Le Grand Jeu dans la Corne de l’Afrique continue. Partie 4 : Le conflit éthiopien-somalien à travers le prisme d’autres acteurs extérieurs

S’agissant du Royaume-Uni, principal allié des États-Unis, il adopte dans ses relations avec l’Éthiopie une approche plus pragmatique.

Le 21 août de cette année, lors de sa visite à Addis-Abeba, la ministre britannique du Développement international, Anneliese Dodds, a déclaré lors de sa rencontre avec le ministre des Affaires étrangères éthiopien, Tayé Atské Sélassié, que Londres soutenait un dialogue inclusif et pacifique en Éthiopie et dans la région en général. Elle a également discuté des perspectives de coopération économique entre les deux pays. Cette visite n’était pas un hasard.

Political extortion? JNIM’s blockade of Boni, Mali.

In June 2024, fighters from the Katiba Serma sub-group of Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) redoubled their efforts to cut off the town of Boni, in the Mopti region of central Mali.1 This is the latest iteration of a blockade that the jihadist group had intermittently imposed for more than nine months on the Route Nationale (RN) 16.2 Blockades are very much part of JNIM’s toolkit in its areas of influence not just in Mali, but also in neighbouring Burkina Faso.

Congo wants UN peacekeepers gone. But endless war around minerals is complicating that

The end of one of the world’s deadliest and yet most shadowy wars is as difficult to predict as the end of the large peacekeeping force meant to contain it.

Congo desperately wants stability in its mineral-rich east, of intense interest to the global economy. But political friction means the government wants the longtime United Nations peacekeeping force there to get out.

Black Axe—Nigeria’s Most Notorious Transnational Criminal Organization

Black Axe’s violent organized criminal network undermines economic development and political reform within Nigeria while scamming victims abroad out of billions via cybercrime.

A 21-country INTERPOL initiative known as Operation Jackal III targeting Black Axe, the Nigerian organized crime group, led to the arrest of 300 suspects and the seizure of $3 million in assets in a sting operation culminating in July 2024. While a victory for law enforcement, the action is unlikely to make a dent in the operations of Black Axe, which has an estimated 30,000 members in dozens of countries and yearly proceeds estimated to exceed $5 billion.

BRICS vs. The US In Africa

This emerging front of the New Cold War will likely see the Sino-Russo Entente more closely coordinate against the US-led West there.

Africa is increasingly figuring into major countries’ and organizations’ discussions due to its growing importance in global affairs. The UN expects that more than half of the world’s population growth by the 2050 will occur on that continent, with the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa doubling by then. This will open up new market and labor opportunities alongside the existing resource ones that have already attracted international interest, but it’ll also lead to developmental and humanitarian challenges.

Capitalisme vert : comment les États-Unis pillent le continent africain

Le pillage des richesses de l’Afrique pour sauver le climat. Le capitalisme vert est devenu la pire forme de pillage du continent africain.

Il s’agit principalement de Lobito en Angola et de son chemin de fer de Benguela, qui sont devenus un instrument clé du monde occidental dans la transition des combustibles fossiles vers les énergies renouvelables. Selon les estimations du Forum économique mondial, rappelle le magazine américain CounterPunch, cette transition nécessitera 3 milliards de tonnes de métaux. Et pour atteindre les objectifs mondiaux de réduction radicale rien que des émissions de CO2 d’ici 2050, jusqu’à 194 grandes mines de cuivre seront nécessaires.

Spain considers regularising hundreds of thousands of migrants

The Spanish government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is finalising the details of a massive regularisation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the country, in sharp contrast to the recent migration control plans of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Islamic State Sahel Province is consolidating territory, reviving economies

After almost 10 years of insurgency in the Sahel, the group has made significant territorial gains in the last two years.

Since 2023, Islamic State Sahel Province (IS Sahel), a violent extremist organisation affiliated with the Islamic State, has shifted from perpetrating high levels of indiscriminate violence against civilians towards building community support in areas where it has consolidated its influence. It has also begun actively reviving local economies (including illicit activities) that had been heavily undermined by its earlier indiscriminate use of violence.

Benin–Niger border closure drives surge in migrant smuggling profits.

When Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown in a July 2023 coup, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) moved within days to impose punitive measures that it hoped would force a return to constitutional order. This included financial sanctions on Niger and the closure of all member states’ borders with the country.1 The bridge over the Niger River, linking the Beninese city of Malanville and the city of Gaya in Niger ­– a key transit point for migrants and both licit and illicit trade – was therefore officially closed.