First Independent Mena Newspaper
The first road convoy of French troops that were withdrawn from Niger following the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum arrived in Chad’s capital on Thursday (19 October), according to French military authorities. The convoy arrived in N’Djamena “without any particular problems “after spending 10 days on the road in coordination with Nigerian forces, French army […]
France’s decision to withdraw its ambassador and military forces from Niger, the West’s last key ally in the central Sahel region, amid a wave anti-French sentiment, are yet another blow to Paris’s influence in its former African colonies, laying bare Europe’s weakening influence in the continent, analysts and diplomats say. President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on […]
During a major foreign policy speech to ambassadors gathered in Paris on Monday (28 August), French President Emmanuel Macron said his country refuses any “paternalism” but also any “weakness” in Africa, as the Sahel faces an “epidemic of putsches” amid a wave of anti-French sentiment. In his speech, Macron called for a strengthening of France’s […]
Mali’s military leader and interim president, Assimi Goita, had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday about the escalating situation in Niger, amid growing concerns in the West that Africa’s latest coup undermines its influence while presenting an opportunity to expand Russia’s presence in the West African region. The Kremlin said Mali’s […]
The new Sahel nation states have obviously failed to embrace diversity and integrate the Tuareg people whose leaders in Mali and Niger consider a return to the armed struggle against the centralized states. The Tuareg are a nomadic Amazigh people scattered in the greater Sahara notably in what is now southern Algeria and Libya to […]
The number of people killed in Africa’s central Sahel region by insurgents, armed groups, state forces and foreign mercenaries has surged this year, according to data by The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), contradicting the claims by the military rulers of Mali, Burkina Faso and now Niger that they are tackling insecurity. […]
Morocco has called, on Thursday in Addis Ababa, before the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) for a coherent and viable regional response to counter terrorism and violent extremism in the Sahel. “A coherent and viable regional response is needed to counter terrorism and violent extremism in the Sahel. In this […]
A dizzying array of illegal weaponry dots market stalls across the Sahel, fueling violence and insecurity in this 6,000-km-wide belt in the middle of Africa, where smuggling networks exploit the ensuring desperation of people, leading to such deadly disasters as the recent shipwreck off the coast of Greece, according to the latest series of reports […]
Drug trafficking continues to thrive in the Sahel, home to 300 million people and a buyer’s market for guns, because of non-state armed groups which are very active there, according to a new 2023 report published Monday June 26 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The report explores the fight against […]
The recent joint operation between dozens of troops from Niger and France’s legendary Foreign Legion reflects the new approach President Emmanuel Macron wants to use for his country’s mission in West Africa’s deeply troubled Sahel region. The joint operation has been symbolic of France’s new mode of cooperation with Niger, part of a strategy which […]