Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 2/28/2025

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

Guinean ex-Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana has received a five-year prison sentence over corruption and money laundering charges.

Jeune Afrique’s Thaïs Brouck interviews Senegal’s ex-President Macky Sall, who is bristling at unfolding allegations that there was serious corruption during his second term.

Mauritanian opposition parties met in an effort to increase coordination.

Sam Metz for AP: “An Encroaching Desert Threatens to Swallow Mauritania’s Homes and History.”

Mali’s outspoken Imam Mahmoud Dicko was expected to return home from exile on February 14 - he didn’t, but some of his supporters who turned out to welcome him have been arrested.

Also in Mali, taxes for ordinary citizens have gone up - but so have the budgets for the presidency and the transitional legislature.

Mali-Algeria relations are bad, but Niger-Algeria relations appear to be fairly cordial.

Agnès Faivre for Libération: “In Eastern Burkina Faso, ‘JNIM Is at Home’.”

Philip Teye Agbove for New Lines Magazine: “The Land Disputes Facing African Americans in Ghana.”

Omeiza Ajayi for Nigeria’s Vanguard: “Many top leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, were absent at the long-awaited National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting, yesterday [February 26], as President Bola Tinubu appealed to aggrieved elements in the party, urged them to be calm, and promised not to let them down.”

North Africa

David Bamford and Natasha Booty at the BBC: “King Mohammed VI has asked Moroccans to abstain from performing the Muslim rite of slaughtering sheep during Eid al-Adha this year due to a sharp drop in the country's herd.”

In Jeune Afrique, Jassim Ahdani reports that rivalry is increasing between the three main parties of the ruling coalition as the 2026 legislative elections approach.

Libya’s Khalifa Haftar visited Paris on February 26.

Richard Braude in Jacobin on how scandals connected to Libya and spying are shaking the government of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

In Tunisia, eight death sentences for individuals convicted of participating in the 2013 assassination of parliamentary deputy Mohamed Brahmi.

Greater Horn of Africa

Reuters: “Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Thursday to hold discussions with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somalia's presidency said, following a thaw in icy relations.”

Harun Maruf for VOA: “The federal government of Somalia and the African Union have agreed on the number of troop-contributing countries for a new AU mission following weeks of differences between Ethiopia and Somalia, and later on between Somalia and Burundi over the number of troops coming from each country.”

Sky News had a special program on Sudan featuring the reporting of Yusra Elbagir.

Barbara Plett Usher and Anne Soy at the BBC:

The freezing of US humanitarian assistance has forced the closure of almost 80% of the emergency food kitchens set up to help people left destitute by Sudan's civil war, the BBC has learned.

Aid volunteers said the impact of President Donald Trump's executive order halting contributions from the US government's development organisation (USAID) for 90 days meant more than 1,100 communal kitchens had shut.

It is estimated that nearly two million people struggling to survive have been affected.

Al Jazeera English: “‘Head to Head’ interview with Kimani Ichung’wah, the Majority leader of the Kenyan National Assembly.”

AFP: “Ruto Critic Launches New Kenyan Party Ahead Of 2027 Poll.”

Bilal Malaeb et al. for the World Bank: “Understanding the Status of Women and Girls in Djibouti through Gender Data.”

Mashriq

Robert Badendieck and Suzan Fraser for AP: “Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned Kurdish leader, called on his militant group on Thursday to lay down its arms and dissolve as part of a new bid to end a four-decade long conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.” The Syrian Democratic Forces do not necessarily see the call as applying to them, however.

Al Jazeera: “Ramadan in Gaza after More Than a Year of War.”

At Diwan, Issam Kayssi considers whether new Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s book will translate into a workable political program:

If the book is any indication, and if Salam finds himself in power long enough, his tenure will likely focus on strengthening the state at the expense of sectarian power structures, ensuring judicial independence, and advancing decentralization. Yet now that he’s prime minister, Salam faces the challenge of translating his ideas into policy. His approach to forming a government suggests a quiet but firm commitment to the principles outlined in Lebanon Between Past and Future. His selection of ministers and the speed with which he assembled his cabinet indicate a preference for decisiveness over protracted political bargaining. Interestingly, one of his reform proposals is an amendment requiring a prime minister-designate to present a cabinet lineup within 30 days of his or her appointment, or be considered resigned. In a demonstration of his commitment to this principle, Salam proposed a cabinet within 26 days of his appointment (30 days after Aoun’s election).

Rahaf Aldoughli at New Lines Magazine on Syria’s armed groups:

Despite the official dissolution of armed factions and the Ministry of Defense’s recent appointments, one core issue remains largely unaddressed: the micro-level motivations that drive individual fighters. Recent findings from field research and interviews with SNA commanders reveal a persistent disconnect between the ministry’s top-down approach and the lived realities of fighters on the ground.

Over the past week, new insights have emerged from extensive interviews with central commanders, revealing a more complex and evolving picture of military integration under al-Sharaa’s leadership. While initial assessments underscored the fragility of this integration, recent developments suggest that the process is progressing, albeit with ongoing challenges.

Reuters: “Iraq and oil major BP have signed a deal to redevelop four Kirkuk oil and gas fields, BP said on Tuesday, a breakthrough for Iraq, where output has been constrained by years of war, corruption and sectarian tensions.” BP’s press release is here.

An upcoming hybrid event on March 6 at LSE’s Middle East Centre: “Iraq's Economy between the US and Iran: Perceptions and Realities.”

At Amwaj, three analysts debate the following: “Is the Iran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ as we know it, coming to an end? If yes, what does this mean for the wider ‘resistance’ project in the region?”

Related - at Carnegie, Ibrahim Jalal has a new paper titled “Leverage Beyond Yemen: Ansar Allah and Its Iraqi Alliances.”

Middle East Eye: “Iranian Press Review: Sharp Rise in Death Penalty Use Sees Almost 1,000 Executed.”

At OrientXXI, Eva Thiébaud analyzes the links between the United Arab Emirates and far-right parties in Europe, including in France and Hungary.

Mohammed Sergie for Semafor: “The $2 Trillion Secret Gathering in Doha.”