Mo Ibrahim links Africa’s declining rights to global rise of strongmen
His foundation’s governance index shows economic gains alongside worsening security, human rights and public participation.
African leaders are taking encouragement from the growing influence of strongmen abroad, contributing to a deterioration in democracy and rights, governance monitor Mo Ibrahim told AFP. His foundation’s latest findings show that economic and human development gains have coincided with setbacks in security and political participation.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s index recorded higher overall governance scores for 30 countries in 2025 compared with 2016, driven mainly by economic improvements. Those countries account for half the continent’s population. Scores fell in 23 countries, while one country registered no change.
Among the 10 countries showing the greatest deterioration, seven experienced at least one coup during the decade. Burkina Faso posted the largest decline, with Nigeria, Sudan and Tunisia also ranking among the weakest performers. The report linked setbacks in several large countries to shrinking political rights.
Ibrahim, a Sudanese-British billionaire whose wealth came from telecoms, said the retreat of liberal democracy beyond Africa was partly responsible for the continent’s declining rights. He also criticized the Trump administration’s increasingly transactional approach to diplomacy, arguing that it undermined international rules.
Despite those concerns, Ibrahim expressed confidence in Africa’s younger generation, describing it as better educated and informed than its predecessors. People under 25 make up 60 percent of Africans; by 2050, one in three young people globally will be African.
