Africa, Race and the Cold War – said reams of documents detailing his commitment to end white rule in Rhodesia and help bring about its independence as Zimbabwe backed up the former president’s claim.
Carter’s involvement in Rhodesia during his four-year stint in office was based largely on realpolitik.
Southern Africa had become a theatre for Cold War politics – Fidel Castro had sent Cuban troops to Angola in 1976 to protect the leftist MPLA from a US-backed invasion by apartheid South Africa, and Mozambique had fallen to left-leaning Frelimo. South Africa faced the prospect of being surrounded by hostile black-ruled states.
Meanwhile in Rhodesia, an insurgency – led by the leftist Patriotic Front against the white minority government – was gaining ground.
The Patriotic Front was backed was Cuba and the USSR. Washington knew that if the conflict did not end, Cuban troops risked crossing the continent to help the rebels.
According to Mitchell, the Carter administration’s emphasis on human rights meant it was unthinkable to intervene in Rhodesia to support Ian Smith’s racist government. But equally, the US could not stand by and allow another Soviet-backed Cuban victory in Africa.
In a memorandum on southern Africa signed just a week after taking office, the Carter administration stated that in terms of urgency the Rhodesian problem was “highest priority”.
The Americans spearheaded negotiations that led to the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement in London, resulting in the first free elections in 1980 and black majority rule in an independent state of Zimbabwe led by Robert Mugabe.
Despite this, Mitchell insists Carter has not received “the credit his administration deserves” for the Zimbabwe settlement.
First American president in sub-Saharan Africa
Having grown up in the segregated southern state of Georgia in the 1920s and 1930s, Carter also had personal reasons for getting involved in the African continent.
While Mitchell says he “didn’t question the racist strictures of the Jim Crow South” as a youngster, his world view was broadened by his time in the US Navy and as an elected governor of Georgia.
He was also influenced by Andrew Young, a former close aide to Martin Luther King, and came to see parallels between the struggles of the African continent and those of the US civil rights movement that helped liberate the South from its segregationist past.
“I felt a sense of responsibility and some degree of guilt that we had spent an entire century after the Civil War still persecuting blacks, and to me the situation in Africa was inseparable from the fact of deprivation or persecution or oppression of Black people in the South,” Mitchell quotes him as saying.
Is Martin Luther King a hero in Africa?
In 1978, Carter became the first US president to set foot on sub-Saharan soil when he visited Liberia – a country colonised in 1822 by the American Colonization Society.
During the war in the Horn of Africa, he resisted strong pressure to offer the Somali government full US support in its war of aggression against leftist Ethiopia. The Carter administration condemned apartheid in South Africa and also tried, and failed, to negotiate a settlement in Namibia.
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The late president’s Africa policy was at its weakest in Angola, according to historian Piero Gleijese, whose ground-breaking research has laid bear the US’ conflicting missions in Cuba and Africa. Notably, Mitchell points to US insistence that full relations with Angola could only be restored once Cuban troops had left, even though they’d been invited by the Angolan government.
In later years, Carter returned to Liberia and toured other African countries as part of the Carter Center foundation that monitors elections and works in the fields of human rights and health around the world.
The Center has facilitated the almost total eradication of Guinea worm, saving an estimated 80 million Africans from the disease. “Eradicating Guinea worm will be my most gratifying experience,” Carter said in 2016.
Read or Listen to this story on the RFI website.
Why Some Liberians Might Not Mourn the Death of President Jimmy Carter
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Dies At 100
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Africa: Africa's Richest Man Aliko Dangote Expected in Zimbabwe for U.S.$1billion Business Tie-Up

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ARGUABLY Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is scheduled to visit Zimbabwe this week to discuss a US$1 billion deal that straddles across investments in cement, coal mining and power generation.
Dangote’s much expected visit this Wednesday becomes his third after previously similar engagements with Zimbabwean authorities in 2015 and 2018 amid reports he withdrew interest following “absurd” conditions presented by government.
The State media reported that during his visit, the Nigerian billionaire will meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other top bureaucrats to cobble details of his envisaged investment plan.
“Discussions are likely to centre around details of the deal, particularly mining concessions, licences, tax issues and other incentives, work permits for experts, security of investment and mutual benefits of the deal,” reported the State-owned Sunday Mail.
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It further said sources privy to the deal say Dangote, who is the group chief executive officer, wishes to set up a cement factory, limestone quarry and grinding plant, coal mine and power station.
“The projects are cumulatively valued between US$800 million and US$1 billion. Special Presidential Investment Adviser to the United Arab Emirates Dr Paul Tungwarara told The Sunday Mail that the businessman was keen to invest in the country.
“We are expecting him on the 12th of November, and he is expected to meet His Excellency, President Mnangagwa. He will then present his investment plan to the President. Thereafter, we will then be able to say and talk about some of the investments he is pursing in Zimbabwe,” the newspaper quoted its source.
Dangote Industries Limited, a Lagos-based diversified conglomerate, has vast business interests in cement, flour, sugar, salt, pasta, beverages, fertiliser, real estate, oil and gas sectors and logistics. Its operations span other critical business interests, including a large oil refinery, a petro-chemical plant and a fertiliser complex in Nigeria. It also has operations in 16 other African countries.
Its largest subsidiary, Dangote Cement, has integrated factories and operations across 10 African countries, namely, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania and the Republic of Congo.
Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.
AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 110 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.
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Africa: Land Is Africa's Best Hope for Climate Adaptation – It Must Be the Focus At COP30

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Agriculture, forestry and other land uses together account for about 62% of Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, land degradation, deforestation and biodiversity loss are eroding Africa’s resilience.
But land – especially agriculture – has been on the margins of climate change initiatives. Even at the annual global climate change conference, land hasn’t featured much.
This is changing. In September 2025, Africa’s climate community met in Ethiopia, to agree on the continent’s climate priorities ahead of this year’s global climate conference, COP30. They agreed that land could be Africa’s most powerful tool in tackling climate change.
Much will depend on securing finance at COP30 for agroforestry, forest management and soil carbon restoration projects.
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Read more: Climate crisis is a daily reality for many African communities: how to try and protect them
I’ve been researching land for over 20 years. My research focuses on how to sustainably regenerate land, how community forest enterprises can combat deforestation, and how to rebuild forests as a way of combating climate change.
For this reason, I argue that COP30 must place land restoration and sustainable land management at the heart of the climate agenda. It should recognise that healthy soils, forests and ecosystems are not side issues to climate change. They are the very foundation of economic growth and making the world resilient to climate disasters.
Read more: Climate disasters are escalating: 6 ways South Africa’s G20 presidency can lead urgent action
This is especially critical for Africa, whose people and economies depend so heavily on the land. Agriculture alone, which is intrinsically tied to land, employs over two thirds of Africa’s labour force and typically accounts for 30%-40% of gross domestic product. Yet climate change disasters like prolonged droughts, rising temperatures and destructive floods are steadily eroding the land.
Millions of people in Africa could lose their farms, income, food, and future chances if COP30 does not recognise how land, nature, and climate change are all connected.
Why Africa must prioritise land and nature at COP30
Africa’s agriculture, the backbone of most economies on the continent, has been badly affected by more frequent droughts, floods and unpredictable rainfall. As a result, African countries sometimes lose an estimated 1%-2% of their gross domestic product in a year.
Over half of Africa’s population depends on crops that are fed only by rain. Therefore, extreme weather events hit the majority of Africans directly. At the same time, nearly half of the continent’s land area is degraded.
Read more: Indigenous knowledge systems can be useful tools in the G20’s climate change kit
This affects agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of around 500 million people.
Forest ecosystems such as the Congo Basin, the Guinean forests and Africa’s dryland forests are disappearing rapidly. This is already having devastating consequences for communities that rely on them for food, fuel and income.
Africa must negotiate climate finance with one voice
Adapting to climate change remains Africa’s most urgent priority. The good news is that African countries are already deploying land based actions (adaptation and using land to sequester carbon and reduce emissions) as a weapon against climate change. They are achieving this by expanding agroforestry, restoring wetlands and managing grasslands more sustainably.
This boosts soil health and increases the carbon stored in the ground. These projects are very useful in cutting greenhouse gas emissions, protecting livelihoods and building resilience.
The September 2025 second Africa Climate Summit made the continental emphasis on land official. Its Addis Ababa declaration placed land and nature-based solutions at the centre of Africa’s climate agenda. This was a step forward from Africa’s 2023 climate summit declaration, which made only passing references to land.
Read more: African countries shouldn’t have to borrow money to fix climate damage they never caused – economist
What’s needed now is for Africa to unite and focus on three key climate change areas:
What Africa needs to do at COP30
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Read more: African countries gear up for major push on climate innovation, climate financing and climate change laws
Peter Akong Minang, Director Africa, CIFOR-ICRAF, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)
This article is republished from The Conversation Africa under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 110 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.
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Africa: African Union Commission Welcomes and Congratulates the Republic of South Africa As G20 Chair and Host

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1. The African Union Commission (AUC) warmly expresses its support for the Republic of South Africa as G20 Chair and welcomes the country for hosting the G20 Summit in Africa for the first time. This milestone reflects South Africa’s growing role in global governance.
2. As the current Chair of the G20, South Africa has shown exceptional leadership in promoting the priorities of the Global South, advancing sustainable development, and strengthening inclusive global governance.
3. The Republic of South Africa is a vibrant democracy that upholds equality, human rights, and the rule of law. Its Constitution and policies reflect values aligned with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
4. South Africa is a nation rich in diversity, home to people of many races, cultures, languages, and faiths living together in unity. This inclusivity is a source of national strength and global admiration.
5. The African Union encourages all international partners to engage with South Africa and the wider African continent on the basis of mutual respect, truth, and constructive cooperation, supporting Africa’s continued contribution to global peace, development, and prosperity.
Read the original article on African Union.
AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 110 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.
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AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa – aggregating, producing and distributing 600 news and information items daily from over 110 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington DC.
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