Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 10/18/2024
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East.
Last week’s links are here.
Sahel and West Africa
Senegal’s ex-President Macky Sall appeared on Bloomberg to dispute the conclusions of an audit conducted by his successor’s government. Jeune Afrique gives some context.
Mali’s military ruler Colonel Assimi Goita promoted himself to five-star general, and his associates to four-stars.
Reuters: “Ukraine Denies Involvement in Drone Supplies to Mali's Rebels.” The denial is in reference to this report in Le Monde.
Human Rights Watch: “Niger Counterterrorism Decree Targets Political Opponents.”
Lena Gutheil and Lisa Tschörner at Megatrends Afrika: “Working with Civil Society in Authoritarian Contexts? The Case of Niger.”
In Burkina Faso between September 4 and October 4, the government questioned 358 people accused of spying for “terrorists.”
The World Bank wants Nigeria to stay the course on economic reforms. Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed disagrees - and even sounds panicked:
When the reforms started, the sub-nationals supported the President. The macro-economic policies causing inflation should be looked into. There is hunger. People are suffering. We should not be dogmatic. Nigerians are not enjoying the reforms.
The Federal Government should come up with economic policies. The money we are receiving is not enough. What are you doing to reduce hunger? We should help the people to cope.
The purchasing power has dwindled. If these policies are not working, review them. Let us not go into blackmail.
What of power? The tariffs are too high. The people are not able to pay. We are on the brink of being lynched. These policies are not working. Let us review them.
Jonathan Ort at Africa Is a Country: “Twenty-one years after Liberia’s political elite acquiesced to ‘negative peace,’ the US now champions the fight against impunity. Except when their own companies are involved.”
North Africa
Tarek Amara at Reuters:
Tunisia will raise taxes on companies and high and middle-income employees next year, and will nearly double its domestic debts in 2025, amid its continued inability to obtain sufficient external financing.
[…]
Tunisia faces a severe financial crisis and has struggled to find funding since its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan stalled in 2022. This has led to a shortage of goods such as sugar, coffee, rice and tea.
At Algeria’s El Watan, Zhor Hadjam reports on “promising indicators” regarding potential offshore oil.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI addressed parliament on October 11, accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan and the King’s brother, Prince Moulay Rachid. His remarks focused on the Western Sahara, and he singled out French President Emmanuel Macron for special thanks, given France’s recent (July 2024) shift on the Western Sahara issue.
Another trilateral Algeria-Tunisia-Libya summit is coming up.
Greater Horn of Africa
An impeachment trial resulted in Kenyan Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s removal from office on October 17.
Alex de Waal at the World Peace Foundation: “Hunger as a Weapon: A War Strategy from Sudan to Gaza.”
The 17th month of the war between the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] and the RSF [Rapid Support Forces] marked the most significant SAF offensive in the capital, Khartoum, following months of training new troops across its controlled territories. For the first time, RSF troops found themselves in a defensive posture across the Khartoum tri-cities and were caught off guard by the scale of the SAF operations. As a result, the RSF faced disarray and territorial losses, particularly in the western parts of Khartoum city and northern Bahri, where the SAF successfully broke the siege on the Weapons Corps in Kadaro and linked it with its forces in northern Omdurman.
Since the outbreak of armed conflict in Sudan in April 2023, tens of thousands of Sudanese and other nationals have sought refuge in Ethiopia. Many initially went to two refugee camps in the Amhara region, where local gunmen and militias carried out killings, beatings, looting, abductions for ransom, and forced labor. In July 2024, Ethiopian and United Nations refugee authorities relocated thousands of refugees to a new camp in Amhara. Since early September, Fano, an Amhara armed group, has clashed with federal forces near refugee sites, and occupied some sites, putting refugees at further risk of attack.
From the Norwegian Refugee Council and several other organizations, on Somalia:
More than 4 million displaced Somalis are living in over 2,400 spontaneous informal sites and settlements that are self-settled locations with limited or no access to services and humanitarian assistance and inadequate shelters. Insecure accommodation arrangements trigger constant eviction threats or actual evictions, land grabbing and other housing, land, and property (HLP) related issues, leading to complex protection needs. Diverse risk groups live in these sites, including high number of women, children, the elderly, disabled people and persons with specific needs, whose living situation in the sites and settlements heightens exposure to various protection risks, including gender-based violence.
Mashriq
The Israeli military killed Hamas leader and October 7 head planner Yahya Sinwar.
Al-Azhar, the most prominent Sunni Islamic university and religious body, mourned “the hero martyrs of the Palestinian resistance” on Twitter. Here is some context from Al Jazeera.
Tamara Saade at The New Humanitarian: “Under Israeli Bombs, Civil Society Fills the Void Left by the Lebanese State.”
Devra Baxter at the Friends Committee on National Legislation:
As President Biden contemplates his last few months in office, he should seize the opportunity to help bring an end to forever war by issuing a “Presidential proclamation,” formally ending both the Iraq War and the authority of the 2002 Iraq AUMF [Authorization for the Use of Military Force]. Supreme Court precedent holds that such a proclamation is a valid means to terminate a state of war. Issuing such a proclamation would formally close this terrible chapter, remove an outdated war authorization that remains open to abuse, and serve as an important step to cement President Biden’s legacy as a president who took meaningful steps to end forever war.
Tamer Badawi at Amwaj: “The Divergent Paths to Baghdad of the Palestinian ‘Resistance’.”
Ali Thamer at Carnegie’s Sada on “Iraq’s Displacement Crisis.”
Financial Times: “Saudi Arabia Tightens Its Belt.”