First Independent Mena Newspaper
West Africa faces a deepening humanitarian crisis as the fallout from armed conflict in the Central Sahel region continues to spill into neighboring Gulf of Guinea countries, according to a new UNICEF report. In the first half of 2025, escalating violence in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger has displaced more than 515,000 people into coastal […]
In a landmark move, the French government has unveiled a new bill aimed at simplifying the return of cultural artifacts taken during the colonial period. Introduced by Culture Minister Rachida Dati, the legislation would allow items looted between 1815 and 1972 to be returned by government decree, bypassing the need for time-consuming parliamentary votes. The […]
The ambitious Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline project has reached critical milestones following high-level meetings in Rabat, positioning the 6,000-kilometer infrastructure initiative for imminent implementation. In December 2024, West African leaders approved the Intergovernmental Agreement during the 66th CEDEAO Summit, spelling out each country’s rights and responsibilities for the project. Morocco’s Minister of Energy Transition Leïla […]
Morocco’s leading telecommunications operator Maroc Telecom has crossed a significant milestone, reporting over 80 million subscribers in the first half of 2025, marking a 2.3 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The growth comes despite what the company described as a “highly competitive and regulated market environment,” with subsidiary operations driving expansion […]
Rising costs of road freight across West Africa are threatening to derail the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), exporters and trade experts warn, as unofficial fees and bureaucratic bottlenecks mount along key trade corridors. A recent case study by the West African Association for Cross-Border Trade (WACTAF) reveals that transporting a truckload of goods […]
Less than two years after seizing power, Niger’s junta leader General Abdourahamane Tiani is struggling to contain a growing jihadist insurgency that threatens both his authority and national stability. Despite bold promises to restore security and sovereignty after the 2023 coup, Tiani’s regime faces escalating attacks from al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic […]
After more than a century abroad, 119 Benin Bronzes have returned to Nigeria, marking the largest single repatriation of looted artifacts to date. Originally stolen during a brutal British raid on the Benin Kingdom in 1897, the sculptures — including royal regalia, plaques, and ceremonial figures — were officially handed over by the Netherlands in […]
Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan chaired, on Monday at Mechouar Stinia–Sahrij Souani in Meknes, the opening ceremony of the 17th edition of the Moroccan International Agricultural Show (SIAM), held under the High Patronage of King Mohammed VI, from April 21 to 27, under the theme “Agriculture and the Rural World: Water at the Heart of […]
Militant Islamist violence continues to escalate in the Sahel, shifting southward and westward to increasingly threaten security of coastal West African nations, according to a new report by Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS). Countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger remain at the epicenter of this violent surge, with fatalities and militant activity hitting […]
A senior US counterterrorism official has raised alarms about the increasing threat posed by global jihadist groups, warning that they are, for example, expanding their activities from Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso into Benin and Togo, which had once had little exposure to jihadi threats. Speaking at a recent Washington conference, Sebastian Gorka noted that […]