Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 7/4/2025
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East
Last week’s links can be found here.
Sahel and West Africa
The Sahelian jihadist group Jama‘at Nusrat al-Islam wa-l-Muslimin (the Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims, JNIM) attacked seven localities in southwestern and central Mali on July 1: Kayes, Nioro du Sahel, Niono, Diboli, Molodo, Sandaré, and Gogui, targeting the Malian military.
Eva Magdalena Stambøl, Almamy Sylla, and Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde in Geopolitics: “Anticolonial Imaginaries in Mali: The Longue Durée of Sovereignty, Security, and Geopolitics.”
How much does Senegal owe? And who gets to decide?
Hassan Ould Moctar (recently interviewed here at this newsletter) in The Republic, writing on Mauritania’s president: “Ghazouani at the Helm.”
Kechi Nne Nomu in New York Magazine: “The Black Americans Gentrifying Ghana.”
Chiamaka Enendu for the BBC: “Nigeria's Major Tax Overhaul Explained.”
Chinazi Samuel at DW: “What Chance Does Nigeria's New Opposition Coalition Have?”
According to the opposition, the new All Democratic Alliance (ADA) coalition would eventually transform into a political party to oust the government of President Bola Tinubu from office in the 2027 general election in Nigeria.
Proponents of the coalition say they are uniting in response to what they describe as the country's worsening economic conditions under the Tinubu administration. Nigeria's opposition is reeling from defections of top leaders and politicians to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Some of the key figures in the coalition include Nigeria's former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, and Labour Party's Peter Obi, who stressed he is only interested in coalitions that end Nigerians' sufferings.
From the BBC’s Mansur Abubakar:
One of Nigeria's wealthiest businessmen, Aminu Dantata, is set to be buried in Saudi Arabia after he died on Saturday in the United Arab Emirates.
Business mogul Dantata, 94, an uncle of Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, leaves three wives, 21 children and 121 grandchildren.
His body was set to be transferred from Abu Dhabi, where he died, to the holy city of Medina after Saudi authorities approved his burial in their country.
The Dantata family is worth reading about in depth. Here’s a brief overview of their history across four generations.
Maxwell Akalaare Adombila at Reuters: “Exclusive: France's Orano Says Its Niger Uranium Mine on Verge of Bankruptcy.”
North Africa
Sam Metz for the Associated Press: “Morocco Bets on Video Game Industry to Provide Jobs and Diversify Economy.”
Algiers’ Court of Appeals upheld a five-year prison sentence for French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, whose case has contributed to a new round of severe tensions between France and Algeria.
At Jeune Afrique, Arezki Said covers the five-year prison sentence for Algerian academic Mohamed Belghit, who made dismissive remarks about Amazigh language and culture. More at AFP.
At Le Monde, Julia Pascual and Samuel Gratacap on the difficulties facing migrants - and their lawyers - in Tunisia.
Young Tunisian doctors did a walkout on July 1 as negotiations stall with Health Minister.
Anthony di Paola at Bloomberg: “Chevron, Total Vying in Libya’s First Oil Tender Since 2011 War.”
Greater Horn of Africa
Sean Mathews and Oscar Rickett at Middle East Eye: “Egypt Hosts Secret Talks between Sudan's Burhan and Libya's Haftar in Bid to Mend Ties, Sources Say.”
Eisa Dafallah at The New Humanitarian: “How the RSF Attack on Sudan’s Biggest Displacement Camp Tore My Family Apart.”
Eiad Husham at Geeska: “How Two Darfuri Men Escaped the RSF’s War on Civilians.”
Farouk Chothia at the BBC: “Ethiopia Has Finished Building Mega-Dam on Nile, PM Says.”
Reuters: “Ethiopia Says It Formalises Debt Rework with Official Creditors.”
The Economist: “Kenya’s President Is Bad News for Kenya and Africa.”
All [Kenyan President William] Ruto needs to win in 2027 is to successfully extinguish Kenyans’ hopes of structural change on both the economic and political fronts. With regard to the economy, you see this strategy in his tight embrace of informality, a handouts culture, official tolerance of organized criminality (Kenya’s smuggling and money laundering industries are humming), and the idea that development happens at the discretion of the president. Extinguishing hopes of rapid economic mobility will help lower expectations, which in turn will allow Ruto to run on the reality of a slowly improving economic environment. He’ll have overseen annual growth rates of about 5%, avoided default, facilitated the creation of lots of informal sector jobs (not to mention his “labor export” policy), and helped lower inflation. These stats are real, and should not be dismissed by Ruto’s detractors. While the Kenyan economy isn’t where it should be, it’s also not going to hell in a hand basket. And that’s something that Ruto should be able to exploit to his advantage in 2027.
Somalia’s opposition leaders met on Thursday for the second time in weeks with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, aiming to resolve key political disputes, particularly over the upcoming elections.
The meeting follows a gathering held just a day earlier, where opposition figures, led by former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, convened in the capital, Mogadishu, to align on issues they planned to present to the president.
Mashriq
Alaa Al-Qaisi at The Avery Review: “In Fragments, in Fire: Four Books from Gaza.”
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur, has a new report: “From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide.” From p. 8:
The military-industrial complex has become the economic backbone of the State. Between 2020 and 2024, Israel was the eighth largest arms exporter worldwide. The two most prominent Israeli weapons companies – Elbit Systems, established as a public-private partnership and later privatized, and State-owned Israel Aerospace Industries – are among the top 50 arms manufacturers globally. Since 2023, Elbit Systems has cooperated closely on Israeli military operations, embedding key staff in the Ministry of Defense, and was awarded the 2024 Israeli Defense Prize. Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries provide a critical domestic supply of weaponry, and reinforce Israeli military alliances through arms exports and joint development of military technology.
Dikla Taylor-Sheinman at 972 Magazine: “ ‘It Comes with the Territory’: How Israel’s Archaeologists Legitimize Annexation.”
Javad Heiran-Nia and Hessam Habibi Doroh at Stimson: “Why Israeli Attacks Brought Fear But Not Regime Change to Iran.”
Nicole Grajewski at Carnegie’s Diwan:
One of the most apparent convergences in Iran’s postwar discourse has been the cross-factional consensus around national cohesion as a fundamental pillar of security. This represents a dramatic departure from Iran’s traditional emphasis on military deterrence as the primary guarantor of regime survival. Voices across the political spectrum—from hardline conservatives to reform-oriented pragmatists—acknowledge that the regime’s survival depends not merely on its capacity to inflict costs on adversaries, but on its ability to maintain domestic legitimacy, national unity, and economic stability under pressure.
Nadine Méouchy at OrientXXI on the historical background to the “minorities question” in Syria.
Joseph Daher for the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy: “Economy at a Crossroads: The Social Protection Challenge in Syria.”
Most of the population, whether employed by the state or the private sector, cannot cover their monthly needs with their salaries. According to estimates made by the newspaper Kassioun at the end of June 2025, the minimum cost of living for a five-member Syrian family living in Damascus reached approximately SYP 9 million (around $818).
The Syrian population not only needs jobs, but jobs that pay enough to allow individuals to live in dignity and cover their daily needs. In this framework, the cuts in subsidies and rise in the prices of essential products will only worsen the situation and cancel out the effects of a salary increase. Similarly, the cuts or cessation of subsidies of oil products, including fuel, diesel and gasoline, will also negatively impact the economy as a whole, as well as the population. The suspension of subsidized fuel in December 2024 for example increased production costs for farmers and restricted planting for the 2025 wheat harvest.
Omar al-Nidawi at Amwaj: “Iraq’s Democracy at Crossroads as Parliamentary Polls Near.”
Giorgio Cafiero at the Arab Center: “Pragmatism Shapes Iraq’s Position Toward Post-Assad Syria.”
Qassim Abdul-Zahra for the Associated Press: “Iraq's Top Court to Resume Work after President Retires amid Controversy.”
Naser Alsayed and John Calabrese at the Middle East Institute: “The Gulf’s Water Crisis: Why Cooperation Is Crucial - and Complicated.”
Reporters Without Borders: “Yemen: Journalist Arrests Spike across the Country.”