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ALL ARTICLES NIGER

French president Emmanuel Macron visits the troops of France's Barkhane counter-terrorism operation in Africa's Sahel region in Gao, northern Mali, 19 May 2017. © Christophe Petit Tesson/ POOL/EPA/Newscom/MaxPPP

Spotlight

Diplomacy 24/06/2022

Macron mulls France's future in Sahel

Diplomacy 23/06/2022

Doumbouya confident of facing down ECOWAS

ECOWAS leaders are making no secret of their irritation with the head of the Guinean transition Mamadi Doumbouya, who has disregarded their calls for a short transition period. He believes his country has sufficient cards in its hand to weather any potential sanctions. [...]

Energy 22/06/2022

Abba revamps his oil ministry dream team

Oil companies will now have to deal with a new team at the ministry after its energy branch was hived off. [...]

Diplomacy 21/06/2022

World Bank names new country managers

Han Fraeters, the World Bank's representative in Central African Republic, is leaving his current role for a new posting in Niamey in Niger. He will replace Joelle Dehasse there, who left for Panama in March. [...]

Defence Diplomacy 20/06/2022

EU prepares to unlock €25m for Niger's armed forces

EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell. © Stéphanie Lecocq/EPA/MaxPPP

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Running story Defence Politics

The Sahel threatened by a jihadist tornado

As the Sahel security crisis worsens, with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) increasingly active, the states in the region find themselves in an ever more vulnerable position. [...]

Operation Barkhane soldiers in Burkina Faso. © Philippe de Poulpiquet /PhotoPQR/Le Parisien/MaxPPP

Energy 20/06/2022

Oil minister Abba becomes Chinese CNPC's worst nightmare

The negotiation methods used by the Chinese state-owned major's executives were not well received by the head of the oil ministry, who made this known by taking swift action against the sales manager of the CNPC-run refinery. [...]

Niger's Oil Minister Sani Mahamadou Issoufou. © Ahmed Yosri/Reuters

Energy Business 20/06/2022

Franck Ping discreetly lobbies Bazoum on behalf of Gauff Engineering

The business agent Franck Ping, the son of Gabon's former foreign minister Jean Ping, is the main architect of the electrification deal signed by the German company Gauff Engineering and the government of Niger. [...]

Defence Diplomacy 20/06/2022

Technamm takes the lead in contest to equip Sahel's armed forces

Expertise France, an operator for France's development agency AFD, is expected to award a tender by August for the distribution of around one hundred new military pick-ups/ AVs? for the armed forces of Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. [...]

Defence Diplomacy 16/06/2022

New number two for Operation Barkhane

General Géraud Laborie will become Operation Barkhane's next deputy general of operations (GAO), the second in command and will be the first transport pilot to do so. [...]

Diplomacy 10/06/2022

West African leaders clash over UEMOA presidency

Although the Beninese president Patrice Talon is due to take the helm of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, his insistence that his economy minister chair the organisation's council of ministers has led to one of several disputes - and resulted in a special heads of state committee being set up to try to resolve the situation. [...]

Beninese President Patrice Talon is to become head of the UEMOA. © Sébastien Muylaert/MaxPPP

Mining 02/06/2022

Niger sows seeds for uranium boom

An uptick in global interest for nuclear energy has rekindled focus on Niger's uranium resources. But the production from a new mine is still a relatively long way off. [...]

Defence Business 02/06/2022

Swiss NGO Coginta facilitates deployment of Delair drones against Boko Haram

The military contingents of Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon deployed within the Multinational Joint Task Force are to receive a dozen intelligence-gathering drones from the French firm Delair. The project is being overseen by Coginta, an NGO active in supporting security initiatives in West Africa. [...]

A DT-26 intelligence drone sold by Delair in 2019 to the Niger National Guard. © Delair

Defence Diplomacy 02/06/2022

Change at top of Operation Barkhane

This summer, a two-star general will likely become the number two of Operation Barkhane, taking over for another fighter pilot, General Fabien Kuzniak. [...]

Energy 31/05/2022

Niger-Benin pipeline: CNPC and oil minister meeting ends with plenty still to talk about Free

China National Petroleum Co and Nigerien oil minister "Abba" have failed to settle various issues relating to the project to export crude from Agadem to Benin via a pipeline, yet the two plan to meet again next month. [...]

Mining Business 27/05/2022

Architect Goudiaby Atepa's grand vision for natural resources of Dakar, Conakry and Freetown

Pierre Goudiaby Atepa is shortly due to officialise a project for a joint venture between Senegal, Guinea Conakry and Sierra Leone that will enable these countries to process their mineral resources on the African continent. [...]

The Senagalese architect PCA. © Groupe Atepa

Commodity traders Business 26/05/2022

How Bamako is exporting cotton despite ECOWAS sanctions

Mali has once again become Africa's leading cotton producer and the Malian military junta is pulling out all the stops to sell this precious resource on the global markets, taking advantage of the high prices. [...]

The 2019 cotton harvest in Mali, near Diaramana. © Nicolas Remene/Le Pictorium/MaxPPP

Business 12/05/2022

After Abidjan, Castel loses Coca-Cola distribution rights in Ouagadougou

The Atlanta-based soft drinks giant has already severed its ties with Castel in Ivory Coast and a number of other African countries, and is now about to do the same in Burkina Faso. [...]

Diplomacy 10/05/2022

EU ministers to discuss Africa

EU foreign affairs ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels on 16 May. While the situation in Ukraine is set to dominate the talks, the agenda is also likely to include Africa, and specifically the Sahel region. [...]

Defence Diplomacy 10/05/2022

Paris uses Beninese airports for Barkhane withdrawal

The first discreet nightly rotations took place from 1 to 7 May at Kandi airport, in northern Benin, which is currently used as a platform for French jumbo jets coming from Mali and heading for Niger, the final destination of the French equipment. [...]

Defence Diplomacy 09/05/2022

Barkhane withdrawal puts MINSUMA medical services on the spot

The withdrawal of French Barkhane troops from Mali and the dismantling of its military hospital in Gao means that MINUSMA will have to reorganise medical logistics for its peacekeepers. [...]

Business 05/05/2022

Coca-Cola restructures Ivoirian bottling partnership Free

The Atlanta-based soft drinks company has been dissolving several of its African partnerships and is currently preparing to part ways with its bottler in Ivory Coast. [...]

Energy 02/05/2022

TotalEnergies waves goodbye to distribution and hands over its stations to Star Oil

Owned by the Mauritanian businessman Al Houssein, Star Oil will soon take over all the oil facilities previously in the hands of TotalEnergies. [...]

Diplomacy 27/04/2022

How EU plans to allocate $600m military support package within the AU

On 21 April, the European Union adopted an assistance measure to provide the African Union with €600m in aid over three years. A €170m package has already been set aside for 2022. The package should be put towards the fight against Boko Haram and the AU mission in Somalia but leaves out the G5 Sahel. [...]

Politics 25/04/2022

Ex-president Salou Djibo prepares his comeback

Salou Djibo, who once toppled Mamadou Tandja in a coup d'état, plans to return to Niger to get his political party back on its feet after several years working for ECOWAS in Abuja. [...]

Ex-Niger President Salou Djibo. © Facebook Doubara 2021