West Africa Archive

The race to lead the African Union is entering a critical stage, as candidates to succeed outgoing AU Commission Chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma make their final pitches and struggle to overcome regional divisions that stalled the election process five months ago. On Dec. 9, the five contenders made their most public appeals yet, in a first-ever televised debate broadcast from the AU’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that marked an overt effort to popularize the organization across the continent. Traditional divides along regional and linguistic lines forced a six-month delay of the election in July, when heads of state failed to […]

Piracy in Africa brings up images of Somalia and its neighbors in the Horn of Africa, where maritime security has been an issue for years. On the other side of the continent, West African countries enjoy far more developed governmental structures and security tools and should, in theory, be able to keep piracy at bay. Yet piracy is significantly decreasing in Somalia, while it is growing in the Gulf of Guinea. According to the International Maritime Bureau, there was just one attempted attack in Somalia in the first nine months of 2016, whereas 31 incidents of piracy were reported off […]

In a surprise victory that shocked Gambians and foreigners alike, opposition candidate Adama Barrow defeated Gambia’s long-time dictator, Yahya Jammeh, in the country’s presidential election last Thursday. Initial reporting suggested that Barrow had won by 50,000 votes or more, which would have been a blowout victory in a country with roughly 1.8 million people. But the revised and final tally issued by Gambia’s Independent Electoral Commission on Dec. 5 showed a much closer result: 227,708 votes for Barrow, 208,487 votes for Jammeh and 89,768 for third-party candidate Mamma Kandeh. It will take time before the structure of Barrow’s victory is […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss the death of Fidel Castro and the implications for reform in Cuba and normalizing ties with the United States. For the Report, Anouar Boukhars talks with Peter Dörrie about Islamist militancy in West Africa. Listen:Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: What’s in Store for Cuba—and U.S. Ties—After Fidel Castro? The Costs of Uncertainty With Trump’s Trade Policies Iran Struggles to Grow Its Economy While Adapting to Climate Change How West Africa Became Fertile Ground for AQIM and ISIS Trend Lines is […]