Africa

Why the Giant of Africa Needs to Start Over

Nigeria has always seemed like an impossibility. From the moment of its independence in 1960, observers questioned the country’s viability as a multiethnic, multireligious state. How could a country divided among two major religions and hundreds of different ethnic groups possibly stay together? When the devastating Nigerian civil war broke out in 1967, that skepticism appeared warranted. Perhaps, many concluded, Nigeria wasn’t meant to be.

Depuis l’inflexion du gouvernement de Pedro Sánchez sur la question du Sahara, la classe politique espagnole se divise sur la ligne à adopter envers Rabat. Les récents événements de Melilla ont encore aggravé cette fracture.

En Espagne, la tension est toujours palpable plus d’une semaine après les incidents survenus le 24 juin à Melilla, au cours desquels plusieurs milliers de migrants subsahariens, pour la plupart d’origine soudanaise, ont tenté de forcer la clôture afin de pénétrer dans l’enclave espagnole. Des heurts durant lesquels 37 d’entre eux ont trouvé la mort.

Selon plusieurs sources concordantes, l’ancien président, condamné à la prison à perpétuité dans l’affaire Sankara, doit arriver dans les prochaines heures à Ouagadougou pour y rencontrer le lieutenant-colonel Damiba.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi completed a tour of Eritrea, Kenya and Comoros, continuing a tradition dating back three decades by which Chinese foreign ministers open the diplomatic year with a trip to Africa. The visit—which comes just over a month after the conclusion of the eighth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC, held late last year in Dakar, Senegal—illustrates how China’s engagement with African countries is evolving. Beijing is apparently ready to play a bigger role in mediating some of the region’s conflicts. Whether those efforts will pay off is an open question for both China and its partners on the continent.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has lauded the Sudanese military leadership’s decision to return the country to civilian rule.

Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Monday called on political forces to agree on a civilian transitional government without them, further stressing the need to establish a national security council.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and rebel group Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) are blaming each other’s military forces after an unconfirmed number of civilians were killed Monday in the country’s Oromia region.

French forces in the Sahel will switch operating mode after they leave Mali, acting more “in support” of local forces rather than substituting for them, their commander says.

The United States’ top general for Africa has warned of “violent extremism” and the threat of Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region, speaking as war games wrapped up in Morocco.

European governments have been alarmed by a Russian disinformation campaign that seeks to deflect criticism that President Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine risks leaving millions of people in Africa facing famine.

La République centrafricaine (RCA) est confrontée à des « besoins humanitaires sans précédent et à une détérioration de la sécurité alimentaire », a averti mardi le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) indiquant qu’il s’attendait à une dépendance continue à l’égard de l’aide humanitaire en 2022 et 2023.