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Published 17th February 2022

Vol 63 No 4

Benin

France moves out of Mali

Emmanuel Macron visits Barkhane troops in Gao, northern Mali, 19 May 2017
Emmanuel Macron visits Barkhane troops in Gao, northern Mali, 19 May 2017

European governments are rethinking military plans in the Sahel ahead of the grand summit between the African Union and the EU

African and European officials have agreed to move the centre for counter-insurgency operations in the Sahel from Mali to Niger but questions remain about how to manage the logistics and the schedule. Nigérien officials worry about the political reactions to such a move. These are the details that were due to be worked out on 16 February when President Emmanuel Macron hosted the presidents of G5 Sahel members Mauritania, Niger and Chad, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, Mohamed Bazoum and Mahamat Déby.

Ofori-Atta bets on the E-Levy, rejects IMF

Copyright © Africa Confidential 2022
Copyright © Africa Confidential 2022

Locked out of the markets and hit by ratings downgrades, the government is trying to supercharge revenues and hack away at spending

As Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and his Treasury team rule out any resort to the International Monetary Fund on nationalist grounds, they are taking a different set of...

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THE INSIDE VIEW

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has waded into the African Union's dispute over the status of Western Sahara, incurring Moroccan displeasure by putting the conflict on the agenda of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), which Kenya chairs, on 16 February. Kenya, along with South Africa, hosts an embassy of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, representing the Polisario Front's claim to Western Sahara.

'The objective of the meeting will be to examine the conditions that have given ri...

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has waded into the African Union's dispute over the status of Western Sahara, incurring Moroccan displeasure by putting the conflict on the agenda of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), which Kenya chairs, on 16 February. Kenya, along with South Africa, hosts an embassy of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, representing the Polisario Front's claim to Western Sahara.

'The objective of the meeting will be to examine the conditions that have given rise to current tensions and violence and assesses whether the policy measures and strategies adopted at the international, regional and national levels are bringing peace to Saharawi,' a note issued by Nairobi reads.

The long-running conflict broke into a shooting war again in November 2019. The status of Western Sahara was left unresolved when Morocco joined the AU in 2017. All attempts to discuss the disputed territory in AU forums have been resisted by Rabat's diplomats. 

Last March, Kenyatta called for an 'immediate ceasefire' and for a greater role for the AU led by Algerian diplomat Smaïl Chergui – then AU Commissioner for Peace and Security. That prompted Morocco's Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, to warn his Kenyan counterpart Raychelle Omamo that such discussion 'risks provoking severe divisions among PSC members'. A year on, the schism is still sharper.

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Dangers of two-track campaigning

Underneath bland mainstream media coverage, social media and vernacular broadcast stations are stirring ethnic divisions

Hopes for credible and peaceful national elections in August are getting shakier. Hate speech and ethnic-baiting in local languages are back in force. Frustrated by official complacency, many...

Fishing giant's dirty tricks

Leaked emails reveal the underhand methods used by a European fishing company against critics of its Namibian business

Icelandic fishing company Samherji plotted dirty tricks against a senior employee in Namibia, before he went on to blow the whistle on corruption, leaked documents seen by Africa...

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The coup-makers win the first round

Regional and international efforts to bring the axis of colonels to heel have floundered due to hubris and miscalculations. The jihadist insurgents will be the main beneficiaries

Bamako's expulsion of France's ambassador Joël Meyer has set the stage for another messy post-colonial confrontation. Yet it is the refusal by Colonel Assimi Goïta's regime to accept...

The jihadists show staying power

A badly coordinated foreign intervention has made it easier for insurgents to keep fighting, and spread into new areas despite losing many recruits

The fighting between a regional alliance and Islamist rebels in the northernmost Cabo Delgado region of Mozambique looks far from over. In January, heads of state from the...

Prime Minister quits as funding crisis deepens

The government is running out of cash – paying the Russians is proving tricky, EU and French aid has stopped, and the IMF and World Bank are sceptical

Amid suspicions that Russia is trying to engineer an alliance between its friends in Bangui and leaders of the military junta in Sudan, the problems in President Faustin...

Senegal's AfCON win boosts Africa's coaches

Hosts Cameroon crashed out in the semi-finals while the Confederation of African Football faces tough decisions on funding and independence from FIFA

As tens of thousands of ecstatic fans crowded on to the streets of Dakar to welcome home Senegal's national team – les Lions de la Téranga – after...

Who was behind the failed power grab?

The President of Africa's pre-eminent narco-state says he was targeted by drug gangs, but his own record is patchy

The President of Guinea Bissau's claims about a failed putsch against him leave many questions unanswered. Around lunchtime on 1 February a group of armed men clad in...

Brussels tries to reset relations amid pandemic fall-out

The Africa-Europe summit will announce shiny new investments but struggle to agree on security, migration and trade

Delayed for two years, the African Union (AU)-European Union (EU) summit on 17-18 February takes place as differences over counter-terrorism, pandemic policies and vaccine equity intensify. France, which...

Governments are maxing out the credit card

The region's treasuries want to borrow their way out of the pandemic. But debt-servicing costs are ballooning

As the only region on the continent to avoid a Covid-19 recession in 2020, East Africa is poised for strong economic growth this year, according to the African...

Pointers

New bankers' ramp

A few days after Africa Confidential reported on the power of financiers in Nigerian politics, a couple of colourful election prospectuses extolling the virtues of African Development Bank...

Spy powers in question

A 'spy bill' giving investigators the right to intercept phone calls has been diluted following a public outcry, but the government remains intent on stepping up surveillance on...

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