The June 2025 selection of Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio as Ecowas chair – after Togolese efforts to block his reformist Senegalese counterpart Bassirou Diomaye Faye – was seen as a setback for the bloc's democratic agenda...

Last year's revelations of undisclosed public debt in Senegal – confirmed by the IMF this year – have largely been resolved clearing the way for an IMF mission to Dakar to negotiate a programme under President Bassirou Diomaye Faye (AC Vol 66 No 13 Pressure mounts on President Faye over political reforms and anti-corruption drive)...

Would Ouattara then retain influence – in a Togolese-style arrangement à la Faure Gnassingbé or a dual leadership model like Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko (AC Vol 65 No 7 Faye's victory shakes up the region)...

The youngish government of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye 45 and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko 50 is at a crossroads seven months after winning a super-majority in the parliament...

This diplomatic cold shower was reminiscent of Senegal's sudden demand for the closure of French military bases even as President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was lauding Macron for acknowledging that the French colonial army massacred Senegalese soldiers at Thiaroye in 1944 (AC Vol 65 No 25 Macron tilts to Anglophone Africa after Sahelian exits)...

As a top official in President Macky Sall's government he may not be assured of support by its successor under President Bassirou Diomaye Faye...

Having won power in December as an opposition challenger Mahama – like Senegal's Bassirou Diomaye Faye – is seen by the Sahel regimes as a friendlier face...