French PM Valls decorates CBWAS governor Tiemoko Meyliet Kone
As the intellectuals debate the need for change in the Franc Zone (WAN n°728), France is cementing its relations with [...]
On December 5, former French prime minister Manuel Valls announced that he would be standing in the primaries to find a candidate to represent the Left in France's 2017 presidential elections. This seemed to us to be the right time to present a special report on Ibrahima Diawadoh N'Jim, his adviser on African affairs but also one of the most listened to of all his advisers. Much of the press seems to have only just learned of the existence of this secretive and enigmatic figure but West Africa Newsletter has been scrutinising him for several months already. A former security guard, he arrived in France from his native Mauritania in the 1980s and today is the key figure in the team surrounding Valls, formerly mayor of Evry in the Paris suburbs, for everything to do with the African continent.
The two men, who met in 2001, trust each other completely. Now, away from the official diplomatic circuit, Diawodah N'Jim is opening up access to his contacts and friends throughout sub-Saharan Africa, among them Ivorian interior minister Hamed Bakayoko, Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and businessman Seydou Kane, so as to enable Valls to strengthen his credentials as a potential future president.
As the intellectuals debate the need for change in the Franc Zone (WAN n°728), France is cementing its relations with [...]
Ibrahima Diawadoh N'Jim, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls' charismatic and well-connected unofficial advisor on Africa, is exploiting his network of relationships in Africa to help build Valls' international stature. West Africa Newsletter has the inside track on this influential aide. [...]
The French Prime Minister and his old friend Ibrahim Boubacar Keita recently had some quality time together when Valls visited Mali. [...]
The recent attacks on the Radisson Blu in Bamako and the Splendid Hôtel in Ouagadougou have forced French prime minister [...]
The French prime minister's office has Africa on its mind. Manuel Valls, who is planning to tour several African countries including Ghana and Ethiopia early in 2016, is increasingly appreciated by African leaders, who reason that he could one day [. [...]