West Africa
BUSINESS
Debt Trap: High Growth with Strings Attached
Senegal's IMF crisis deepens after audit reveals hidden debt, just as new oil wealth promises economic transformation.
WORLD
Senegal’s GDP Jumps 8.9% in Q3, 2024
Energy output and decisive governance powered Senegal's economic growth in the third quarter of 2024. As we enter Q1 of 2025, the IMF forecasts a natural slowdown in growth although succcessful diversification efforts, balanced by GCC investment, is forecast to shore up growth by 2026.
EUROPE
Côte d’Ivoire Tells French Army to Leave
French soldiers will withdraw from Côte d'Ivoire by February, ending a 60-year military presence as the country moves towards full independence, following a broader trend across West Africa.
BUSINESS
Three Military-Led States Leave ECOWAS
Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger's exit from ECOWAS reveals deep fractures over leadership, security, and regional independence in West Africa.
Popular
Europe’s Nuclear Turn Carries a French Accent
Finland's vote to allow nuclear weapons and Switzerland's push for new reactors both trace back to a familiar French ambition to lead Europe's atomic future.
Iran is Splitting the West Like Ukraine Did
Iran's US-brokered peace deal is laying bare severe fractures across Western diplomacy, as America's transactional alliance calculus finds its second major victim.
Russia Still Wants a Red Sea Anchor
Russia's quest for a Red Sea naval base has fallen silent again, the pause manifesting Sudan's bargaining instincts and Moscow's enduring strategic patience alike.
War Killed Mona Khalil and Erased Decades of Conservation
When a conservationist dies in a conflict zone, the loss is ecological as well as human, and the species she protected have no replacement for her.
What Starmer’s Exit Means for Europe and the Middle East
Keir Starmer's resignation hands Andy Burnham a fragile inheritance, as Britain's standing in Brussels and across the Gulf hinges on what changes next.
