Charlotte Touati - Mondafrique: Two competing poles are now clearly taking shape in the contest for control over access to the Red Sea. The first, structured around the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and the Abraham Accords, includes Ethiopia and Somaliland, which has...
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Flashpoints: Benin-Niger Tensions Deepen as Diplomatic Relations Deteriorate
Relations between Benin and Niger have entered a new period of strain following reciprocal diplomatic expulsions. In recent days, authorities in Cotonou (Benin) asked two Nigerien embassy officials to leave the country. Niamey responded by declaring Benin’s chargé...
Europe’s New Migration Rules Shift Pressure South to North Africa
The European Union’s revised migration framework, set to take effect in mid-2026, is already reshaping how migration is managed across the Mediterranean. Recent coordination meetings between North African states and Italy are part of the ongoing shift taking place in...
Irregular Migration to Spain Falls Sharply in 2025 With Decline in Atlantic Crossings
After reaching a historic high in 2024, irregular migration to Spain fell sharply in 2025. Official data show a decline of more than 40% compared with the previous year, driven largely by a collapse in arrivals via the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands. Spanish...
How the US Intervention in Venezuela is Reviving Global South Fears of Power Politics
The US raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is resonating across Africa as part of a broader pattern of great‑power behavior that many on the continent see as a return to old hierarchies, rather than an isolated episode in Latin America. The...
Burkina Faso Faces New Security Tensions Amid Coup Allegations
Burkina Faso experienced a sudden spike in political and security tension overnight in early January, with coordinated public mobilizations in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso following warnings of a possible attempt to destabilize the country’s transitional...
West Africa: Allegations of Staged Military Takeover Cloud Guinea-Bissau’s Electoral Crisis
Guinea-Bissau, a small West African nation of 2.2 million people sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, has been...
Mauritania: New Rescue Off Nouadhibou as Regional Migration Pressures Intensify
Mauritanian authorities and local rescue teams recovered a pirogue carrying 156 migrants on Monday off the coast of...
Mauritania’s Former President Loses Final Appeal, Will Serve 15 Years
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who led Mauritania from 2009 to 2019, has lost his final appeal and will serve 15 years in...
Burkina Faso: Deposed junta leader Colonel Damiba steps down, flees to Togo
By Olympia de Maismont with Pierre Donadieu in Abidjan: Burkina Faso's junta leader agreed to step down on Sunday,...
Sahel: Burkina Faso coup leader removed by another coup
By Olympia de Maismont with Pierre Donadieu in Abidjan: Security forces fired tear gas to disperse angry protesters...
Sahel: Regime in Chad abandons path to democracy, junta leader Deby seeks perpetual reign
Chad on Saturday extended the transition period to democratic elections and agreed junta leader Mahamat Idriss Deby...
Sahel: Herder-farmer violence claims dozen lives in Chad’s central region
Eleven people were killed in fighting between herders and farmers in central Chad on Friday, a local governor told AFP...
Sahel: Uncertainty in Ouagadougou as Burkina Faso descends into chaos
By Olympia de Maismont with Pierre Donadieu in Abidjan: Shots rang out before dawn on Friday around Burkina Faso's...
Environment: Severe floods wreck havoc on West African agriculture
By Aminu Abubakar Nigeria rice farmer Adamu Garba squelched barefoot through his paddy fields, surveying damage from...
Sahel: Relentless insurgent attacks continue in Burkina Faso
A suspected jihadist attack in the north of Burkina Faso has killed around a dozen people, mostly soldiers, security...
Sahel: Growing pressure on Mali to release detained soldiers from Ivory Coast
The United Nations on Monday urged Mali to free 46 detained Ivorian soldiers, after the junta in Bamako attacked UN...
The Sahel is in permanent state of climate shock, the world’s most vulnerable to extreme droughts, floods and heatwaves
The World Bank on Monday urged five West African countries to diversify their economies to adapt to climate change,...
Sahel: Jihadists ambush patrol in Oursi, Burkina Faso, kill eight troops
An attack on a military unit in Burkina Faso's jihadist-hit north has killed eight soldiers, the army said Wednesday....
Sahel: Chad’s Foreign Minister Zene Cherif resigns for being sidelined in peace talks
Chad's foreign minister resigned on Monday, accusing the ruling junta of sidelining him at a key forum aimed at...
Sahel: Germany suspends reconnaissance patrols in Mali due to inability to get flyover right
Germany has again suspended its reconnaissance patrols in eastern Mali that are part of a UN peacekeeping mission...
Sahel: More than 150 dead in Niger rainy season floods
Severe floods in Niger after months of heavy downpours have killed 159 people, authorities said Monday, marking one of...
Sahel: Row between Mali and Ivory Coast intensifies
Mali's ruling junta has heightened its diplomatic and verbal joust with Ivory Coast over 46 detained Ivorian soldiers,...
Sahel: Chad’s peace negotiations resume after rebel chief Erdimi was released by Egypt
A leading Chadian rebel flew home on Friday to join talks on the country's political future, after spending nearly two...
Sahel: Senior Mali army officer admits defeat, calls for evacuation of part of the north
A well-known Malian commander has urged civilians to flee part of a northern region recently attacked by Islamic State...
Mali: In the absence of institutional security in Kidal, the Tuaregs are in charge
On a sandy street in a northern Malian town, armed guards take turns at a checkpoint next to two unmarked pickup...
Sahel: 50 migrants rescued in Niger desert
A total of 50 West African migrants, including women and children, were rescued in the desert in northern Niger near...
Sahel: Burkina Faso defense chief fired as the destabilization of Burkina Faso continues
Burkina Faso junta chief Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who took power in a January coup, has sacked...
Sahel: Attack on army unit in Deou, Burkina Faso claims two troops and Jihadists
Two soldiers died and a dozen "terrorists" were killed on Monday during an attack against a military detachment in...
Sahel: Three UN peacekeepers hurt in blast near Timbuktu, Mali
Three United Nations peacekeepers were hurt Sunday when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED) in...
Sahel: Growing tensions between Senegal and Mali over soldiers held in Mali against their will
Ivory Coast has accused Bamako of "hostage taking" after its neighbour laid out conditions for the release of 46...
Sahel: Chad regime cancels summons of opposition chief Succes Masra to calm political tensions
Chad's military junta said Sunday it was suspending a summons for the country's main opposition leader. Succes Masra,...
Sahel: Islamic State attackers kill dozens of civilians in northern Mali
Dozens of people died after jihadists affiliated with the Islamic State group mounted an attack on a village in...
Sahel: As sanctions bite, regime in Mali pledges orderly return to civilian rule
Mali on Tuesday urged African organisations to lift the last sanctions they had imposed after the state underwent two...
Mauritania: Ex President Ould Abdel Aziz to face corruption trial
Mauritania's disgraced ex-president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, has been released from custody pending a trial on...
Beyond the Sahel: Togo extends state of emergency in the Jihadist-torn north
Togo on Tuesday extended a state of emergency for six months in its northern Savanes region, officials said, citing...
Mali: As France pulls its forces out of Mali, Algeria seeks to fill the void in a complex environment ($)
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Sahel: German soldiers resume reconnaissance patrols in Mali
Germany has resumed reconnaissance patrols in eastern Mali as part of a UN peacekeeping mission, the military said...
Sahel: Region of Talataye in Mali falls in the hands of Islamic State affiliate after bitter fight with Al Qaeda
Jihadists affiliated to the Islamic State group have seized a town in northern Mali after bitter fighting with local...
Sahel: Insurgency in northern Burkina Faso worsens
By Armel Baily At least 35 civilians were killed and 37 wounded Monday when an IED blast struck a convoy carrying...
Sahel: Intense violence in Mali sends thousands fleeing
Tens of thousands of people, many of them children, have fled to a town in northeastern Mali after fighting erupted in...
Sahel: UN reports killing of civilians in a Mali army attack involving foreign troops
At least 50 civilians were killed and hundreds arrested in central Mali in April during an operation by the army and...
Sahel: Floods wrecking havoc on the country of Niger
Powerful rains that have swept the arid state of Niger since June have left 75 dead and affected 108,000 people, the...
Sahel: Burkina Faso military launches counterinsurgency operations in the north
A soldier has been killed and at least 28 "terrorists neutralised" in two military operations in the north and east of...
Sahel/Chad: Government denies rebel attack on troops
A leading Chad rebel group said Saturday it had killed ten soldiers in the north of the country, a claim the...
Niger tries artificial rainmaking to ease drought
Niger has deployed rainmaking planes in a bid to alleviate a drought that has sparked fears of a food crisis in the...
Sahel: Mali bans hookah smoking
"Shisha-abana," exclaims Bilal, a grocer in Mali's capital Bamako, in the national language Bambara: "Shisha is...
Sahel: Country of Chad suffering from devastating floods
Torrential rains have caused 340,000 people to lose property or flee their homes in Chad in almost two months since...
Sahel: Togo confronted with Jihadi movement from the Sahel
Togo's armed forces said Tuesday they had repelled a "terrorist" attack that injured "several" soldiers in the far...