Sahel

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Extraction Without Value: Mali’s Role in the Global Lithium Rush$

By Mohamed AG Ahmedou, via MondAfrique: Mali’s strategic resources are a formidable source of enrichment for Beijing, while leaving Bamako drained. On September 10, the African Union unveiled a draft declaration aimed at bringing together countries that produce...

Turkey: Erdogan’s Winning Strategy in Africa$

Despite the wave of coups d'état in West Africa, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had close ties to the ousted regimes of Guinea, Mali, and Niger, has successfully protected his country's interests in the region. He has done so through a strategy that...

The Human Cost of the EU-Mauritania Migration Partnership$

Since early 2024, the Mauritanian government has intensified its enforcement operations against undocumented sub-Saharan migrants in Nouakchott, Nouadhibou, and other urban centers. This campaign, which includes increased checkpoints and arrests, is a direct...

Geopolitics: Religion, Oil, and Minerals are Now Washington’s Africa Strategy$

Under Donald Trump, US Africa policy is zeroing in on oil and mineral wealth while using evangelical networks as a back channel into Central Africa — offering political cover to leaders and countering Chinese and Russian influence where Catholic voices are more...

Protests Erupt as Water Shortage Grips Mauritania$

Opposition lawmakers in Mauritania staged a sit-in at the Ministry of Water to protest a two-week-long water shortage in the capital. The demonstration, which included a demand for the immediate resignation of the Water Minister, comes amid growing public frustration...

Ivory Coast Edges Toward Political Flashpoint Ahead of 2025 Election$

Rising tensions, legacy rivalries, and fears of renewed violence loom over a fragile democracy. With just months to go before Côte d’Ivoire’s presidential election, the political atmosphere is growing tense—perhaps dangerously so. Both the ruling party and the...

Sahel: Al-Qaeda-linked group claims deadly Mali attack on UN peacekeepersF

An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for an attack last week in Mali's deeply troubled north that killed two United Nations peacekeepers. Mali has been grappling with a political and security crisis since 2012 when separatist and...

15 die in Mali as livestock truck collides with coachesF

Fifteen people died and 32 were injured when a livestock truck collided with two coaches in southern Mali on Tuesday, the transport ministry announced. The coaches were on their way to Mopti in central Mali, when they collided with the ten-tonne truck travelling in...

Niger: Sahara salt diggers struggle to maintain centuries-old tradeF

By Camille Laffont: At the edge of an oasis almost engulfed by the dunes, where the rare caravan still passes, is a desert landscape punctured by holes. The salt pans of Kalala, near Bilma in northeastern Niger, were once an essential stop for traders with their...

Sahel: Second UN peacekeeper dies after attack in MaliF

A UN peacekeeper has died of wounds sustained in an attack last week in Mali, raising the death toll in the assault to two, the United Nations said Monday. Mali has been grappling with a political and security crisis since 2012 when separatist and jihadist rebellions...