Vol 67 No 8 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGERRUSSIAAFRICA Propaganda swamps social media but Moscow fails to sway the juntas 16th April 2026 Leaked memos reveal millions spent on pro-Russian online stories, but the documents’ claims to be directing policies in friendly states don’t check out A cache of 75 secret Russian memos about the Kremlin’s propaganda offensive in Africa by the Wagner Group and its successor organisation, ‘The Company’, has exposed a vast... READ FOR FREE
Vol 67 No 5 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGERUNITED STATES Washington courts the juntas 6th March 2026 A year after breaking with Ecowas, the military regimes face more jihadist assaults but are getting some unlikely help from the US For the juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the first anniversary of their breakaway from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) was marked by an...
Vol 67 No 5 | NIGER Niger backs down over Orano uranium stock 6th March 2026 General Abdourahamane Tiani, Niger’s military ruler, is reluctantly climbing down from the junta’s bitter dispute with the French nuclear group Orano, even as he launched a fresh barrage...
Vol 67 No 3 | NIGERRUSSIAFRANCE Attack on Niamey airbase sounds alarms on uranium security 4th February 2026 A 1,000 tonne stockpile of yellowcake is the latest flashpoint in General Tiani’s pivot from Paris to Moscow Concerns are growing for the security of a consignment of about 1,000 tonnes of uranium held at the Niger government’s military Air Base 101 next to the Diori...
Vol 66 No 18 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGERRUSSIA Putin’s gambit in the Sahel as France leaves the stage 3rd September 2025 Moscow courts the three juntas with anti-western rhetoric and promises of gold refineries and nuclear power but is struggling to counter insurgents On 14 August, the defence ministers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – Generals Sadio Camara, Célestin Simporé and Salifou Modi – were in Moscow for talks with...
Vol 66 No 17 | NIGERSAHEL General Tiani tightens grip as regional rumblings grow louder 12th August 2025 After failing to repel determined jihadist attacks, the Sahel juntas crack down on internal dissent The latest round of arrests in Mali, amid reports of a planned putsch on 10 August, looks unlikely to change the centralisation of power in Bamako or in...
Vol 66 No 14 | NIGER Putschist faces his own mutiny 11th July 2025 Nigériens are two weeks away from the second anniversary of the putsch that deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, breaking military partnerships with France, the United States and the European...
Vol 66 No 9 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGER The juntas join the gold rush 2nd May 2025 On 23 April, Niger advanced its mineral development by partnering with Emirati firm Suvarna Royal Gold Trading LLC. The deal, formalised in Niamey, establishes Royal Gold Niger SA,...
Vol 66 No 6 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGER Security tops the Ecowas agenda 21st March 2025 Above all, civilian governments in the regional bloc want cooperation with the military leaders against jihadist insurgents Through his visits to the military rulers of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in the week ending 14 March, Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama may have helped thaw...
Vol 66 No 3 | BURKINA FASOMALINIGERRUSSIA Sahel-exit tests western miners and Russia’s military muscle 29th January 2025 Everybody is losing as the Sahelian juntas break with the Ecowas bloc – except for the jihadi militias The crowds in Bamako, Ouagadougou and Niamey celebrating their countries’ break with the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) on 29 January belie the...