What to Watch in Africa in 2026 |
Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief.
The highlights this upcoming year: High-stakes elections are scheduled in Ethiopia and other countries, Sudan’s and South Sudan’s crises may converge, and instability in the Sahel will likely continue to spread to anglophone nations.
Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief.
The highlights this upcoming year: High-stakes elections are scheduled in Ethiopia and other countries, Sudan’s and South Sudan’s crises may converge, and instability in the Sahel will likely continue to spread to anglophone nations.
FP Live:
Every January, FP Live dedicates one episode to looking ahead at the next calendar year. What will 2026 hold in store for global politics, conflict, and the world order? Join Ravi Agrawal in conversation with Peter Baker, the New York Times’ chief White House correspondent, for the second of a two-part series looking back and ahead as a new year begins. Register now.
Every January, FP Live dedicates one episode to looking ahead at the next calendar year. What will 2026 hold in store for global politics, conflict, and the world order? Join Ravi Agrawal in conversation with Peter Baker, the New York Times’ chief White House correspondent, for the second of a two-part series looking back and ahead as a new year begins. Register now.
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Africa’s political landscape in 2026 will likely be shaped by high-stakes elections in countries including Ethiopia, Somalia, and Uganda. Experts widely anticipate that these elections will be “tick-box” exercises with largely predetermined outcomes. This could drive widespread youth-led protests, similar to those seen in several African nations in 2025.
What happens in Ethiopia will be especially impactful for global affairs. U.S. President Donald Trump’s transactional foreign policy has led to a realignment of geopolitical partnerships in the Horn of Africa. This has been marked by a decline in traditional U.S. diplomatic engagement; the rise of rival powers, including China and the Gulf states; and shifting alliances, such as the new Egypt-Eritrea axis to combat Ethiopia’s influence in the region.
Ethiopia’s elections in June are set to consolidate one-party rule under the Prosperity Party amid a worsening security crisis in the country’s Tigray, Amhara, and Oromia regions. Both the government and Tigray’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front,