Shield and Alert: Sahel Bound

Mauritania is confronting a concentrated desert locust outbreak, while FAO warns that shifting winds and favorable conditions could bring adult groups into neighboring countries.

Military forces in Guinea-Bissau seized power on November 26, one day before presidential election results were scheduled for release, with regional leaders and civil society groups questioning whether the takeover was orchestrated to prevent an electoral defeat. The electoral commission now says vote tallies were destroyed during the chaos, making it impossible to determine the election’s legitimate winner.

Mauritanian authorities rescued 156 migrants drifting for ten days off Nouadhibou, while Guinea confirmed seven deaths after a separate pirogue carrying young migrants capsized off the Mauritanian coast. The two incidents highlight sustained pressure along the Atlantic migration route from West Africa to the Canary Islands.

Mauritania’s Supreme Court has confirmed a 15-year prison sentence for former president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on charges of illicit enrichment and money laundering, marking the end of a historic legal process and setting a new regional precedent for the prosecution of financial crimes by former heads of state.