A jihadist attack in Niger targeted the residence of the prefect (governor) of Torodi during the night of Sunday, January 4, into Monday, January 5. Torodi, the last major town before the border with Burkina Faso, lies roughly 30 miles south of Niamey. At least seven...
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Flashpoints: How Emirati and Qatari Competition Is Redrawing the Red Sea Map
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...
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...
Mauritania: Water Scarcity Sparks Protests in Chami
Residents of Chami, a mining hub in western Mauritania, have taken to the streets to protest severe and prolonged...
Mauritania Battles Dual Outbreaks Amid Sahel’s Shifting Climate
Mauritania is contending with concurrent outbreaks of diphtheria and Rift Valley fever that have left at least 36...
Madagascar: “Mamy” Ravatomanga, billionaire, vice-king, and protester target
A profile by Olivier Vallée and Nicolas Beau [MondAfrique]: Maminiaina Ravatomanga, “Mamy,” is a wealthy businessman...
Sahel: Chad army unable to contain Boko Haram in Lake Chad
Chad's President Idriss Deby said Saturday that Boko Haram jihadists would continue to wreak havoc in the Lake Chad...
Mali’s new Constitutional Court president
Bamako, Aug 9, 2020 - Newly-appointed judges at Mali's Constitutional Court, which is at the centre of a political...
Niger: Gunmen kill French tourists in Kouré
Niamey, Aug 9, 2020 - Six French tourists and their local guide and driver were killed Sunday by gunmen riding...
Niger confronted with multiple natural disasters
Heavy rains that have struck Niger since June have claimed 19 lives and inflicted economic harm on tens of thousands...
Mali braces for more political turmoil, as calls for protests build up
Mali's opposition vowed to stage nationwide protests Tuesday seeking embattled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's...
Mali president appoints new constitutional court chief in a bid to save his job
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita appointed nine judges to the Constitutional Court on Friday, by decree, as...
Chad: Worsening human rights record in Chad after death of civilians in prison
N'Djamena, Aug 8, 2020 - Forty-four people who died in a Chad prison cell were civilians who succumbed to brutal...
Sahel: Government reshuffle in Mauritania
Nouakchott, Aug 6, 2020 - Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani on Thursday carried out a government...
Sahel: Some 40 migrants perish off the coast of Mauritania
Nouakchott, Aug 6, 2020 - About 40 people are feared dead after a migrant vessel sank off the coast of Mauritania, the...
Environment: The sad ending of a giraffe, killed by Niger’s heavy rains
Niamey, Aug 6, 2020 - An aged giraffe drowned after heavy rains in southwestern Niger while more than 30 others...
Sahel: UN seeks to integrate Mali refugees in Niger population
Some 15,000 Malians were moved out of two large refugee camps in western Niger in late 2019 to live in nearby towns...
Sahel: Government of Chad slows Internet access to a trickle
N'Djamena, Aug 4, 2020 - Chad says it has cut back the speed of the internet to crimp the spread of messages "inciting...
Sahel: Restoring the world heritage site of Bandiagara in Mali
The UN's culture organisation will restore the world heritage site of Bandiagara, in central Mali, which has been hit...
Mali: UN plane careens off Gao airport runway
A United Nations plane careened off the runway while touching down in the northern Malian city of Gao on Monday, the...
Sahel: Boko Haram hits village in Chad, kills residents
Boko Haram jihadists killed at least 10 civilians and kidnapped seven others in an attack on a village in the troubled...
Mali: Opposition rejects compromise by West African leaders, insists president must leave
Mali's opposition on Wednesday reiterated calls for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign, again spurning a...
Migration: Dozens die each month on Africa’s migration routes
Thousands of migrants have died after suffering "extreme" abuse while crossing Africa, according to a UN report on...
Mali crisis: Opposition insists on president’s departure
A protest movement that has sprung up in Mali, shaking President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's grip on power, on Tuesday...
Sahel: 22 killed in Mali minibus accident
Bamako, July 28, 2020 - Twenty-two people were killed and 21 were wounded in southern Mali on Tuesday when a minibus...
Mali announces reopening of air and land borders
Bamako, July 24, 2020 - Mali announced Friday that it would shortly re-open its air and land borders after a...
Sahel to get $285 million of Covid-19 aid from AfDB
The African Development Bank said Thursday it would provide $285 million in aid to Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania,...
Sahel: Five West African presidents gather in Mali to save it from complete collapse
Bamako, July 23, 2020 - West African leaders gathered in Bamako on Thursday in a fresh push to end an escalating...
Sahel: Niger hit by devastating floods, nine killed
Niamey, July 21, 2020 - Heavy floods in Niger have claimed nine lives and destroyed more than 2,000 homes , affecting...
Sahel: Mali crisis deepens after ECOWAS failed at mediation
Bamako, July 20, 2020 - Malian leaders are gearing up for more mediation talks on Thursday, when four African...
Mali: Mediators propose that the opposition participates in government
Bamako, July 19, 2020 - West African mediators trying to resolve Mali's political crisis on Sunday called for a...
Mali: Inside the June 5 Movement
Bamako, July 17, 2020 - Mali's protest movement against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has triggered the war-torn...
Mali opposition agrees to truce, announces cancellation of Friday protest
Bamako, July 15, 2020 - The Malian opposition alliance that demands President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita step down has...
Sahel: Regional initiative to ease tension in Mali
[Photo: Ex-Nigeria president Goodluck Johnathan leads ECOWAS delegation to mediate in Mali crisis]: Envoys from Mali's...
Sahel: Understanding the crisis in Mali
A protest movement in Mali has snowballed in just six weeks, shaking the presidency of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and...
International court takes up case of Malian man accused of war crimes
The Hague, July 14, 2020 - A Malian jihadist police chief committed "unimaginable crimes" during a reign of terror in...
Mali: Embattled president seeks to appease tension with release of opposition figures
Bamako, July 13, 2020 - All opposition figures who were detained in Mali after violent protests against President...
Sahel: Tense situation in Mali after two people were killed
Bamako, July 11, 2020 - Tensions ran high in Mali Saturday, a day after deadly mass protests seeking the ouster of the...
Mali: Political unrest and protest in Mali. Protesters demand ousting of President
Bamako, July 10, 2020 - Protesters in Mali's capital Bamako blocked two of the city's main bridges and hurled stones...
Mali: The unsolved grisly murders of Fana
Fana, Mali, July 10, 2020 - Boubou Sangare, his face blank, points at a patch of ground beneath the entrance to an...
Mali: Opposition’s stance hardens despite president speech
Mali president's speech fails to appease opposition Mali's main protest leader called for fresh anti-government...
Mauritania: Former President snubs parliament hearing on oil revenues
Nouakchott, July 9, 2020 - Mauritania's former president on Thursday skipped a parliamentary hearing examining his...
Sahel braces for more warming and a wetter climate
The annual mean global temperature is likely to be at least one degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels in each of...
Burkina Faso government under pressure over extrajudicial killings
The United States on Wednesday called on Burkina Faso's government to investigate reports that 180 men were...
Niger: Environment under attack, four arrested for killing endangered gazelles
Around 40 dorcas gazelles, an endangered species, have been slaughtered by poachers in one of Africa's largest nature...
Sahel: Mali opposition wants President Keita to resign
Mali's protest leaders stepped up pressure on President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Sunday, calling for more...