Photo of Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo Burkina Faso has a new Prime Minister, after the December 6, 2024, ousting by junta chief Captain Ibrahim Traoré, of Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela. The following day, Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo was appointed Prime...
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Sahel: Inside Chad’s Risky Alliance in Sudan’s Conflict
Chadian President Mahamat Déby’s support for Sudan’s Hemedti amid the Sudanese conflict has sparked tension at home, risking political instability and opposition within Chad’s military and ruling elite. [am4show have='p1;p2;p4;' guest_error='subsribe now'...
Sahel: Foreign Mining Firms Face Growing Risks as Juntas Assert Control Over Resources
Mining companies that have been operating in the Sahel for a long time are now experiencing a tectonic shift in their industry’s landscape in the region. The Sahel has always attracted entrepreneurial companies from far away Canada, Australia, Russia, South Africa and...
The US Africa Policy: Don’t Expect Anything New
Africa has been a low priority for virtually all US administrations, be they republicans or democrats. It is true that Donald Trump has been more belligerent and vocal about his positions on Africa, but even Democrats have shown no interest in playing a more effective...
Sahel: A Primer on the Northern Mali Crisis
Northern Mali has always been a region of turmoil, and the responsibility for the misery there starts with the central government in Bamako. Violence, social, economic and environmental turmoil has hit the people of the Azawad region hard, deeply affecting the Tuareg,...
Mali: Wagner and Junta leaders in tough spot with series of embarrassing defeats and decisions to make
(Photo from unconfirmed video showing an insurgent burning the presidential plane in Bamako. The person filming the attack speaks in Peul or Fulani language) By Arezki Daoud: This week’s attacks on the Malian capital of Bamako highlight the junta's difficulty in...
Senegal at the Center of Another Geopolitical Fight
By Arezki Daoud: France is experiencing an unprecedented backlash in the Sahel and in West Africa. Disastrous...
Niger and Algeria recall their ambassadors over undocumented migrants
The authorities in Niger summoned the Algerian ambassador Bekhadda Mehdi on 2 April, over Algeria’s treatment of...
Sahel: Wagner Group and Mali army engaging in mass murder and forced displacement of northern populations
The Wagner Group is wracking havoc in northern Mali, with actions that hint on ongoing efforts to depopulate the...
Sahel: Chad’s human rights commission puts death toll in last year’s protests to 128
A total of 128 people died in the violent repression of opposition protests in Chad last year, the country's human...
Sahel: The sad plight of children in the Sahel’s conflict zones
By Amaury Hauchard: After fleeing the jihadists who threatened their remote village, Aichata Hassan had no idea that...
Burkina Faso: Makeshift gold mine caves in near Hounde, killing several miners
Ten people were killed when a makeshift gold mine collapsed in western Burkina Faso, a miners' association said on...
Sahel: Three children die in school fire in Niger’s Zinder region
Three children died and 11 were injured, two of them seriously, when a school made of straw and wood caught fire in...
Sahel: Niger holds activist in air strike case
The head of a leading campaign group in Niger has been detained in a case involving an army air strike on suspected...
Health: World Health Organization concerned about unprecedented number “intersecting health emergencies,” appeals for money
The World Health Organization on Monday appealed for $2.54 billion for its work in 2023 to help millions of people...
Sahel: Soldiers rescue women and babies abducted by suspected jihadists in N. Burkina Faso
By Armel Baily: Soldiers rescued a group of 62 women and four babies abducted by suspected jihadists last week in...
Sahel: The dreadful Koro Toro prison and the brutality of the Chadian regime
By Ali Abba Kaya with Laura Diab and Thomas Gropallo in Libreville: Dehydrated and whipped by scorching winds as their...
Sahel: Jihadist violence intensifies in Burkina Faso
Attacks in Burkina Faso have increased since October and now especially target civilians, according to junta leader...
Sahel: Jihadists in Burkina Faso also abduct children and babies
Investigators now believe that last week's raid by suspected jihadists in Burkina Faso led to the abduction of around...
Sahel: Jihadists abduct dozens of women in north Burkina Faso
By Hugues Richard Sama: Suspected jihadists have abducted roughly 50 women in insurgency-wracked northern Burkina...
Mali: Tear gas fired as influential Malian imam returns
Followers of an influential Malian imam on Sunday called for the country's ruling junta to explain the use of tear gas...
Migration: Tragedy at sea with dead-by-drowning of 13 Moroccan migrants in failed sea crossing
The bodies of 13 Moroccans have been recovered after their boat sank off the country's southern coast while attempting...
Sahel: Three dead in Niger military helicopter crash
Three people died on Monday when a Nigerien military helicopter crashed on return from a routine training flight, the...
Sahel: Court in Chad jails hundreds for alleged involvement in riots
By Ali Abba Kaya A Chadian court has handed jail terms of between two and three years to 262 people who were arrested...
Mali: Joliba TV resumes broadcasting after two month suspension by junta
Mali's communications authority said Thursday it had lifted the suspension of one of the Sahel country's main news...
Sahel: Lawyers in Chad to boycott trials of hundreds of anti-government protesters
Lawyers in Chad have vowed to stop work during a mass trial, due to start Tuesday, of more than 400 people detained...
Sahel: Six arrested and massive protest in Mali over video deemed anti-Islamic
Thousands of demonstrators thronged Mali's capital Bamako on Friday to protest the publication of a video on social...
Environment: Sahel region crippled by torrential rains and deadly floods
Flooding caused by torrential rain in Niger has left 195 people dead and affected more than 322,000, an official toll...
Sahel: 50 civilians killed in anti-junta protests in Chad
Djimet Wiche: Tensions eased in Chad on Friday following a day of unprecedented violence at protests that left around...
Sahel: Record death toll from floods in Niger
Flooding caused by heavy rains in the West African state of Niger has claimed nearly 200 lives and affected more than...
Sahel: Russian plane to be delivered to Mali crashes near Gao, pilot killed
A Russian pilot died Tuesday when a plane that Russia had recently delivered to Mali's armed forces crashed near the...
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...
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...
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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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...
Burkina Faso: Ethnic Fulanis fear violence will escalate against them
By Armel Baily Jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso have inflamed accusations against the Fulani community, sparking...
Sahel/Chad: Communal violence claims nine lives in Eastern Logone
Nine people have been killed in clashes in southern Chad between herder and farmer communities, the local governor...
Sahel: Heavy rains destroy farmland, kill dozens of people in Chad
Torrential rains have caused the death of 22 people in Chad since June, with more than 110,000 affected, a UN report...
Sahel: New concerns in Burkina Faso amid calls to murder ethnic Fulanis
Burkina Faso's government on Thursday lashed calls on social media to attack the country's Fulani minority, describing...
Sahel: Dozens dead in Niger’s floods and landslides
Flooding and landslides during Niger's rainy season have killed 32 people and affected more than 66,000 since June,...
Inside Chad: Violence, oil wealth and poverty
Chad is an oil-rich but deeply poor African nation that has become a key regional ally of the West in the fight...
Sahel: The lawless northern Chad and deaths over gold
Around 100 dead in clashes between Chad gold miners Around 100 people have died in clashes between gold miners in...
Sahel: Millions of people face food shortages
The United Nations warned Friday that up to 18 million people in the Sahel face severe food insecurity, with rations...
Sahel: Slavery and forced child labor are alive and well in Mauritania
Mauritania has made progress in battling slavery but still has its work cut out to abolish the practice, the UN envoy...