Mauritania is facing its worst drought conditions since 2012, and faring more poorly than all Sahel nations that have seen rainfall deficits across the last decade, according to a new report from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). At least 34 of 48 regions are…
Senegalese foreign minister Aissata Tall Sall recently called on China to become more involved in the Sahel region, specifically expressing a hope that Beijing will be a “strong voice” in combatting the rising tide of terrorism in the region. The appeal certainly has its logic, given Beijing’s expanding influence in…
Another 35 people have died in Chad following clashes in Salamat Province in the southeastern part of the country, a development that follows on this week’s regional security summit among the five Sahel nations and France. The communal fighting between farmers and herders began with an attack at a roadblock,…
The Oxfam NGO is warning that the world’s poorest nations – two thirds of them on the African continent – don’t have equal access to the COVID vaccines, even as wealthier nations are snapping up doses for their own people. “Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate…
A 30-year ceasefire in the Western Sahara has been brought to a crashing collapse, as rebel independence fighters the Polisario Front reportedly launched attacks on Moroccan forces over the weekend of November 14 and claim to have caused “human and material damages” since then. The Front, which claims to represent…
The United States says it has decided to cancel an annual military exercise held in partnership with African nations, out of concerns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement was made Monday by the U.S. Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany. AFRICOM said the decision was taken in careful consideration…
There are now at least 229 positive cases of the novel coronavirus on the African continent, according to health officials, with the first confirmed cases in Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Rwanda and Seychelles among them. The Department of Health on Seychelles said two of its citizens returned to the Indian Ocean…
Filippo Grandi, head of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), has completed a three-nation tour of the Sahel, meeting with heads of state and other leaders focused on the security and humanitarian crises. Grandi wrapped up his mission in Burkina Faso, meeting with President Roch Marc Kaboré after stops in…
Leaders of the G5 Sahel nations meeting in Niamey this weekend vowed to continue their fight against extremists, while appealing to the international community for financing and support in the effort. The extraordinary summit was hosted by President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, who welcomed his counterpart Roch Marc Christian Kaboré…
At least 58 people have died off the coast of Mauritania as a boat loaded with migrants destined for Spain sank in the Atlantic Ocean, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Another 83 were able to swim to shore near the city of Nouadhibou, where authorities and NGO…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Four African nations have been newly elected to the United Nations Humans Rights Council – among them a few that are raising eyebrows – and they’ll replace four outgoing nations beginning in 2020. Libya, Mauritania, Namibia and Sudan are the new nations, according to a UN statement that followed Thursday’s…
Opposition parties in Mauritania say they reject official election results that give a win to Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, a former defense minister and close ally of President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who received 52 percent of the vote in the country’s presidential contest on Saturday. The political tensions have left…
Election officials in Mauritania say the nation’s historic presidential election has gone smoothly, despite concern about the potential for fraud voiced by some opposition candidates. Mohamed Vall Ould Bellal, president of the Independent National Electoral Commission, said there were no problems while promising transparency and the rule of law will…
West Africans are losing the income and food security linked to their fishing trade because of fishmeal and fish oil exports, most of which is going to Asia and the European Union while leaving communities on the continent behind. That’s according to a new Greenpeace report that says the three…
From flooding to drought, countries across the African continent experience climate change in environmentally and economically diverse settings – but what do its citizens really think about it? The Ghana-based Afrobarometer research organization checked in with five different countries for their 2018 reports, from West Africa to the south, and…