After the mausoleum: Burkina Faso’s Sankara debate and the question of who owns his memory
The inauguration of the Thomas Sankara mausoleum in Ouagadougou on 17 May 2025 has reignited a national debate about the ownership of the former president’s legacy. Under the patronage of Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the ceremony was led by Prime Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo at the site of the former Conseil de l’Entente. The presence […]
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Burkina Faso’s 85.38% administrative efficiency claim: the backlash, the disbelief, and what lies ahead
Burkina Faso’s transitional government has ignited a fierce public debate after announcing a theoretical administrative performance score of 85.38% for 2025. The figure, presented as proof of sweeping reform, has instead triggered widespread scepticism and frustration. For many citizens, the number feels like a bad joke at a time when daily life is defined by […]
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Algerian helicopter strike kills 48 gold miners on Niger’s border, and Niamey stays silent
A deadly dawn over the Sahara’s gold belt Forty-eight people are dead after a military helicopter belonging to the Algerian air force opened fire on an informal gold-mining camp straddling the frontier zone between Niger and Algeria. Every one of the victims was a civilian. The machine involved was a Russian-built Mi-171, which circled the […]
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Burkina Faso: the Sankara family, the state and a contested memory
In Burkina Faso, the figure of Thomas Sankara has long since outgrown the status of a simple historical reference. It now occupies a central place in the political narrative advanced by the authorities led by Ibrahim Traoré. Yet beneath the official tributes, the military ceremonies and the construction of a mausoleum, a troubling question arises: […]
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Gao: Africa Corps kills 167 civilians and burns 127 motorbikes by the Niger river
Dawn attack on the banks of the Niger river Shortly after first light on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the quiet gardens and fishing spots on the edge of Gao, in northern Mali, were torn apart by automatic gunfire. Dark columns of smoke rose over the Niger river. By the time the shooting stopped, 167 civilians […]
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Niger’s uranium output collapses as SOMAÏR blames logistics for a technical failure
For years, the teams running the Société des mines de l’Aïr were paraded as living proof that Niger could pull uranium out of the ground without a single foreign engineer on site. The production figures for the opening months of 2026 have punctured that narrative in the most brutal way possible. The numbers coming out […]
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Defections, shortages and Russian fire: inside the cracks in Niger’s army
More than eighteen months have passed since the 26 July 2023 coup that placed General Abdourahamane Tiani at the head of Niger, and the patriotic façade erected by the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP) is cracking in spectacular fashion. Behind the sovereignty rhetoric and the military parades lies a far grimmer […]
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The Alliance of Sahel States owes the regional market more than 7,700 billion CFA francs
Three governments that have staked their political identity on financial autonomy are, in practice, among the busiest borrowers on West Africa’s shared bond market. As of 31 July 2026, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the three members of the Alliance of Sahel States, carried a combined 7,727.38 billion CFA francs in outstanding public securities on […]
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Benin schools reopen nationwide on 14 september 2026
A nationwide return to classrooms on 14 september Across Benin, the 2026 school year began in earnest on Monday 14 september, as pupils and teachers filled schools from the far north to the coastal south. Primary schools and secondary institutions alike reopened their gates, gradually settling back into the rhythm of lessons, timetables and daily […]
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Niger’s SONIDEP faces a 28 billion FCFA loss in 2026 as fuel subsidies bite
Keeping petrol affordable at the pump is proving far costlier than Niger’s government bargained for. New projections from the International Monetary Fund sketch a worrying outlook for the national oil company, SONIDEP, which is on course to close the 2026 financial year with a net loss of 28 billion FCFA — the combined result of […]
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Burkina Faso’s Texforces-bf: how Ibrahim Traoré is gambling with retirees’ money
Texforces-bf: an industrial flagship built on borrowed confidence Touted as a pillar of economic sovereignty and a driver of Burkina Faso’s industrialisation, the TEXFORCES-BF textile scheme enjoys unmistakable official enthusiasm. Yet beneath the determined rhetoric, the project’s financial architecture and the terms of its implementation invite hard questions. Taken together — levies on pension reserves, […]
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Niger’s external liabilities climb past 12,900 billion FCFA, laying bare a shifting dependence
In Niamey, the official narrative keeps celebrating a clean break and economic emancipation. The ledger says something else entirely. At the close of the 2024 financial year, Niger’s international investment position was buried deep in negative territory, painting the portrait of an economy that remains structurally tied to foreign capital. Foreign claims that dwarf national […]
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