The official inauguration of the Thomas Sankara mausoleum in Ouagadougou on 17 May 2025 marked a defining moment in Burkina Faso’s public memory. Yet beyond the ceremonial grandeur, the event raised pressing questions about the real-world impact on those who lived the history firsthand. The families of the deceased, theContinue Reading
In Burkina Faso, the transitional government’s announcement of an 85.38 percent administrative performance score for 2025 lands hard on a population already squeezed by rising poverty and shrinking access to basic services. For ordinary citizens and small businesses, the number does not translate into shorter queues, faster paperwork or honestContinue Reading
The decree signed on 15 September 2026 by General Abdourahamane Tiani was dressed up as a neutral “technical reorganisation”, yet its consequences stretch far beyond the walls of the cabinet room. This first large-scale government reshuffle is, in practice, a political rescue mission — and the bill will be settledContinue Reading
When a government wraps a crackdown in the vocabulary of sovereignty, the words can sound reassuring — until the practical consequences begin to land. Niger has now reached that point. At the close of its Council of Ministers, the Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie (CNSP) presented aContinue Reading
A violent mutiny at Niamey’s Air Base 101 in late August ended with devastating consequences—claiming the lives of at least 13 members of the Presidential Guard and leaving numerous others wounded in heavy-weapon clashes. Though fewer than 20 rebels were apprehended during subsequent security sweeps, the incident laid bare deepContinue Reading
At least 48 civilians were killed when a military helicopter belonging to the Algerian air force bombed an artisanal gold-mining site in the desert strip that separates Niger from Algeria. The strike, carried out in full daylight, has plunged the region into grief — and exposed a political truth thatContinue Reading
In Burkina Faso, the figure of Thomas Sankara has long since outgrown the sphere of historical commemoration. It now occupies a central place in the political vocabulary of Ibrahim Traoré’s government. Yet beneath the official tributes, the military ceremonies and the rising mausoleum, a question lingers: is the present leadershipContinue Reading
One morning on the edge of Gao, in northern Mali, ended with 167 civilians dead and more than 127 motorbikes reduced to charred metal. The killings, carried out along the Niger river, are being attributed to the Russian mercenaries of Africa Corps — the force that took over from WagnerContinue Reading
A clearer picture of Gabon’s public debt Gabon now has a more accurate view of what it owes. After an audit commissioned by the state and closed on 31 December 2025, the consolidated public debt stock was set at 9,524.643 billion FCFA, down from nearly 11,700 billion when the exerciseContinue Reading
Digitalisation du foncier au Gabon : le Ministre de l’Économie rejoint le protocole avec SNEDAI GROUPE par · 15 septembre 2026 éorte sur la mise en place d’un système foncier et cadastral entièrement informatisé, sécurisé et interconnecté. L’objectif est notamment de fiabiliser les données, d’améliorer la localisation des parcelles, deContinue Reading
Long paraded as the definitive proof that Niger had reclaimed command of its own mineral wealth, the running of the Société des mines de l’Aïr (SOMAÏR) by an entirely local workforce has instead ended in an industrial shipwreck. The finance ministry’s latest economic outlook note records a brutal 83.3 percentContinue Reading
A patriotic showcase the barracks no longer believe in Eighteen months after the 26 July 2023 coup, the patriotic image cultivated by Niger’s military leadership is visibly splintering. Behind the sovereignist rhetoric and the ceremonial parades staged by the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, the picture comingContinue Reading