
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele is a senior fellow and director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is also a lecturer in African studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Prior to CSIS, he was the Africa senior adviser at the International Republican Institute. Previously, he served as the course coordinator for central and southern Africa at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. He was also a Peter J. Duignan distinguished visiting fellow and a national fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Dizolele has testified for both chambers of the U.S. Congress, as well as at the UN Security Council. He has served as an international election monitor and delegate in several countries, including Nigeria, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he was also embedded with UN peacekeepers in Ituri and South Kivu as a reporter. Dizolele’s analyses have been published in the Journal of Democracy, New York Times, Newsweek International, International Herald Tribune, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, New Republic, Forbes, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and other outlets. A frequent commentator on African affairs, he has been a guest analyst on PBS’s NewsHour and Foreign Exchange; NPR's Tell Me More, On Point, and the Diane Rehm Show; BBC’s World News Update; and Al Jazeera’s The Stream, NewsHour, and Inside Story. Dizolele holds an international MBA and an MPP from the University of Chicago. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and is fluent in French, Norwegian, Spanish, Swahili, Kikongo, and Lingala and proficient in Danish and Swedish. He is the author of the forthcoming biography, Mobutu: The Rise and Fall of the Leopard King (Random House).
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- Chief Communications Officer
- 202.775.3242
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- Media Relations Manager, External Relations
- 202.775.3173
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In the News
230531-VIC_AFNE_ALFS23 relationships
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in Defense Visual Information Distribution Service — June 1, 2023
United States Looks to Counter China in Africa
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in The Dispatch — March 30, 2023
Blinken making ‘historic’ trip to Niger as forces shift in Sahel
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in Al Jazeera — March 15, 2023
Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken Set To Visit Africa In A Bid To Counter China's Presence
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in Republic World — March 15, 2023
Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken Head to Africa in a Bid to Counter China
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in The Wall Street Journal — March 14, 2023
Is the U.S. falling behind China in Africa’s lithium industry?
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in CNBC — March 9, 2023
Why All Eyes Are On Zimbabwe’s Lithium Industry
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in CNBC — March 8, 2023
What the yearlong Russia-Ukraine war means for Africa
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in The Grio — February 24, 2023
All content by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele
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Global Foresight: Preparing for Future Trends
A Trying Chapter for Africa’s Black Star
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — June 1, 2023

A Peek Into the African Land Forces Summit
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — May 18, 2023

VP Harris Takes U.S. Promises One Step Further
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — May 4, 2023

Sudan Conflict: How Did We Get Here?
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — April 20, 2023

Diving Deeper: U.S.-Africa Engagement on Maritime Security
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — March 22, 2023

Takeaways From Nigeria’s Elections
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — March 10, 2023

What Africa Experts Are Watching in 2023
Commentary by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele , Catherine Nzuki , William Mark Bellamy , Mimi Alemayehou , Maria E. Burnett , Emilia Columbo , Ryan Cummings , Cameron Hudson , and Laird Treiber — March 8, 2023
The Summit for Democracy’s World Tour
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — February 23, 2023

Nigeria Elections 2023: What To Watch For
Event by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele , Yemi Adamolekun , and Idayat Hassan — February 21, 2023