Burkina Faso, Mali And Niger, three military-led Sahel countries, recently withdrew from the ECOWAS regional bloc and established a new military alliance to tackle jihadist violence in the region. But the new forces’ prospects for success are slim.
Tag: niger
A chapter of history is closing: that of the active French military presence on the African continent, which will soon be reduced to a bare minimum after being a central element of France’s presence in its former colonial empire.
Armed conflicts, droughts, floods, poverty… Many factors are pushing some young people from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to take uncertain and dangerous migration routes. In the region of Africa just south of the Sahara, unregulated migration is increasing.
The next major geopolitical conflict is brewing in the Sahel region, in the north-central stretch of Africa south of the Sahara. Islamists and armed militias are plunging the entire region into chaos, and it is even possible a new jihadist emirate may emerge. Experts are already predicting there will be thousands of new refugees. Their destination: Europe.
In the Agadez region of Niger, thousands of migrants — many of them children — are waiting in squalid conditions, and at risk of human trafficking, after being turned away from Algeria.
Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday evening the recall of the French ambassador to Niger, and the departure of the 1,500 French soldiers stationed there: the end of a dangerous impasse. France is being forced to wholly review its African policy.
Wagner PMC has built up a powerful network on the African continent. It’s one of the mercenary group’s greatest assets — and now, a Kremlin takeover of Wagner could even strengthen its influence in Africa, including through the recent coups d’état in Niger and Gabon.
Is it a Russian conspiracy or anti-Paris bias? Or a sign that democracy has never really taken root in post-colonial realities?
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba is in Paris seeking help to convince Africa to abandon its wait-and-see attitude, which benefits Russia. It’s an extraordinary illustration of how Africa is singularly focused on emancipating itself from its former colonizers.
The war in Ukraine has become globalized, with its effects being felt from Africa to China. The only hope of de-escalation is in a potential diplomatic summit between the U.S. and China this autumn.
Just days after the military seized power in Niger last week, the new junta has already been the target of sanctions by Brussels and Washington. What that means for the 1,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in Niger, among other things, remains unclear.
The projections from the United Nations Population Division for African demographics reveal some striking figures. And it’s up to leaders to turn it into economic growth and social vitality.
? Sugeng enjing* Welcome to Friday, where the risk of an all-out war grows in Ethiopia, Europe is once again at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic and chiles are grown in space for the first time. French daily Les Echos also explores the often very different reasons that people change their name. [*Javanese] SIGN […]
The French military announces the killing of Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahrawi the head of the jihadist group Islamic State in the Great Sahara (ISIS-GS). In its long involvement in the northwest African region of the Sahel, France.
Welcome to Monday, where the UK blocks Assange’s extradition, vaccinations are moving too slowly (almost) everywhere and the Asian business world is asking: Where’s Jack? We also follow Le Monde to Casablanca where Moroccans are rethinking what it means to be a man. SPOTLIGHT: DEMOCRACY HAS MORE GRIT THAN YOU MIGHT THINK There are more […]
AGADEZ — Mahamane Ousmane is an unrepentant people smuggler. He makes no effort to deny having transported migrants “countless times’ across the Sahara into Libya. When he is released from prison in Niger’s desert city of Agadez, he intends to return to the same work. The 32-year-old is even more adamant he has done nothing wrong. “I don’t like criminals. I am no thief. I have killed no one,” he says. As Ousmane speaks, a small circle of fellow inmates in filthy football shirts and flip-flops murmur in agreement. The prison at Agadez, where the French once stabled their horses […]
This week, we shine the spotlight on Niger: FRENCH AMBASSADOR SENT HOME The French ambassador in Niger Antoine Anfré was discreetly removed from his position and sent back to Paris last Thursday. His forced departure — a first for a French ambassador in Niger — was demanded by Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou, according to Jeune […]
NIAMEY – The small restaurant sits on the corner of two sandy streets in Niger’s capital city, Niamey. It is here, at Le Toulousain, that two Frenchmen were kidnapped by AQIM (Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb) on Jan. 7, 2011. The two young hostages – an aid worker and his friend – were killed during […]
MENAKA – In a land far from Mali’s capital of Bamako, the houses are covered in rough cement, the streets in a reddish earth; the town is scattered with crumbling mosques and the dust sweeps through the sweltering heat. Opposite an enormous bazaar, there is another mosque, but this time, the men standing outside are […]