Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 12/27/2024
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East.
You can find last week’s links here.
Sahel and West Africa
On December 27 (today), Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko made his long-awaited “declaration of general policy” to the National Assembly.
A Senegalese minister, Cheikh Oumar Diagne, referred to Senegalese soldiers who fought in the World Wars as “traitors” - and the administration of President Diomaye Faye is distancing itself from his remarks.
Wagner Group personnel arrested some Mauritanian citizens near the Mauritania-Mali border, adding to months if not years of tensions - and disinformation makes things tenser.
Videos and images from Ras el Ma, northern Mali, one of many villages attacked and burned by Wagner and the Malian Armed Forces.
Elian Peltier at the New York Times, reporting on Niger: “After Military Took Power, Terrorist Attacks Only Got Worse.” Peltier seems to attribute the rise in attacks to the junta's decision to quash the dialogues that occurred under President Mohamed Bazoum (in power 2021-2023); I find that a better explanation, or major chunk of an explanation, than the vague talk of a “security vacuum left by the French” that one so often hears analysts invoke.
NPR’s Emmanuel Akinwotu evokes Nigeria’s economic pains and puts recent stampedes into context:
Well, for many people in the country, it's been just a brutal year. The central bank puts inflation at 34%. You know, the cost of food, energy, just basic necessities have become so expensive. And then, in the last few weeks, there have been this series of shocking events that have really crystallized the struggles people are facing. Local police say about 60 people have died in three stampedes at different charity events around the country, where people were giving out food and cash donations. One of those events was for children in Ibadan. It's a city just outside Lagos. And thousands of people arrived there with their kids, many of them arriving a day before the event even started. But then this charity event just became a tragedy. About 35 children died.
Alexander Onukwue at Semafor: “Nigeria’s Tinubu Unveils “Ambitious” Budget.”
North Africa
On December 24, Morocco’s Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi laid out the revisions contained in a proposed new version of the country’s family code. Libération’s Léa Masseguin reports on how women’s rights activists in the country are viewing the reforms, which do not go as far as many of those activists had hoped.
At Orient XXI, Omar Brouksy writes about the anti-colonial rebel Hammou Zayani, who dealt French forces a major defeat in Morocco in 1914.
A major Mauritanian Sufi shaykh visited Algeria.
How the weakening of the Euro vis-a-vis the Algerian dinar is affecting business and planning.
Nawaat’s Malik al-Zaghdudi on “women of the mountains and the forests” in the poorest parts of Tunisia.
Simon Cordall for Al Jazeera: “‘More Bullets’: Analysts Mull Whether Russia Will Move to Libya after Syria.”
Libya’s Al-Wasat, reflecting on 2024 in domestic politics, sees mostly stagnation but views this year’s local elections as one bright spot.
Greater Horn of Africa
500 Words Magazine: “Sudan: A ‘Two-Currency Country’?”
Hammer & Hope has published part two of a multi-authored collection of interviews with activists titled “The Ongoing Fight for Freedom, Peace, and Justice in Sudan.” Here is one interviewee:
The war that began on April 15, 2023, has shown that its sole goal is to permanently suppress the December Revolution. The Sudanese people and their revolutionary resistance forces demonstrated their resolve not to allow this to happen, however, proving that the December Revolution continues and will be victorious. Yet the reality is that this cursed war has significantly hindered the realization of the Revolutionary Charter for Establishing People’s Power and forced the resistance committees to fulfill their humanitarian duty toward the people who have suffered and continue to suffer greatly from the violations committed by both sides of the war. Our members are occupied with relief and mutual aid work through the establishment of local emergency rooms, which assist citizens in war zones and areas of displacement. Despite safety concerns during wartime, the resistance committees have still managed to put forward a separate document articulating their view on ending the war called “The Political Vision to End the War,” which was issued on Oct. 10, 2023.
Karin Strohecker for Reuters: “Exclusive: World Bank Staff Question Ethiopia Debt Assessment Reached with IMF, Memo Shows.”
Harun Maruf at Voice of America:
Militant group al-Shabab said one of its top commanders, Mohamed Mire, was killed in a drone strike near Kunyo Barrow in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle Region.
[…]
The United States military command in Africa, AFRICOM, late on Thursday confirmed conducting a Dec. 24 airstrike against al-Shabab, killing two militants some 10 kilometers southwest of Kunyo Barrow.
Eritrea‘s President Isaias Afwerki hosted Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on December 25.
Reuters: “Egypt Troops to Join African Union Somalia Mission.”
The Kenya National Commission in Human Rights has expressed alarm over the rising number of government critics being abducted.
The commission said since anti-government protests in June, "unidentified armed individuals" have kidnapped at least 82 people, with 29 still missing.
On Wednesday, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) announced an investigation into the latest disappearances of social media users who are critical of President William Ruto's government.
Mashriq
Many Syrian armed groups agreed to place themselves under the authority of the Ministry of Defense.
Who is Anas Khattab, the new head of Syrian intelligence?
AFP: “No Longer Assad's Mouthpiece, Syrian Media Face Uncertainty.”
Kristin Smith Diwan at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington:
The UAE has seen its leading position with the Assad-led Syrian government overturned by the shocking success of former jihadists for which it does not hide its concern. While its official statements have been measured, its concern was clear in the calculated public comments of the diplomatic advisor to the president, Anwar Gargash: “The nature of the new forces, the affiliation with the (Muslim) Brotherhood, the affiliation with Al-Qaeda, I think these are all indicators that are quite worrying.”
[…]
Saudi Arabia’s stance is more ambivalent. Unlike the UAE, it did not respond to Assad’s appeal to voice support as his position faltered before the rebel advance. While it had also reestablished ties with the Assad government, it had done so more reluctantly, taking such action in 2023, more than four years after the Emiratis and Bahrainis. Its caution may have to do with the kingdom’s vulnerability; Saudi Arabia has more at stake in Syria’s future…It is difficult to say where the Saudi public stands now, but it is notable that the country’s public reporting expressed a degree of enthusiasm over Assad’s defeat at the hand of the revolutionaries, and important analysts have expressed the importance of Saudi and Gulf support for the new government.
Owen Jones at Drop Site News: “The BBC's Civil War Over Gaza.”
Kayra Sener and Ragip Soylu for Middle East Eye: “‘Condemned to Hunger’: Turkey's Below-Inflation Minimum Wage Rise Sparks Anger.”
Bloomberg’s Ben Bartenstein: “Iran Oil Tycoon ‘Hector’ Plays Key Role in Arms Sales to Russia.”
UN News: “Yemen Bears World’s Highest Cholera Burden, Deepening Humanitarian Crisis.”
Hesham Alghannam for Carnegie: “Influence Abroad: Saudi Arabia Replaces Salafism in its Soft Power Outreach.”