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Mapping the contours of Jihadist groups in the Sahel

Mapping the contours of Jihadist groups in the Sahel

THE Sahel region, an area covering 3 million sq km, has been a hotbed of Islamic Jihadi groups in recent years. FOLAHANMI AINA, Doctoral Candidate in Leadership Studies, King's College London Today, the region has no fewer than seven insurgent groups scattered in six countries. The area stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean and encompasses a dozen countries. These include Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. Jihadi groups have taken advantage of a number of underlying conditions, which fuel local grievances across the Sahel. These include endemic…
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Bauxite trains operated by Russia’s Rusal collide in Guinea, killing one

Bauxite trains operated by Russia’s Rusal collide in Guinea, killing one

SALIOU SAMB and POLINA DEVITT TWO trains operated by Russian aluminium giant Rusal have collided in Guinea's capital Conakry, killing at least one person and injuring several others, according to witness accounts and footage on social media. The world's third-largest aluminium producer operates three bauxite mines and an alumina refinery in the coastal West African nation. The Guinea mines make up 42% of Rusal's total bauxite capacity. Rusal said an investigation had been launched into the cause of the incident and that company representatives were providing support to the relevant authorities in Guinea. A timetable for the resumption of transportation…
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Guinea has a long history of coups: here are 5 things to know about the country

Guinea has a long history of coups: here are 5 things to know about the country

ON September 5, officers of an elite special forces army unit overthrew the 83-year-old Guinean President Alpha Condé in a coup. The nation of 13 million is now under the control of junta leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who has dissolved the government and made a series of pronouncements. These include an assurance of calm to the vital mining sector. SUSANNA FIORATTA, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Bryn Mawr The coup was greeted by celebrations on the streets. It has also received the backing of opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo. But there is a lot of uncertainty as to what happens next.…
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Guinea junta freezes govt accounts

Guinea junta freezes govt accounts

SALIOU SAMB GUINEA'S military junta, which seized power over the weekend, has ordered the central bank and other banks to freeze all government accounts. On Sunday a group of special forces soldiers said they ousted President Alpha Conde over concerns about poverty and endemic corruption. The banking freeze was aimed at "securing state assets", a junta spokesman announced on the national broadcaster. "This includes public administrative and commercial establishments in all ministries and the presidency, presidential programmes and projects, members of the outgoing government as well as senior officials and administrators of state financial institutions," the spokesman said. A mining…
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West African regional bloc suspends Guinea after coup

West African regional bloc suspends Guinea after coup

SALIOU SAMB WEST Africa's main political and economic bloc suspended Guinea's membership on Wednesday following a weekend military coup that ousted President Alpha Conde and dealt the latest in a flurry of setbacks to democracy in the region. During a virtual summit, leaders from the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded a return to the constitutional order and Conde's immediate release, and also agreed to send a high-level mission to Guinea as soon as Thursday, said Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Alpha Barry. "At the end of that mission, ECOWAS should be able to re-examine its position," Barry…
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Guinea bauxite prices rise after coup, mines report no immediate impact

Guinea bauxite prices rise after coup, mines report no immediate impact

HELEN REID PRICES for aluminium ore bauxite from Guinea hit their highest in almost 18 months in top metals consumer China on Monday as buyers fretted about supply after a coup in the West African country, though no mines reported any disruption. Guinea is the world's second-biggest producer of the raw material that is refined into alumina, a substance used to make aluminium metal, and is the top supplier to China. Guinean bauxite for delivery to China was last assessed by Asian MetaL at $50.50 a tonne, up 1% from Friday and the highest since March 16 last year. Prices…
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Guinea takes part in Olympics

Guinea takes part in Olympics

GUINEA’S five athletes will participate in the Tokyo Olympics after all, a statement from the West African nation's sports ministry has said, reversing the previous day's decision to suspend its participation in the Games citing the pandemic. On Wednesday, Sports Minister Sanoussy Bantama Sow said in a letter to the country's National Olympic Committee that the government had cancelled Guinea's participation to "preserve the health of its athletes" due to a surge in COVID-19 variants. Daily coronavirus infections in Tokyo rose to 1,979 cases on Thursday, the city said, the highest level since January. The July 21 letter seen by…
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Guinea declares end to Ebola outbreak

Guinea declares end to Ebola outbreak

AN Ebola outbreak which started in Guinea in February, infecting 16 people and killing 12, has been declared over, the health ministry and the World Health Organization announced yesterday. Health authorities were able to move swiftly to tackle the resurgence of the virus, which causes severe bleeding and organ failure and is spread through contact with body fluids, after lessons learned from previous outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "Based on the lessons learned from the 2014–16 outbreak and through rapid, coordinated response efforts... Guinea managed to control the outbreak and prevent its spread beyond its borders,"…
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Guinea receives 300 000 vaccines

Guinea receives 300 000 vaccines

GUINEA yesterday received a shipment of 300,000 Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines purchased from China and is also set to receive a donation of 200,000 Sinopharm shots, Guinean Foreign Minister Ibrahima Khalil Kaba said. Kaba gave no further details on the Sinopharm donation. Guinea is reporting 93 new coronavirus infections on average each day, 59% of the peak in March. There have been 21,460 infections and 138 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. The West African country has administered at least 109,296 doses of COVID vaccines so far, according to government data compiled by Reuters. Assuming every person…
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The golden quartet of Afrobasket

The golden quartet of Afrobasket

BOITUMELO RANTAO  FORTY games - over 2016 minutes - of blood, sweat and some tears during thrilling action at the African Basketball Championship (Afrobasket) have produced the continent’s top four basketball nations.  The qualifying window, which took place in the two cities Monastir, Tunisia and Yaounde Cameroon, produced four teams, reigning Champions Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Egypt who outclassed their group mates.  These four teams have yet to lose a fixture in the six qualifying games played and seek to take their brilliant form into the Afrobasket finals held in Kigali, Rwanda from August 24 to September 5. Tunisia,…
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