Africa Bound

West Africa’s latest elections—including Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire—are marked by steep entry fees, stage-managed rallies, and entrenched support for incumbents. Despite the promise of fresh leadership, the region’s new faces continue delivering the same old politics.

Mauritania is warning that Africa’s security landscape is shifting from ideological insurgencies to profit-driven “religious-front criminal enterprises,” describing how jihadist networks have merged with organized crime.

Billionaire Maminiaina “Mamy” Ravatomanga, unofficial adviser and media owner, is Madagascar’s second richest man and a central figure caught between the presidency and mounting youth-led protests.

Nearly 4 million people are now displaced across the Sahel, the UN warns, as violence and collapsing services escalate a regional humanitarian crisis.