Vol 66 No 6 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGER Security tops the Ecowas agenda 21st March 2025 Above all, civilian governments in the regional bloc want cooperation with the military leaders against jihadist insurgents Through his visits to the military rulers of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in the week ending 14 March, Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama may have helped thaw...
Vol 66 No 6 | BURKINA FASO Captain Traoré digs in for a long stay 21st March 2025 The military ruler depends on a corps of ideological supporters who back his ambitions, but the regime is increasingly threatened by jihadists It’s not even two years since the 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traoré overthrew his mentor, the previous military leader, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Henri Damiba, with whom he had worked to...
Vol 66 No 3 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGERRUSSIA Sahel-exit tests western miners and Russia’s military muscle 29th January 2025 Everybody is losing as the Sahelian juntas break with the Ecowas bloc – except for the jihadi militias The crowds in Bamako, Ouagadougou and Niamey celebrating their countries’ break with the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) on 29 January belie the...
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...
Vol 65 No 15 | BURKINA FASO A hunter in aviation 18th July 2024 Burkina Faso’s national airline, Air Burkina, has struggled for more than a decade. But instead of saving West Africa’s oldest airline, the junta of Captain Ibrahim Traoré had...
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...
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 5 | BURKINA FASO Junta press-gangs the press 26th February 2024 Rasmané Zinaba and Bassirou Badjo, youth leaders in the pro-democracy movement Balai Citoyen (Citizen Sweep), were abducted on 20 February and 21 February respectively by unidentified agents, continuing...
DISPATCHES Vol 64 No 21 | BURKINA FASO Junta is latest to sign Russian nuclear pact 17th October 2023 Push into civilian energy markets in Africa continues as the shift away from fossil fuels opens up opportunities for Moscow to export its technology Burkina Faso is the latest African state to strike a deal on nuclear energy with Russia as the Kremlin continues its push towards civilian nuclear markets. Ministers confirmed... READ FOR FREE
Vol 64 No 20 | BURKINA FASO Putsch or purge? 5th October 2023 On 27 September, the government informed the nation that a conspiracy to overthrow it had been foiled. The announcement came just days before the first anniversary of Captain...