Africa

AFRICOM’s commander talked partnership opportunities with military officials in Tripoli last week, but Libyans must first bridge their divisions with nationwide elections. The top commander of US forces in Africa paid a surprise visit to Tripoli last week to sit down with officials from both sides of Libya’s conflict. Gen. …

Libya’s foreign minister said on Sunday that some foreign fighters have left the country as the unity government seeks to marshal international help to withdraw the many who remain. “The reports are correct. There is a very modest start,” Najla Mangoush said at a news conference in Kuwait when asked …

On Sunday, Algeria closed its airspace to France over comments reportedly made by French President Emmanuel Macron, which have caused an escalating diplomatic row. The airspace’s closure could affect the French military that uses the Algerian airspace to support its forces in the Sahel. In an interview with the AFP …

Sudan’s Transitional Government has been accused of illegally expropriating the assets of Malaysia’s national oil company, Petronas, which could trigger legal proceedings against Khartoum in the International Court of Arbitration. Petronas is a multi-billion-dollar company, ranked amongst the largest corporations in the world with more than 20 years of successful …

Le gouvernement du Mali aurait signé un contrat avec une société privée russes le groupe Wagner, pour l’envoi de 1000 soldats qui viendraient participer à la lutte contre les terroristes . Le gouvernement entend ainsi se rapprocher de Moscou pour ne plus dépendre entièrement de l’armée française. C’est dans ce …

La France a une fois encore averti. C’était le mercredi, 29 septembre 2021. Elle a fait savoir au Mali qu’il perdrait le « soutien de la communauté internationale » et abandonnerait des « pans entiers de sa souveraineté » s’il avait recours aux mercenaires de la société privée russe Wagner. …

Mali’s discussions with the Russian Wagner Group have sparked intense debate among the European Union members deployed to Mali under a French-led coalition to defeat Islamic jihadists. The Wagner Group mercenary company is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mali is in …

It’s a bitter irony that the last embers of the Arab Spring may be snuffed out in the same place, Tunisia, where a spark first ignited massive pro-democracy fires across a region filled with dictatorships. Tunisians, at least some of them, seem to be stirring from their jaded acceptance of …

For the past decade and more, the U.S. and other international actors have prioritized a narrowly defined form of stability over democratic accountability in their diplomatic, development and security engagement in West Africa. The only problem is that this approach is not working. West African countries enjoy neither the stability …

As it has unfolded over the past several years, the migration crisis linking Europe and Africa has revealed many facets. At its simplest, it is one of the worst ongoing human tragedies in the world today, but one that only commands the attention of a broad public under specific circumstances. …