Muktar Usman Muktari-Janguza (JanguzaArewa)

Abuja sees the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, as an abstract issue. However, there are at least two reasons why the debate over its survival matters. US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and their respective advisers sit across from one another on January 16, 2015, at the Palais Coburg Hotel in Vienna, Austria, at their last meeting about the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action outlining the shape of Iran's nuclear program. Image: State Department. US President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) – better known as the Iran Nuclear Deal – and reimpose full sanctions on Tehran has been widely condemned by countries around the world. Most surprising has been the unusually strident criticisms from the EU’s high officials. President of the European Council Donald Tusk condemned what he described as the US’ “capr...

Sierra Leone’s President Siaka Stevens meets China’s Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing, November 1973. During his presidential campaign, Maada Bio spoke out strongly against China’s influence in Sierra Leone. Now that he is President, economic realities will force him to make nice with Beijing. China loomed large in Sierra Leone’s just concluded presidential elections. Then-ruling party, APC, fully wrapped itself in Beijing’s embrace in the run-up to the presidential elections. The contending party, SLPP, for its part, criticized what it said was China’s malign influence in Sierra Leone.  While Samura Kamara, the APC’s flag-bearer, touted his role in deepening China’s economic engagement with Sierra Leone during his five-year stint as foreign minister from 2012-2017, Julius Maada Bio, the SLPP’s candidate, denounced China’s infrastructure projects as “a sham with no economic and development benefits to the people”. At an APC campaign rally on the eve of the electio...