Sawahil

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September 2025

The Passing of Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti
Why is the previous Grand Mufti 'Abd al-'Aziz Bin Baz, who died in 1999, still so much more famous than the Grand Mufti who died last week?
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Alex Thurston
Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 9/26/2025
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East
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Alex Thurston
Cote d'Ivoire's October 25 Presidential Election: Background and Candidates
A narrow field, with major challengers excluded, favors incumbent President Alassane Ouattara's bid for a fourth term.
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Alex Thurston
Donald Trump and Racist Tropes about Somalia
“Somalia” appears more in the U.S. as a symbol of chaos than it does as an actual place that one could study or think about in a deep way.
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Alex Thurston
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Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 9/19/2025
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East
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Alex Thurston
Seven Questions on Labor and Economic Reform in Ethiopia for Samuel Andreas Admasie
"Ethiopian working people’s incomes are simply so low that they cannot be pilfered very much further."
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Alex Thurston
Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 9/12/2025
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East
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Alex Thurston
On Civil Society and "Imams Crowding into the Public Square"
A recent thread and an article from 2011 occasion reflection on religion and politics in the Sahel.
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Alex Thurston
Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 9/5/2025
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East
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Alex Thurston
JNIM and Farabougou - Déjà vu in Mali, But Worse
Abandoned bases, violence in the center and the southwest, and a murky purge in Bamako are all bad signs for the ruling junta.
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Alex Thurston

August 2025

© 2025 Alex Thurston
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