Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 8/15/2025
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
In Senegal, this year’s Magal - a spiritual journey to Touba, home to the Mouridiyya Sufi order - drew more than 6.5 million attendees.
In Mauritania, the Islamist party Tewassoul accuses the authorities of conducting a dangerous and anti-democratic crackdown on dissent and opposition.
Tense times in Mali this month - mass arrests within the armed forces, two former prime ministers detained, and rumors galore about tensions within the ruling junta.
France24 on the key dates in Cote d’Ivoire on the road to elections on 25 October.
Mimi Mefo Newuh and George Okachi at DW: “Is Accountability in Ghana Reserved for the Opposition?”
Dyepkazah Shibayan for the Associated Press: “US Approves Potential $346 Million Weapons Sale to Nigeria to Bolster Security.”
Chris Ewokor at the BBC: “Scores of Bandits Killed in Air and Ground raids, Nigerian Military Says.” That’s in the northeast. And in the northwest (Reuters): “Nigeria's military has killed 592 armed militia members in the northeastern sate of Borno in the past eight months, after stepping up air strikes in a region hit by years of violence, the air force said.”
After Niger’s Justice Ministry moved to dissolve certain unions in the justice sector, the Order of Lawyers of Niger is striking August 14-15.
The guilty verdict and 20-year sentence imposed on August 9, 2025, on Succès Masra, leader of Chad’s main opposition party, is the culmination of a trial based on politically motivated charges, Human Rights Watch said today.
Masra, the former prime minister, is an ardent critic of President Mahamat Idriss Déby. The criminal court in Ndjamena found Masra guilty of spreading racist and xenophobic messages and of complicity in murder tied to intercommunity conflict.
North Africa
Fighting fire in northern Morocco.
Vanessa Szakal at Nawaat:
Tunisia’s recent trajectory has been marked by a serious regression in terms of civil liberties, particularly since 2023. The space for civil society has receded, with executive authorities wielding the law as a tool to target rights defenders, humanitarian organizations, and outspoken critics of the current government. This in-depth review presents the stories of seven individuals—Saadia Mosbah, Saloua Ghrissa, Imen Ouardani, Mustapha Djemali, Abdallah Saïd, Sherifa Riahi, and Sonia Dahmani—each of whom has faced arrest, prosecution, or extended detention for work previously regarded as necessary for Tunisia’s nascent democracy. By examining these cases in detail, we can understand the mechanisms at work against and consequences endured by those whose pursuits are humanitarian, anti-racist, or openly critical of the government in present-day Tunisia.
Financial Afrik’s Mamadou Diallo on Algeria’s new mining law.
Tariq Panja for the New York Times: “An Unusual Soccer Finale in Italy Reveals Libya’s Frailties.”
Greater Horn of Africa
Stephanie Sy for PBS: “Sudan’s Famine Worsens as Civil War Intensifies: ‘We Have Nothing to Eat but Animal Feed’.”
Mohammed Amin at Middle East Eye:
As the army has taken Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and made inroads in other parts of central Sudan, the takeover of the Sudanese part of the border triangle region has cemented the [Rapid Support Forces’] hold on western Sudan, where it holds almost all of Darfur.
According to satellite imagery, flight tracking data seen by MEE, and interviews with gold miners and other eyewitnesses, this success in the wild, lawless border regions would not have been possible without Haftar’s Libyan forces and the patronage of the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
The construction of the Bishoftu International Airport, which upon completion will be Ethiopian Airlines’ new global hub and Africa’s largest airport, will cost a total of $10 billion. Under the agreement to be signed, the Bank will lead resource mobilization efforts to raise debt financing of up to $8 billion. The Bank has itself earmarked up to $500 million, subject to Board approval, to anchor the funding of this transformational regional integration project.
From filmmaker Sosena Solomon and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a short documentary “captures how geography, spirituality and cultural heritage converge in the rock-hewn churches of Tigray in Ethiopia.”
Moustafa Ahmad at Geeska on the foreign policy of Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (Irro).
Aaron Ross for Reuters: “Kenyan Activist Tries to Block New Ritz-Carlton Safari Lodge Opening.”
Mashriq
Tammam Aloudat, Will Worley, and Eric Reidy at The New Humanitarian: “UNRWA Demands ‘Urgent Clarification’ over UN Meeting with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.”
Abed Abou Shhadeh at Middle East Eye: “How Murder of Al Jazeera Journalists Is Part of Israel's Gaza Occupation Strategy.”
Emma Scolding and Sara Seif Eddien at Drop Site: “As Sisi Accuses Israel of Genocide, Egypt Signs Record $35 Billion Gas Deal with Israel.”
Loubna Mrie writes in the London Review of Books about the relationship between the Assad family and the Alawites in Syria. An excerpt:
The aftermath of the [2023] earthquake stripped away what little loyalty to Assad remained in the city. Aid trickled in, sporadic and insufficient. People fought over food and basic supplies. For years, the people of Jableh had told themselves that the bribes they had to pay at checkpoints were a necessary evil: the police were their protectors, and they needed the money. People looked away because they believed that the system, though corrupt, was still essentially in their favour. But when the police started looting earthquake aid, it was clear that they had been deluding themselves. Volunteers delivering aid were forced to surrender the few supplies they had: baby formula, antibiotics, fuel. Nothing reached the victims until the police had taken their share. The anger that had simmered for years – after Assad sent their sons to the front and then abandoned their families – boiled over. People vented about corruption on social media and many were detained.
Wladimir van Wilgenburg for Carnegie’s Diwan: “A Sigh of Relief in Iraqi Kurdistan.”
Hayder Al-Shakeri for Chatham House: “Iraq’s Water Crisis: Dammed by Neighbours, Failed by Leaders.”
Mohammad Lotfollahi at Al Jazeera:
For millions of Iranians, this summer has brought survival challenges in light of record-breaking heat, according to data from Iran’s Meteorological Organization.
The country is simultaneously grappling with its fifth consecutive year of drought, chronic energy deficits and unprecedented heat, a perfect storm that is exposing the fragility of basic services.
Nazeeha Saeed for Amwaj: “Freed by Royal Pardons, Some Bahraini Activists Speak of ‘Larger Prison’.”
The FT: “Can Dubai Keep Its Crown as the Middle East’s Finance Capital?”
Hadeel Al Sayegh and Luke Tyson for Reuters: “Saudi Gigaprojects Take $8 Billion Hit in Reality Check for Diversification Efforts.”
AFP: “With Poetry and Chants, Omanis Strive to Preserve Ancient Language.”
Laurent Bonnefoy at OrientXXI on the decline of Yemenia Airways.