When the news spread that Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania had been shot my reaction was, “it finally happened!”  While many of the details of the shooting remain unknown, and some accounts are contradictory, for those who have followed

Read the rest of Mauritania: President’s shooting reveals military regime parading as a democracy – By Boubacar N’Diaye »

On 2 May 2012, security forces used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse a sit-in numbering in the thousands in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott. Issues such as unemployment, drought and corruption regarding the sale of land to senior military officers

Read the rest of Mauritania: Nouakchott Protests likely to increase – By Exclusive Analysis Ltd »

Last week the United Nations announced that famine conditions in Somalia had eased, thanks to a good harvest and strong response from the humanitarian community. It warned, however, that failure to continue to respond could have dire consequences and urged

Read the rest of A Tale of Two Food Crises: How to Respond, not Whether to Respond – By Laura Hammond »

Just two years after the Sahel faced a major food crisis, leaving an estimated seven million people in need of food aid in Niger and Chad, the alarm bell has sounded again. Following poor and erratic rains in the 2011

Read the rest of Food Crisis in the Sahel – a region in need of long term solutions – By Celeste Hicks »

In December 2011 two new groups claimed responsibility for kidnaps in northwest Africa. On 7 December, the Mauritanian ANI news agency said it had received a video from a group called ‘al-Qaeda in Nigeria’, showing a British engineer kidnapped on

Read the rest of Northwest Africa kidnap claims by new groups suggest growing competition for ransoms – By Exclusive Analysis »

Chatham House, Thurs 9th Dec, 2011 Participants: Robert Fowler, Former UN Special Envoy to Niger Jérôme Spinoza, Head, Africa Bureau, French Ministry of Defence Dr Knox Chitiyo, Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute Chair: Camilla Toulmin, Director, International Institute for

Read the rest of Western Sahel insecurity – groping towards a more integrated approach »

The desert interior of West Africa, from Mauritania to southern Algeria and from northern Niger to northern Mali covers around 3.5 million square kilometres – an area sixteen times the size of the UK with a population of less than

Read the rest of Terrorism in the Sahara and Sahel: A ‘false flag’ in the War on Terror? – By Richard Trillo »

Visit to Mauritania of the British Conservative Arab Network Delegation led by Daniel Kawczynski MP 19th – 23rd June 2011 Daniel Kawczynski MP with President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania Visit overview The visit to the country was the

Read the rest of REPORT: British delegation visits Mauritania – discussion on Libya/AQIM/Economy »

Last Tuesday 12 March, in Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, an elected President resigned under pressure from the opposition with the support of the armed forces, and a young pretender Andry Rajoelina succeeded him. Which ever way you look at it, it

Read the rest of Are Coups d’Etat Making a Comeback? »