People parading a Russian flag around the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Niger’s military government sides with Russia in the latest sign of Moscow’s growing influence in Africa.
Smoke rises over Khartoum, Sudan, in June 2023, as fighting between the SAF and the RSF continues.
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Hopes for a peaceful resolution are fading as the Sudan civil war blazes into a second year.
Vladimir Putin isn’t waving goodbye just yet.
Pavel Bednyakov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
A West Point professor of Russian politics and foreign policy looks at the future of Russia without Putin.
A makeshift memorial for the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in August 2023.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images
Will the Wagner Group under new leadership uphold the ruthless modus operandi that propelled it to the spotlight in Africa?
Ecowas has struggled to handle a raft of military coups.
U.S. Army Southern Europe Photostream/Flickr
The decision by the three countries could change the dynamics of Ecowas.
Protesters in Niger’s capital Niamey hold a Russian flag and banner with images of coup leaders in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea.
AFP via Getty Images
Niger’s recent military romance with Russia could escalate tensions with France, regional allies and the European Union.
The roof-capped cross standing on Evgeny Prigozhin’s stone bears a stark resemblance to those found in Old Believer cemeteries, golubets,
Olga Maltseva/AFP
A scholar in religious studies delves into the peculiar world of Rodnovery, a Russian neo-pagan movement that believes in Slavs’ civilising mission. Many in Wagner side with it.
A woman at a a counselling centre for rape victims in Paoua, 500km northwest of Bangui in the CAR.
Photo by Barbara Debout/AFP via Getty Images
The birth rate was lower and the death rate markedly higher in areas outside government control in the Central African Republic.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late founder of the Russian private security company Wagner.
Wagner Account/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Russia is not interested in helping Africa to prosper or achieve stability, but as a theatre for advancing the Kremlin’s geostrategic interests.
EPA-EFE/Anatoly Maltsev
Russia was using the mercenary group to further its foreign policy aims in west Africa. There’s no reason to think Prigozhin’s death will change that.
The coup enjoys a high degree of popular support in Niger.
EPA-EFE/Issifou Djibo
A geopolitical struggle for valuable resources such as uranium is behind the wrangling over Niger.
People carry a body bag away from the wreckage of a crashed private jet near the Russian village of Kuzhenkinoi on Aug. 24, 2023. Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, reportedly died in the crash along with nine other people.
(AP Photo)
The core members of the Wagner Group, who are loyal to the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, will likely seek revenge against Vladimir Putin for his death. Is the Russian leader now living on borrowed time?
Face masks depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin displayed at a souvenir shop in St. Petersburg, Russia. Prigozhin reportedly died in a plane crash on Aug. 23.
(AP Photo, File)
Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, reportedly died when a private jet he was said to be on crashed on Aug. 23, 2023, killing all 10 people on board.
AAP/AP/Razgruzka_Vagnera telegram channel
The apparent death of the warlord in a plane shot down over Russia tells us much about the fragility that surrounds Russian politics.
Wagner Group boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, rose through the ranks from Vladimir Putin’s caterer to the boss of Russia’s most powerful private military company.
Associated Press/Alamy Stock Photo
The Wagner Group boss had died in mysterious circumstances when his private jet crashed on August 23 2023.
Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, photographed on June 24, 2023, in Russia.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The lesson in the presumed death of the mercenary leader two months after his mutiny against Putin: Don’t make yourself an enemy of Russia’s leader.
Supporters of the military junta wave Nigerien and Russian flags at a demonstration of support for the coup.
EPA-EFE/Issifou Djibo
All eyes are on Nigeria where west African countries are discussing the possibility of military intervention to reverse the coup.
A Ukrainian soldier on territory recaptured from Russia in July 2023.
EPA-EFE/Oleg Petrasyuk
A selection of the best of our coverage of the conflict from the past fortnight.
Coup leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani appearing on Niger state television to announce the takeover.
Associated Press/Alamy Stock Photo
The coup in Niger has the potential to further destabilise the whole of west Africa.
Niger’s Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani declares himself head of state on 28 July 2023.
ORTN-Télé Sahel/AFP via Getty Images
Ethnic politics, the presence of foreign troops and the weaknesses of past responses to coups encouraged Niger’s recent military takeover.