Vol 66 No 2 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGERMINING Sahel’s juntas challenge western miners in geopolitical gold rush 17th January 2025 The fight over one of the world’s biggest gold mines points to the changing balance of power in the region The stand-off between General Assimi Goïta’s military regime and Canada’s Barrick Gold has reached a critical point with the mining conglomerate suspending work at the Loulou-Gounkoto complex after...
DISPATCHES Vol 66 No 2 | MALI Bullion for Bamako 14th January 2025 Barrick Gold says it will suspend mining operations in the country after the government seized gold stocks from the company’s Loulo-Gounkoto operation Canadian mining company Barrick Gold has pulled the plug on operations at its Loulo-Gounkoto complex in Mali after the Malian government seized an estimated 3 metric tonnes of... READ FOR FREE
DISPATCHES Vol 65 No 17 | MALISAHEL Kyiv counts diplomatic costs of ambush boasts 14th August 2024 Bamako has cut ties with Ukraine, accusing it of complicity in an attack that killed Malian soldiers and 50 Russian Wagner operatives The Cold War politics in the Sahel has been given fresh heat after Mali announced it was severing ties with Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of involvement in a deadly... READ FOR FREE
Vol 65 No 16 | MALI Farewell to the kora master 1st August 2024 Toumani Diabaté, one of Mali’s greatest kora players, died on 19 July ending a career spanning 45 years. He was 58. His global reputation debuted with the release...
Vol 65 No 14 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGER The juntas dig in as instability worsens 4th July 2024 Burkina’s leader Captain Traoré wants five more years in power but his army is losing badly against the jihadis The standing of Burkina Faso’s transitional leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power in September, has hit a new low. But public opinion is the least of his...
DISPATCHES Vol 65 No 11 | MALI The junta chooses isolation after the EU withdraws its mission 14th May 2024 Colonel Goïta will stand for election in 2027, extending the military-led transition to democracy from two years to five Confirmation that the European Union's military mission in Mali will end at the weekend, coupled with the announcement several days later on 10 May, that the military-led transition... READ FOR FREE
Vol 65 No 10 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGER The juntas are running out of excuses 9th May 2024 Populist rhetoric and ethnic targeting by the military regimes are deepening the region's fault-lines The lean season in the Sahel this year is starting under the toughest economic and political conditions for generations. Mali and Burkina Faso have been baked by a...
Vol 65 No 6 | MALI Book guts Goïta's junta 14th March 2024 Colonel Alpha Yaya Sangaré went from celebrated author to prisoner in one week. On 24 February, he presented his book, Mali, le défi du terrorisme en Afrique, (Mali:...
Vol 65 No 5 | LIBYAMALI Tuareg-Wagner clash in Libya? 29th February 2024 Unconfirmed reports in Tripoli claim that a group of Tuareg fighters in southwestern Libya has captured some Wagner Group soldiers there in revenge for the capture of Kidal,...
Vol 64 No 24 | MALI Junta falls out with its fanbase 30th November 2023 The regime's split with the anti-French and pro-Russian Yerewolo – its biggest supporter – may have been provoked by links to Hizbollah Fear of links to Iran and Hizbollah helped turn interim President Colonel Assimi Goïta's regime against its biggest domestic supporter, and to imprison its leader and harass other...