Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 4/18/2025
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East
Last week’s links can be found here.
General
Jesse Chase-Lubitz at Devex: “In 2024, Global Aid Fell for the First Time in Five Years.”
Ken Opalo at An Africanist Perspective: “America’s Tariff Wars Present No Upside Opportunities for African Economies.”
Sahel and West Africa
The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about press freedom and arrests of journalists and content creators in Senegal.
Mauritanian Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug visited Bamako on April 11 to meet Malian President Assimi Goïta. Migration control - a source of tension amid Mauritania’s expulsions of Malians and Senegalese - topped the agenda.
DW’s Mahamadou Kane on how Malian parties are banding together for survival.
Amnesty International is concerned about labor rights in Cote d’Ivoire.
Yinka Adegoke at Semafor: “Ghana’s Gold Regulator Orders Foreign Players to Leave Market.”
Thomas Naadi for the BBC:
A notorious bandit kingpin and 100 of his suspected followers have been killed in a joint military operation in north-west Nigeria, authorities say.
Gwaska Dankarami was said to have been a high-value target who reportedly served as second-in-command to an Islamic State-linked leader.
The alleged gang leader had been hiding in the Munumu Forest, with authorities reporting that several other criminal hideouts were also destroyed across the state on Friday [April 11].
On Chatham House’s Independent Thinking podcast, Leena Koni Hoffmann discusses corruption in Nigeria.
Davide Lemmi and Marco Simoncelli in New Lines Magazine: “The Grassroots Resistance to Boko Haram.”
Nalova Akua at Africa Is a Country: “Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure - raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.”
North Africa
Morocco’s Party for Justice and Development, a former ruling party that one might call “Islamist lite,” is preparing for the 2026 legislative elections - but in weakened condition.
Jeune Afrique’s Aly Asmane Ascofaré on how students from sub-Saharan Africa are becoming “collateral victims” of tensions between Algiers and Bamako.
According to Tunisian authorities, there are no more “terrorist” enclaves in the country.
Tarek Amara for Reuters: “Exclusive: Tunisian Banks Halt Long-Term Loans after New Law Threatens Profits, Sources Say.”
Vibhu Mishra at UN News: “Libya’s Fragile Transition Plagued by Deepening Economic and Political Divides.”
Greater Horn of Africa
Hundreds of civilians were killed or injured in attacks carried out by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, between Thursday and Sunday.
The assaults on the Zamzam and Abu Shok camps, which also resulted in the deaths of nine aid workers, have ignited widespread international condemnation and renewed calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the country's ongoing conflict.
Médecins Sans Frontières: “Compounding Crises after Two Years of War in Sudan Leave Millions More in Need Than Ever.”
Muhammad Taha al-Bashir for Al Jazeera: “Khartoum…The One Who Has Seen Is Not Like the One Who Has Heard.”
Ali Mahmoud Ali, Jalale Getachew Birru, and Nohad Eltayeb at ACLED: “Two Years of War in Sudan: How the SAF Is Gaining the Upper Hand.”
Fred Harter in the Guardian: “Ink, Angels and Hard Graft: The Artists Keeping Ethiopia’s Ancient Illuminated Manuscript Craft Alive.”
Evelyne Musambi for the AP: “Funeral Held in Kenya for TikTok Content Moderator Following Death in Unclear Circumstances.”
The Economist: “A New Smash and Grab for Red Sea Ports.”
Mashriq
Meron Rapoport for +972 Magazine: “The Israeli Army Is Facing Its Biggest Refusal Crisis in Decades.”
Rosa Rahimi and Ghada Abdulfattah at The New Humanitarian: “‘Cash Became a Commodity’: The Liquidity Crisis Compounding Suffering in Gaza.”
Timour Azhari, Suleiman Al-Khalidi, and Pesha Magid for Reuters: “Exclusive: Saudi Arabia Plans to Pay off Syria's World Bank Debts, Sources Say.”
In Yemen, “one of the deadliest attacks on the country by US forces”…and Washington sanctions the International Bank of Yemen.
At the Guardian, Susan Schulman has a photo essay about how extreme weather is affecting Iraqis.
Iraq carved out Halabja from Sulaymaniyah to create a new governorate.
Mohammed Sergie for Semafor: “Qatar Joins Gulf Peers in Backing Egypt with Potential $7.5B Investment.”
Laura Gardner Cuesta at Bloomberg: “Saudi Coffee Chain Seeks Bankers to Pursue Possible IPO.”