Thursday, April 17, 2025
I was in Algeria last week and it was difficult to ignore the escalating diplomatic tension between France and Algeria. Both sides seem to be fired up, with the right-wing hardliners in France coalescing in favor of more anti-Algeria actions, while the Algerian...
Sunday, March 9, 2025
West Africa’s economic grouping, ECOWAS, faces a new crisis as former chairman and Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo refuses to step down despite his mandate ending on February 27, 2025. Embalo, who once criticized Sahelian coup leaders on behalf of...
Saturday, March 8, 2025
[Photo: French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau] France’s far-right movement has been escalating diplomatic tensions with Algeria by calling to revoke the 1968 Franco-Algerian Treaty. On February 26, 2025, members of the French government threatened unilateral...
Friday, March 7, 2025
Struggling with a debilitating drought, Morocco is now experiencing heavy rainfall resulting in floods that have been causing destruction and deaths. Several regions of the country have been hit by devastating floods, claiming the lives of at least two children. On...
Friday, March 7, 2025
On 6 March 2025, Algeria summoned French Ambassador Stéphane Romatet to convey its opposition to the planned Franco-Moroccan military maneuvers scheduled for September 2025 in Errachidia, near the Algerian border. Algeria called the “Chergui 2025”...
Friday, March 7, 2025
Morocco is moving full steam ahead with its high-speed train projects ahead of the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which it will cohost along with Spain and Portugal. A total of 168 trains will be brought from Spain, France and South Korea, in a large size infrastructure project...
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Morocco road project, Es-Semara road, Morocco Mauritania border, road to nowhere, Sahel connectivity, Morocco Algeria rivalry, Mauritania infrastructure, Moroccan influence in Sahel, regional geopolitics, cross-border trade North Africa. ________ This analysis is...
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Libya has been in the news lately in relation to the crisis in Gaza. Reports have been suggesting that Libya may be a potential destination for resettling Gaza residents. The reports have sparked controversy, with Libyan authorities firmly rejecting the claims....
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Government actions against opposition figures continue to dominate the political landscape in Tunisia. This week and after accusing the Organization for the Defense of Beliefs and the Fight Against Extremism of acting as an extension of Islamist movements and...
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
The Moroccan security services say the arrested a dozen operatives of an unknown “terrorist group” it named the “Lions of the Caliphate in the Maghreb Al-Aqsa,” following a yearlong probe. Both the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) and the General...
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
On Thursday, February 20, 2025, Algeria opened the first of five planned seawater desalination stations, located in Cap-Blanc, Oran, in the northwest of the country. These plants are part of an emergency measure to mitigate the effects of drought, address the future...
Monday, February 10, 2025
Tunisian president Kais Saied continues to crack down on the opposition and has been active in imprisoning anyone opposing his views. Detained since April 2023, veteran opposition figure Rached Ghannouchi, and head of Tunisia’s Ennahda party, was given last week...
Saturday, February 8, 2025
While France is retreating from Africa and Washington DC is struggling to figure out Trump’s “America First” policy, China is taking the opportunity to broaden its influence around the world and is presenting itself as a preferred partner to Africans...
Friday, February 7, 2025
A report, presented to the European Parliament on January 29 by a group of researchers, accuses Tunisia of deporting sub-Saharan migrants and selling them to Libyan armed groups. The authors say their findings are based on firsthand testimonies, detailing a system of...
Friday, February 7, 2025
Al-Qaeda’s Sahel branch, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM or GNIM in French) is now emerging as the region’s dominant jihadist force. Even the brutal Islamic State has been largely unable to contain JNIM’s expansion, which has been expanding its...
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Ahmed Al-Charaa, once a top jihadist leader, now rules Syria after toppling Bashar al-Assad. But his grip on power is fragile. While rebranding himself as a moderate, he faces opposition from the Islamic State, which sees him as an apostate, and from former allies who...
Thursday, February 6, 2025
The Franco-Algerian diplomatic relations are going through a turbulent period. The latest signs of discord between them stem from multiple sources that include France’s recognition of Morocco’s plan on the Western Sahara, the detention of Franco-Algerian...
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Fifteen undocumented migrants, including one Mauritanian, have died off the coast of Nouadhibou, according to a Sahara Media. Authorities in Nouadhibou discovered a boat carrying 39 migrants, among whom nine were found dead, and ten others were in critical condition....
Monday, February 3, 2025
Eleven Russians arrested in Tunisia in late 2024 are suspected of terrorism. AFP says authorities claim they possessed equipment inconsistent with tourism during their visit to Haïdra near the Algerian border. ________ This analysis is reserved for clients subscribing...
Monday, February 3, 2025
Mali has accused Algeria of interference and supporting terrorist groups after top Algerian diplomat criticized its counter-terrorism strategy. Bamako alleges Algeria maintains ties to insurgent groups, a reference to the Toureg tribes, ________ This analysis is...
Monday, February 3, 2025
Morocco is experiencing a measles outbreak which appears to have caused the death of five people on 3,631 measles cases reported in the first three weeks of 2025. Cases have been reported in all 12 regions of Morocco. ________ This analysis is reserved for clients...
Monday, February 3, 2025
Mali’s junta and Canadian gold mining firm Barrick Gold went back to the negotiating table to find a compromise in their ongoing feud. The two spent months fighting over the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mine, where the Malian authorities recently seized nearly three tons of...
Saturday, February 1, 2025
France has officially ended its military presence in Chad, returning the Kossei base to the Chadian government. This marks the end of a long-standing French military footprint in the Sahel after similar exits from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. ________ This analysis...
Saturday, February 1, 2025
TotalEnergies has exited Mali, finalizing the sale of its operations to Coly Energy Mali, backed by Bénin Petro. While no official explanation was provided, it is likely that tensions with Mali’s ruling junta may have played a role. Sources say that persistent tax...
Saturday, January 25, 2025
A stranded oil platform off the coast of Bizerte, Tunisia, has prompted investigations and rescue operations involving accredited experts and divers. The platform, weighing 25,000 tons, was en route to Turkey for dismantling when complications arose. Tunisian...
Saturday, January 25, 2025
France’s decades-long military presence in Africa is winding down as countries like Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire announce the closure of foreign bases, signaling a shift in regional dynamics and France’s influence. ________ This analysis is reserved for clients...
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
In 2024, Moroccan authorities reported blocking 78,685 irregular migration attempts, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior. These operations were part of intensified border and coastal surveillance efforts addressing increasing migration flows in an...
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Four Moroccan truck drivers, kidnapped over the weekend by an armed group near the Burkina Faso-Niger border, were freed Tuesday in Niger after several tense days in the Sahel. Meanwhile, Tuareg militants in Mali announced the release of a Spanish national kidnapped...
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
BP has officially launched gas production at the Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) field, a major cross-border energy project between Senegal and Mauritania, marking a key milestone after nine years of development. ________ This analysis is reserved for clients subscribing...
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
The demise of the Bachar Al-Assad regime in Syria is giving the Sahelian juntas of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso second thoughts on how much they can count on Russia to protect them. Moscow has been telling them that it is there for the long run and that they can count...
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
By Arezki Daoud – Foreign mining companies in the #Sahel are experiencing a nightmare scenario. Escalating tensions in the region are being experienced by two major disputes highlighting several intersecting factors that include control of natural resources,...
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
By Arezki Daoud: What is happening in Syria cannot leave us insensitive to the plight of the Syrian people, who have endured decades of abuse from the Assad family and its cronies. From the father Hafad al-Assad to his son Bachar al-Assad, the Syrian people...
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Photo of Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo Burkina Faso has a new Prime Minister, after the December 6, 2024, ousting by junta chief Captain Ibrahim Traoré, of Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela. The following day, Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo was appointed Prime...
Monday, November 11, 2024
Chadian President Mahamat Déby’s support for Sudan’s Hemedti amid the Sudanese conflict has sparked tension at home, risking political instability and opposition within Chad’s military and ruling elite. ________ This analysis is reserved for clients subscribing to The...
Monday, November 11, 2024
Lafarge’s indictment for financing terrorism reveals corporate entanglements with ISIS to maintain operations in Syria. In Personne morale, Justine Augier exposes how multinationals like Lafarge navigate ethics and profit in conflict zones, raising questions on global...
Monday, November 11, 2024
Mining companies that have been operating in the Sahel for a long time are now experiencing a tectonic shift in their industry’s landscape in the region. The Sahel has always attracted entrepreneurial companies from far away Canada, Australia, Russia, South Africa and...
Thursday, November 7, 2024
The issue of succession in government is extremely important in that clear rules of engagement are required for stability. Whether it is the royalties of England, Spain and Morocco, or on how governments change leaders as we are witnessing in the US with the...
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Africa has been a low priority for virtually all US administrations, be they republicans or democrats. It is true that Donald Trump has been more belligerent and vocal about his positions on Africa, but even Democrats have shown no interest in playing a more effective...
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Northern Mali has always been a region of turmoil, and the responsibility for the misery there starts with the central government in Bamako. Violence, social, economic and environmental turmoil has hit the people of the Azawad region hard, deeply affecting the Tuareg,...
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Algeria’s draft Finance Law for the year 2025 earmarks record spending for its military and defense. The Ministry of Defense, which oversees the country’s armed forces, will receive more than US$25 billion, an increase of over 10% compared to 2024. The move is...
