First Independent Mena Newspaper
A recent report by Sputnik Africa claiming that the use of the Russian ruble for trade between Russia and Africa has more than doubled since 2022 is challenged by other sources that report a sharp dip in the share of ruble payments from 23.7% in mid-2022 to 12.7% in mid-2023. Russian ruble usage in international […]
Nigeria will apply for membership of the BRICS in the next two years and it intends to join the group with or without pressure from the West, the country’s foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar has said. During a recent three-day working visit to Russia, where he held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Tuggar re-iterated […]
France has said it will keep its 1,000 troops in junta-run Chad amid waning French influence after it was ousted from several African countries over the past few years, just as apparent calm has returned to Chad’s capital N’Djamena following the assassination of an opposition leader. “Of course we will stay” in Chad, said Jean-Marie […]
Following the demise of its former boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and with a new leader at its helm, the infamous paramilitary Wagner Group is back in the game, helping the Kremlin to strengthen Russia’s presence in Libya and other parts of Africa. Years of civil war and chaos, the devastating flood, the absence of a democratic […]
Mali’s top diplomat has met with his Russian counterpart in Moscow for talks aiming to boost security cooperation between the two countries just as Bamako is struggling to take a full control of the country’s restive north. Addressing journalists in Moscow, Mali’s foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov earlier this week […]
After Wagner Group’s collapse in mid 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently launched a new Africa Corps, with 100 military staff officially deployed to Burkina Faso, with the aim to continue serving Russia’s interests on the continent — unofficially. While the war in Ukraine continues unabated, the depth of the ties between Burkina Faso […]
The worsening ties between Algiers and Bamako unveiled a silently brewing crisis between Algeria and its main arms supplier Russia, which seeks to undermine the west in Africa using a panoply of soft and hard power measures. Algeria has for long claimed to be Russia’s “best friend” in Africa with President Tebboune calling Putin a […]
As the US top diplomat wrapped up his visit to Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Angola (21-26 January), experts have hailed what they call the United States finally “making serious efforts to strengthen its relations with Africa”. The four-nation tour of the continent by the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was also officially […]
Mahamat Saleh Annadif, Chad’s Foreign Minister, indicated Monday January 29 that last week trip by the country’s transitional leader to Russia was meant to diversify partners, not exclude others. Mahamat Idriss Deby met last week with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Moscow in a visit that his office said was to strengthen ties with Russia. Chad […]
Three military-led West African nations have all announced their immediate withdrawal from The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), accusing the regional group of falling “under the influence of foreign powers” and becoming a threat to its members. The decision by the coup-born governments in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS […]