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.
Chadian soldiers form part of a regional force, 2015.
Philippe Desmazes/AFP via Getty Images
Boko Haram may be the unintended beneficiary of the crisis created by the recent coup in Niger.
Niger is central to several economic and political initiatives in the Sahel.
Guenter Guni/Getty Images
Economic infrastructure that affects several African countries runs through Niger.
The clamour for coups among citizens is rising.
Wikimedia Commons
Citizen expectations of governments are not being met by most elected leaders.
Niger’s coup leaders waving at a crowd of supporters in Niamey on August 6, 2023.
Balima Boureima/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A combination of Nigerian and Nigerien factors dim prospects of Ecowas military intervention in Niger.
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.
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.
General Abdourahmane Tchiani, Niger’s new leader.
ORTN - Télé Sahel/AFP via Getty Images
Niger had been seen as a relatively stable nation in an unstable region. The coup could spark fears in the West that the nation may align interests with Russia and the Wagner Group.
Malians march against the UN peacekeeping force in Bamako in September 2022.
Ousmane Makaveli/AFP via Getty Images
Constructive dialogue is an essential condition for a peaceful political transition in Mali.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, new ECOWAS chairman.
Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images
The new ECOWAS chairman must focus on strengthening democracy and security in west Africa.
Malians demonstrate against the presence of foreign troops.
Annie Risemberg/AFP via Getty Images
The transitional government is determined to change its partners to fight insecurity in Mali – but results will be hard to come by.
10 tons of ammunition previously laid in civilian settlements by Libyan militia and Wagner group mercenaries .
Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The Wagner rebellion in Russia has implications for African countries that depend on mercenaries and non-state armed groups for security.
A satellite image shows burning homes in Chernihiv, Ukraine, in March 2022.
Satellite image (c) 2022 Maxar Technologies.
Digital evidence is becoming a routine fixture for war crimes investigations, including the one focused on Ukraine, changing the landscape for international tribunal investigations.
Mali-born director Souleymane Cissé is best known for his film Yeelen.
Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Dubai International Film Festival
The director will receive the Carrosse d'Or, awarded to cinema pioneers, at the Cannes Film Festival on 17 May.
Devastation: much of central Khartoum has been destroyed in heavy fighting.
EPA-EFE/Indonesian Embassy KBRI Khartoum
The role of the Wagner Group in the Sudan crisis is not yet clear, but its mercenaries are reported to be involved in a number of African countries.
Guerillas from the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) pictured in 1990.
Richard Hoffmann/Sygma via Getty Images
Policies that reduce poverty, inequality and socioeconomic insecurity lower the incentive to engage in or tolerate terrorism.
President of Tunisia, Kais Saied (R) meets Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo in Tunis on 8 March 2023.
Tunisian Presidency / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
In Tunisia, scapegoating migrants diverts from the continuous failure of government to solve deep economic and social crisis.
Street market and the Great Mosque of Djenné, Mali, which was designated a world heritage site by Unesco in 1988. During the pandemic, the town was hard hit by illegal excavations and looting.
Giv/Wikipedia
The Covid-19 pandemic will long be remembered for the lockdowns it imposed and the millions of lives it stole. A recent Unesco report reveals that it has also took a large toll on world heritage sites.
Burkina Faso servicemen hold portraits during the burial of soldiers killed in an Al-Qaeda attack in Gaskinde in October 2022.
Olympia de Maismont/AFP via Getty Images
The spike in violence was marked by a 68% increase in fatalities involving civilians.