Leaders of Ecowas at a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria on 10 December 2023.
Nigerian Presidency /Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger announced their intention to leave Ecowas. This may be a pointer to a deeper crisis in the Sahel region.
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.
Members of the rebel Ta'ang National Liberation Army standing guard in Shan state, Myanmar.
STR/AFP via Getty Images
Beijing is losing patience with Myanmar’s military, as well as its influence with resistance groups.
Created in 2014, the G5 Sahel security alliance is about to be dissolved after members pulled out.
Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images
Foreign powers’ interest in the Sahel is driven by its natural resources and strategic location for security and illegal migration control.
Ali Bongo Ondimba (in cap) and his wife, Sylvia (in blue shirt), at a campaign rally on 19 August 2023.
Malkolm M./Afrikimages Agency/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Ali Bongo’s illness, the contagion effect of other recent successful coups and palace power tussles are factors responsible for Gabon’s recent coup.
The clamour for coups among citizens is rising.
Wikimedia Commons
Citizen expectations of governments are not being met by most elected leaders.
Civilians protest in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, in December 2022.
AFP via Getty Images
Sudan’s civilian protesters have gained a form of political power that traditional elites have struggled to attain.
Sudan army soldiers are fighting a rival paramilitary group.
AFP via Getty Images
Violence in Sudan threatens to throw the troubled nation into chaos. A scholar of the region explains what is going on and what’s at stake.
A village elder stands outside a school destroyed by aircraft fire in Shan State.
Mai Thomas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Since seizing power in a 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military has killed more than 3,000 civilians and pro-democracy activists. But the army has struggled to contain an armed resistance movement.
A woman selling Nigerian flags in preparation for Nigeria’s independence anniversary in Lagos on September 30, 2020. Photo by Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
If Nigeria’s public office holders behave, there’s no reason why the country can’t progress.
“We Will Never Be Frightened”: Young demonstrators holding a banner during a protest in Yangon yesterday.
STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images
This week’s executions have reminded the world about what’s happening under the generals. It’s time for Australian policy to change
An honorary guard of Burkina Faso soldiers.
Photo by Olympia De Maismont/AFP via Getty Images
Democracy is messy. It facilitates change, but through an imperfect process of self-correction. This requires patience, engagement, and commitment.
Ernest Shonekan.
Source: British High Commission, Abuja/Flickr
Shonekan’s enduring legacy is in the business world and not the political arena where he remains a footnote in Nigeria’s history.
The Bring Back our Girls Movement in Nigeria brought to the fore the power of women in mobilising around sexual harassment.
EFE-EPA/Stringer
The focus on building democracy should be on more intermediary outcomes, which can serve as building blocks for longer term democratic renewal.
Is President Muhammadu Buhari committed to the genuine federalisation of the Nigerian polity?
Getty Images
Nigeria’s current political problems are simply too daunting to embark on an honest journey to true federalism at this stage.
Crowds gather to protest the coup in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED ABU OBAID
Sudan has needed and will require compromise and principled political goodwill to realise a difficult transition from military rule.
Jair Bolsonaro’s administration is profoundly militarised.
Salty View/Shutterstock
Plus, what the study of 700-year old garbage is revealing about who lived in Islamic Andalusia. Listen to episode 20 of The Conversation Weekly.
Every March 27, the Myanmar military celebrates its anniversary with a parade. The day of the 2021 parade, soldiers killed at least 90 pro-democracy protesters.
Xinhua/Zhang Dongqiang via Getty Images
What began in the 1940s as a revolutionary army created to liberate Myanmar from British colonial rule soon turned repressive. The country has been a military dictatorship on and off since 1962.
Nurses in Myanmar have been striking since February to protest the military coup.
STR/AFP via Getty Images
Young people in Myanmar have rallied daily since a Feb. 1 coup, demanding democracy. Now, ever more middle-class professionals are backing their cause, offering food, legal advice and moral support.
Femi Kuti performing in Mexico City in 2019.
Photo by Pedro Gonzalez Castillo/Getty Images
The truth remains that no artist through Nigeria’s postcolonial years has contributed close to what Fela did – and continues to do - for human rights and social justice.