Incumbent Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta will be Mali’s next president but an unremarkable first term, and a flawed election, could put a dent in his legacy.
Canadian troops arrive to a UN base in Gao, Mali, on in June 2018, amid an insurgency by jihadist and ethnic rebel groups. Canada has yet to impose sanctions on the African country because it lacks names to target for asset freezes and other measures.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
The federal government has set aside $22.2 million to develop and co-ordinate sanctions while educating Canadians about their obligations. Where to start is the first question.
A telescope pointed at the skies above Senegal to capture the stellar occultation.
François Colas, Observatoire de Paris, Insititut de Mécanique Celeste et de Calcul des Ephémérides
Mali faces huge challenges. Through the upcoming presidential election, Malians will tell the next president what they will and won’t accept for their future.
The head of the UN mission in Congo William Swing (second left) in 2003.
EPA PHOTO/Marco Longari
The UN promotes local ownership in peace building, which is difficult to achieve.
Malian migrant Mamoudou Gassama met French president Emmanuel Macron on May 22, 2018. He was officially given French citizenship soon after.
Thibault Camus/AFP
West Africa has lessons to learn from its ancient empires and colonial governments on regional trade and integration.
A strong judiciary isn’t enough to keep democracy in place. Kenya’s Supreme Court decision nullifying the re-election of Uhuru Kenyatta is a case in point.
Reuters/Baz Ratner
The past 12 months provided further evidence of the danger of democratic backsliding in Africa. But it also saw powerful presidents suffer embarrassing setbacks in a number of countries.
Ségou is rich in arts and crafts, and has built its famous festival around the performing arts.
Guillaume Colin & Pauline Penot/Flickr
Creating more opportunities for young women and girls to work and earn money is a possible solution to early marriages. Subsidising secondary education to keep poorer girls in school is another.
A US army team carry the remains of Sgt. Dustin Wright, one of the soldiers killed in Niger.
Reuters/Aaron J. Jenne/US Air Force
If the US, simply focuses on trying to hunt down jihadist leaders in Niger it will be missing an opportunity to address the underlying causes of violence in the region.
The Coordination of the Azawad Movement at the Algers Peace Accords requested that energy and mineral production be reinvested in northern Mali.
EPA
The ‘war on terror’ in Mali is building alongside a growing number of multinationals hoping to extract the oil and gas reserves of the Taoudeni basin, and a strong foreign military presence.
Head of Data & Analytics and Senior Researcher for the Small Arms Survey, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)
Senior Researcher and Coordinator of the Security Assessment in North Africa project at the Small Arms Survey, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)