Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 5/16/2025
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East
Last week’s links are here.
Sahel and West Africa
Environmental Justice Foundation: “‘The Sea was Sold’: Fisheries crisis in Senegal drives forced migration to Europe.” (Via AP)
Thomas Naadi and Wycliffe Muia at the BBC: “Gambia Probes Sale of Ex-Leader's Luxury Cars, Cows and Boats.”
In Mali, mass arrests in Diafarabé, Mopti Region are evoking protests.
The jihadist group Jama‘at Nusrat al-Islam wa-l-Muslimin once again attacked the major town of Djibo in northern Burkina Faso this week, this time claiming to have killed over 200 soldiers.
Laura Berlingozzi and Marta Cavallaro in The New Humanitarian: “Can Dialogue with Jihadist Groups Bring Peace to the Sahel?”
Tidjane Thiam remains at the head of the Democratic Party of Cote d’Ivoire, even as his candidacy for the October presidential elections remains blocked.
Will the U.S. military put a drone base in Cote d’Ivoire?
Bloomberg: “Ghana’s Mahama Fine Tuning Measures to Quicken Crude Extraction.”
The World Bank: “Nigeria Development Update : Building Momentum for Inclusive Growth.”
Tife Owolabi for Reuters: “Nigeria's Trans Niger Oil Pipeline Bursts, Spills Crude, Rights Group Says.”
Dyepkazah Shibayan for the Associated Press: “Nigeria Has a Food Security Problem As Water for Crops Is Harder to Find.”
North Africa
Ahmed Eljechtimi for Reuters: “French Development Agency to Invest in Morocco-Ruled Western Sahara.”
Jyhene Kebsi at Africa Is a Country: “Rewriting the Rules of Tunisian Rap.”
Tunisia’s economy is growing - but slowly.
Towards greater Algerian-Tunisian cooperation on giving official fatwas?
Lorenzo Tondo for The Guardian:
Abdel Ghani al-Kikli, better known as Gheniwa, the commander of Stability Support Apparatus SSA, one of Tripoli’s powerful armed groups, based in the densely populated Abu Salim neighbourhood, was killed on Monday night at the headquarters of the 444th Combat Brigade of the Libyan army, a source in one of the country’s security forces told Al Wasat television.
Kikli, one of the capital’s most influential militia leaders, had recently been involved in disputes with rival armed groups, including factions linked to the city of Misrata. His SSA is under the Presidential Council that came to power in 2021 with the government of national unity (GNU) of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah through a UN-backed process.
Greater Horn of Africa
Ragip Soylu and Oscar Rickett for Middle East Eye: “Sudan's Shadow War: Drone Strikes Reveal Escalating Tensions between UAE and Turkey.”
In Ethiopia, the National Electoral Board “has revoked the legal status of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front,” a move the TPLF says threatens the peace process.
Augustine Passilly in AfriqueXXI: “Ethiopia: In Tigray, No One Wants to Take Up the War Again.”
Martin Siele at Semafor: “Kenya’s Government Tries to Control the Narrative on Finance Bill to Avoid Fresh Protests.”
Geeska’s Faisal Ali interviews Balqiis Insights’ Samira Gaid on the security situation in Somalia.
Mashriq
Nour ElAssy for The New Humanitarian: “We Are the Last Eyes Left Inside Gaza.”
International Crisis Group: “Israel’s plan to conquer Gaza and impose a new aid scheme threatens to prolong the war and weaponise the starving population’s most vital needs. Gulf Arab states have a chance to press the U.S. to put an end to the Israeli government’s endless escalations.”
Yezid Sayigh at the Carnegie Endowment: “The Second Republic: Remaking Egypt Under Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.”
Julien Barnes-Dacey, Ellie Geranmayeh, and Hugh Lovatt at the European Council on Foreign Relations: “Pieces in Motion: Rebalancing Power in a New Levantine Order.”
Al Jazeera: “Iraq has released more than 19,000 prisoners under a sweeping amnesty law designed to relieve pressure on its overcrowded prison system, including inmates convicted of being members of ISIL (ISIS).”
Mai El-Sadany at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy: “What Trump’s Riyadh Speech Tells Us About US Foreign Policy.”
The FT: “Benjamin Netanyahu Downgraded to Spectator on Donald Trump’s Middle East Tour.”