Mo Ibrahim Sounds Alarm Over Africa’s Shift Toward Authoritarian Rule
LONDON — Across Africa, democracy, human rights and public participation are losing ground as leaders draw confidence from the global rise of strongmen, billionaire philanthropist Mo Ibrahim has warned.
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Ibrahim, an 80-year-old Sudanese-born British citizen, spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP) about the latest governance assessment from his Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which examined developments across African countries over the past decade.
The report identified gains in economic opportunities and social development, but found a marked deterioration in security, human rights and citizens’ involvement in decision-making.
Ibrahim highlighted elections held in Tanzania and Uganda during the past year. In Tanzania, security forces have been accused of killing thousands of protesters. In Uganda, security personnel attacked opposition leader Bobi Wine, whom Ibrahim said had been pursued and physically assaulted.
“It is a huge shame,” Ibrahim said of the conditions in both countries.
Thirty African countries, representing half the continent’s population, posted higher governance scores in 2025 than in 2016, according to the report. Economic progress accounted for much of the improvement. But scores fell in 23 countries, while one country recorded no change.
Ibrahim linked the erosion of rights and freedoms in Africa in part to the weakening of liberal democracy worldwide, including in the United States, Europe and Russia.
“We are in a strange time, and we can see the rise of strongmen everywhere,” he said.
He cautioned that African leaders might view the increasing concentration of power elsewhere as evidence that they could centralize authority without facing significant consequences.
Ibrahim also criticized the foreign policy of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. He said Washington had moved toward a transactional model of diplomacy, weakening the international order and undermining respect for the rule of law.
The foundation’s report said seven of the 10 countries with the steepest governance declines had experienced at least one military coup during the past decade.
Burkina Faso suffered the sharpest deterioration. Nigeria, Sudan and Tunisia were also listed among the countries where governance performance worsened.
Ibrahim described the U.S. decision last year to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and withdraw funding from programmes across Africa as particularly difficult.
Although he said Washington had the right to determine how it allocated its aid budget, Ibrahim argued that African countries should have been given time to prepare for the loss of assistance.
He urged African governments to strengthen their self-reliance while developing partnerships with any willing partners, including countries in Europe, China and India.
Africa’s future, he said, would depend heavily on its young population, which now makes up more than 60% of the continent’s people.
Projections cited in the report indicate that by 2050, one in every three young people worldwide will be African.
Ibrahim said the younger generation was more informed and better educated than those before it, giving him hope that it could help tackle Africa’s governance challenges.
“I admit that my generation missed many opportunities for Africa,” he said.
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