This year will bring a mixed bag of golden opportunities and make-or-break need for reform SAHEL IN 2026: More volatile more unpredictable more violentFor Goïta Tiani and Traoré the year offers bleak prospects of any progress in the war on jihad CÔTE D'IVOIRE IN 2026: Shrinking political kingdomsAfter winning his fourth presidential election Alassane Ouattara is under pressure to organise a succession plan GUINEA IN 2026: All eyes on SimandouOpening one of the biggest iron ore mines in the world helped General Doumbouya win the election – now people want to see the benefits SENEGAL IN 2026: The tipping pointWill President and Prime Minister agree to set aside differences and work together to meet great expectations and stop jihadists on the border...

With the presidential and legislative elections done and dusted amidst much indifference (the 28 December legislative elections attracted less than a third of eligible voters) political minds can concentrate on the two questions that will dominate political life this year and beyond: when is president Alassane Dramane Ouattara 83 going to retire and what happens when his ruling Rassemblement des houphouëtstes pour la paix et la démocratie (RHDP) disintegrates...

President Macron was like Côte d'Ivoire's Alassane Ouattara Ecowas chair Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and Tinubu in direct touch with Talon during the day...

After the Constitutional Court confirmed President Alassane Ouattara's win with 89...

From exile in Paris on 31 October he told the faithful that the times of ‘indiscipline' and ‘betrayal' are over – referring to ex-PDCI heavyweight Jean-Louis Billon who ran as an independent and who was expelled by Thiam (AC Vol 66 No 21 Repression shrouds Alassane Ouattara's election procession)...

President Alassane Ouattara looks set to cruise to a fourth term at polls on 25 October with challengers weak or banned and his ruling party flush with cash and armed with suppressive tools...

He is now seeking to apply international pressure on President Alassane Ouattara after the Constitutional Court on 9 September upheld the ruling that prevents both him and former president Laurent Gbagbo from standing in the 25 October election (Dispatches 8/9/25 Thiam faces election judgement day)...

The announcement follows Côte d'Ivoire's 83-year-old President Alassane Ouattara announcing his bid for a fourth successive term and brings relief to officials in the Economic Community of West African States seeking to restore faith in constitutional rule amid the populist pull of Sahel juntas (AC Vol 65 No 13 Patrice Talon tests strength of General Tiani's junta & Dispatches 8/9/25 Thiam faces election judgement day)...

Leadership succession and regional stability were set to dominate the informal talks between Côte d'Ivoire's President Alassane Dramane Ouattara and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris on 16 July...

The rally on the following day staged in the new Ebimpé Stadium – officially renamed after President Alassane Ouattara who often casts himself in Houphouët's image...

MAKING THE OUATTARAS GREAT AGAIN A sign that President Alassane Dramane Ouattara is planning to run for a fourth term in the October elections is his hiring of veteran Republican lobbyist Joseph Szlavik whose Washington DC-based Scribe Strategies also works for Congo-Kinshasa and South Sudan...