Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 12/6/2024
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East.
Last week’s links can be found here.
General
Elizabeth Beavers at Inkstick Media: “It’s Time for the US to Ditch ‘Terrorism’ Designations Altogether.”
Nancy Okail and Matthew Duss in Foreign Affairs:
Many in the developing world are watching closely as the United States moves away from the old neoliberal logic while their own economies remain trapped within its austerity mandates. It is essential to reform neoliberal institutions such as the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund to cede more influence over decision-making to the lower-income countries whose development these entities claim to support. The United States and its allies should also support a program of targeted debt relief to free populations from the crippling debt imposed by their own often corrupt, undemocratic governments and predatory multinational corporations which would help them tackle urgent climate change and public health crises.
Sahel and West Africa
Ghana holds presidential and parliamentary elections tomorrow (December 7). At The Africa Report, Kent Mensah looks at greater Accra as a swing region.
Following the November 17 legislative elections, Senegal’s National Assembly has a new president: El Malick Ndiaye of the ruling PASTEF (African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity) party. You can read a biography of him here and see his initial message here.
In northern Mali, armed groups in the Strategic Permanent Framework have created a new rebel formation, the Front for the Liberation of Azawad.
A drone strike by the Malian military killed eight northern rebels leaders in the town of Tinzaouaten, site of repeated strikes and a major battle in July; the most prominent leader killed was Fahad ag Almahmoud.
Monika Pronczuk at the Associated Press, reporting on Guinea:
Habib Marouane Kamara, the editor-in-chief of the online investigative outlet lerevelateur224.com, was headed to meet with a businessman and a friend in Conakry on Tuesday evening, his wife, Mariama Lamarana Diallo, told reporters Wednesday in the city.
Diallo said that, according to the friend who was with her husband, they were stopped by men wearing security forces uniforms in a pickup.
The policemen broke the rear windshield and took Kamara out of the vehicle by force, the friend said, an account which was corroborated to The Associated Press by a witness who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.
Aminu Abubakar for AFP: “Nigeria Tax Reform Exposes Deep North-south Divide.”
On what date should Burkina Faso celebrate its independence?
North Africa
In Tunisia, the head of the central pharmacy - in charge of distributing medicine in the country - made comments that suggest Tunisia is heading towards having to make tough choices about who gets life-saving care; these comments could also be read as an implicit criticism of now-Prime Minister Kamel Madouri.
International Crisis Group: “Managing Tensions between Algeria and Morocco.”
With the U.S. in a moment of political transition, European governments may need to take the lead in helping manage tensions between the two neighbours. They and other interested outside actors should encourage the parties to treat as sacrosanct the emerging rules of the game, encourage suppliers to calibrate their shipments to Rabat and Algiers in order to contain the risk of a destabilising arms race, help relaunch UN-led negotiations over Western Sahara, and encourage social media platforms to monitor and curtail incendiary disinformation. When conditions are ripe, the next step will be for Algeria and Morocco to restore ties – and ideally to go beyond diplomatic normalisation to promote cooperation on border security, infrastructure and trade as the basis for a more stable, productive and enduring relationship.
In Morocco, sons of several high-profile businessmen are facing accusations of rape.
Salma El Wardany and Hatem Mohareb at Bloomberg: “Libya Daily Oil Output Hits 11-Year High, Highlighting Rebound.”
Greater Horn of Africa
Ryan McNeill, Raymon Troncoso, and Maggie Michael: “How Reuters Counted the Dead in Famine-Stricken Sudan.”
Alexis Okeowo at the New York Times: “The Civil War in Ethiopia That Never Really Ended.”
Ken Opalo in Foreign Affairs, discussing what the Trump White House might bring for Africa:
Trump is likely to recognize Somaliland, possibly as part of a deal that would crowd in the interests of both Ethiopia and the UAE. Landlocked Ethiopia would benefit from accessing the sea via Somaliland’s Berbera port, while the UAE would profit as the main investor in the development of this logistical corridor and its related security infrastructure. Recognizing Somaliland would undoubtedly rattle the rump state of Somalia, further destabilize the Horn, and elicit a sharp rebuke from the African Union, which has long opposed secessionist movements.
Martin Siele at Semafor: “Kenyan Banks Fear Collapse over Proposed Law.”
Mashriq
Haid Haid at Chatham House: “Syria’s conflict was never going to stay frozen. A new push for a lasting peace is needed.”
Amnesty International’s new report: “‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza.”
Muhammad Javad Zarif in Foreign Affairs: “How Iran Sees the Path to Peace.” An excerpt:
Western policymakers must acknowledge that strategies aimed at pitting Iran and Arab countries against one another by supporting initiatives such as the so-called Abraham Accords (which normalized ties between various Arab countries and Israel) have proven ineffective in the past and will not succeed in the future. The West needs a more constructive approach—one that takes advantage of Iran’s hard-earned confidence, accepts Iran as an integral part of regional stability, and seeks collaborative solutions to shared challenges. Such shared challenges could even prompt Tehran and Washington to engage in conflict management rather than exponential escalation. All countries, Iran and the United States included, have a mutual interest in addressing the underlying causes of regional unrest.
Sirwan Kajjo at Voice of America:
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said Tuesday during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that “Iraq will not be a mere spectator regarding the grave developments in Syria,” adding that his country “will make all efforts to preserve its security and that of Syria.”
Other senior Iraqi officials have voiced support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government since it faced swift advances by rebel forces in the northwestern part of the country last week.
A Washington Post investigation: “Revenge, Fire and Destruction: A Year of Israeli Soldiers’ Videos from Gaza.”
Sam Biddle at The Intercept: “The Facebook Apostate.” An excerpt:
In conversations, it seems most galling for [former Meta employee Hannah] Byrne to compare how malleable Meta’s Dangerous Organizations policy was for Ukraine, and how draconian it has felt for those protesting the war in Gaza, or trying to document it happening around them. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Meta not only moved swiftly to allow users to cheer on the Azov Battalion, but also loosened its rules around incitement, hate speech, and gory imagery so Ukrainian civilians could share images of the suffering around them and voice their fury against it. Byrne recalls seeing a video on Facebook of a Ukrainian woman giving an invading Russian soldier seeds, telling him to keep them in his pockets so they’d flower from his corpse on the battlefield. Were it a Palestinian woman taunting to an Israeli soldier, Byrne said, “that would be taken down for terrorism so quickly.”
Ahmed Al Omran at FT: “Executions and Rehab: Saudi Arabia Dials Up Its 'War on Drugs'.”
At Le Point, Armin Arefi interviews Trump’s Middle East advisor Massad Boulos.