Benin’s economy expanded by 8.1% in 2025, and the momentum shows little sign of fading. Yet behind the headline growth lies a more consequential story: a deliberate, multi-year effort to reshape how the country raises, channels and deploys capital. What looks like a series of scattered financial instruments is, inContinue Reading
Benin Behind Benin’s $730 million AIIB pipeline: what the fine print reveals The indicative $730 million envelope agreed between Cotonou and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for 2027-2028 is less a done deal than a structured starting point — here is the context, the mechanics and the signals behind theContinue Reading
Law and justiceDemocratic Republic of Congo Behind Congo’s justice campaign: why impunity persists after decades of conflict In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a petition seeking six million signatures aims to break a cycle of impunity that has left countless victims without redress. But the roots of this failure runContinue Reading
What began as a targeted protest against recent education reforms morphed, on Thursday 1 October, into an unprecedented day of urban conflagration across France. In several major metropolitan areas, the standoff between young demonstrators and authorities tipped into orchestrated chaos, forcing the state to activate its emergency security apparatus. PrimeContinue Reading
For over a month now, the disappearance and subsequent reported arrest of Moussa Kaka, a towering figure in Nigerien journalism and the long-standing correspondent in Niamey for a major international broadcaster, has ignited a growing wave of outrage. The journalist has been held without any official explanation for at leastContinue Reading
BAMAKO — On Thursday, October 1, the official start of the 2026-2027 school year in Mali was proclaimed with pomp and ambition. Transitional President General Assimi Goïta declared it the “Year of Education and Culture.” But behind the official slogan lies a stark, painful truth: more than 2,400 schools willContinue Reading
Every 1 October, Cameroon marks the anniversary of the 1961 reunification that joined the former French colony with Southern Cameroons, then under British administration. For many anglophone Cameroonians, however, that union remains contested. It was on this same date in 2017 that separatists in the North-West and South-West regions declaredContinue Reading
Cotonou — Benin has secured 500 million euros in a landmark financing operation, but the real story lies in the financial engineering that made it possible. In partnership with the African Development Bank Group, the West African nation tapped international capital markets at a time when many emerging economies areContinue Reading
The dust had barely settled on the military outpost at Lalgaye when the first claims began to circulate. On Thursday, 1 October, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) formally acknowledged responsibility for a wave of simultaneous assaults that had struck Burkina Faso five days earlier, onContinue Reading
Un héritage contesté : répression, déplacements et souveraineté Quatre ans après la prise de pouvoir du capitaine Ibrahim Traoré au Burkina Faso, le pays reste profondément marqué par un conflit armé qui continue de faire des victimes civiles et de déplacer des millions de personnes. Si la junte revendique desContinue Reading
Lamu, Kenya — Benin’s president Romuald Wadagni stood alongside a roster of African leaders on Wednesday as the East African refinery project championed by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote officially broke ground on Kenya’s northern coast. The ceremony drew heads of state and government from across the continent, but it alsoContinue Reading
Air Sénégal faces storm amid crew suspension on Dakar-Paris route The abrupt suspension of all flight attendants and pilots on the Dakar-Paris route has sent shockwaves through the airline industry and raised urgent questions about passenger safety and corporate accountability in West Africa. The decision, announced on September 17, hasContinue Reading