AfCFTA: Commonwealth to Strengthen Capacity of African Countries Export

EconomyMarketsWest AfricaAfCFTA: Commonwealth to Strengthen Capacity of African Countries Export

PilotnewsDecember 20, 2020

The Commonwealth has reiterated its commitment to work with African countries to deepen export capacity and, particularly, take advantage of trading opportunities like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Patricia Scotland, Secretary General of the Commonwealth, stated this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. She explained that the Commonwealth Secretariat had been working with the 19 African member states to strengthen their institutional capacity and develop trade...

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ECOWAS Laments Inability to Access Climate Fund

EnvironmentNewsWest AfricaECOWAS Laments Inability to Access Climate Fund

Bada Yusuf Amoo (Correspondent)December 9, 2020

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has lamented members’ inability to access fund to tackle climate change. The ECOWAS Commission said that the ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement by the Commission member states in 2015 signified an important turning point in combating the process of climate change. Speaking on Tuesday at the opening of a four-day training for national experts in the development of climate project to access the Green Climate Funds...

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Mali’s Amadou Touré and the Conundrum of African Leadership

ColumnsOpinionPoliticsWest AfricaMali’s Amadou Touré and the Conundrum of African Leadership

PilotnewsNovember 21, 2020

Amadou Touré, coup maker, coup victim, military ruler, and eventually civilian chief of state in Mali, died last week in Istanbul at the age of seventy-two. Touré dominated Mali’s governance for some twenty years and, in death, is being praised as a “soldier of democracy.” Following his successful 1991 coup against Moussa Traoré, military ruler for thirteen years, Touré orchestrated a transition to elections and civilian government. In 2002 he was elected president and, in 2007, reelected....

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Macron Welcomes Release of French Aid Worker Held Hostage in Mali for 4 years

NewsWest AfricaMacron Welcomes Release of French Aid Worker Held Hostage in Mali for 4 years

PilotnewsOctober 9, 2020

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday welcomed the release and soon-to-return to France of a humanitarian aid worker who was kidnapped and held in captivity by militants in Mali for almost four years. Sophie Petronin was abducted by a group of armed militants in December 2016 in the northeastern Malian city of Gao. She spent 1,381 days in extremists’ custody. Petronin has been known as the last French hostage in the world. “I just exchanged...

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Senegal Pilgrimage Tests Resistance to COVID-19

ColumnsCoronavirusReligionWest AfricaSenegal Pilgrimage Tests Resistance to COVID-19

PilotnewsOctober 8, 2020

Senegal is a major center of West African Islam, and its imams, mullah, and brotherhoods are influential across the Sahel. The holy city of Touba, 120 miles east of the Senegalese capital of Dakar, is the site of a major, annual pilgrimage called the Magal, which is now underway. While no estimates are yet available as to the number of participants this year, in past years there have been as many as five million. The pilgrimage...

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ECOWAS lifts Sanctions Imposed on Mali After Military Coup

NewsWest AfricaECOWAS lifts Sanctions Imposed on Mali After Military Coup

PilotnewsOctober 6, 2020

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Tuesday lifted the sanctions imposed on Mali in the wake of an August 18, 2020, military coup, citing Mali’s “notable advances towards constitutional normalisation” as the reason for the relaxation of the sanctions. The regional bloc announced the lifting of the sanctions in a statement by Chairman of ECOWAS Authority and President of Ghana, Nana Kuffo Addo. The lifting of the sanctions comes two days after...

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Yoruba People Constitute About One-Quarter of the Total Population in Benin Republic – Benin Monarch

NewsPeopleWest AfricaYoruba People Constitute About One-Quarter of the Total Population in Benin Republic – Benin Monarch

Bada Yusuf Amoo (Correspondent)October 3, 2020

It has been revealed that the Yoruba people who dominated South-West Nigeria also constituted about one-quarter of the total population in Benin Republic. This was revealed by the Secretary-General of the Federation of Yoruba Obas in Benin Republic (FYOBR), Oba Abdul-Wahab Adio Ogunjin during an interview with Bola Bamigbola. The Yoruba Monarch added that there are total of 34 Yoruba Obas in Benin Republic He also disclosed that there are other Nigerian groups that are...

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How to Build Better Militaries in Africa: Lessons from Niger

ColumnsMilitaryNewsWest AfricaHow to Build Better Militaries in Africa: Lessons from Niger

PilotnewsOctober 1, 2020

In August, jihadists in Niger killed six French aid workers and two Nigeriens just outside of the capital, Niamey. Terrorist attacks have increased by 250 percent over the last two years in Africa’s Sahel region, according to the State Department. To help counter the threat of terrorism and build the capacity of African militaries, the U.S. government spends over $1.5 billion a year on security assistance to the African continent. Does this support work? Reliable security cooperation and assistance data are...

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Interim President of Mali Commends Jonathan, ECOWAS For Mediation

NewsWest AfricaInterim President of Mali Commends Jonathan, ECOWAS For Mediation

Bada Yusuf Amoo (Correspondent)September 28, 2020

The newly appointed President of Mali’s Transition government, Bah N’daw, has commended the mediator for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan for the role he played in restoring normalcy in the country, following a political crisis in the country. N’Daw during his inauguration on Friday said this in Bamako, despite the ECOWAS indication that it would only lift sanctions on Mali after a new Prime Minister had...

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ECOWAS May Suspend Mali’s Sanction Today – Jonathan

NewsWest AfricaECOWAS May Suspend Mali’s Sanction Today – Jonathan

Bada Yusuf Amoo (Correspondent)September 25, 2020

The Nigeria Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, who is currently mediating in the Mali crisis for the West Africa bloc, ECOWAS, has said the organization would probably decide on Friday whether it would lift the economic sanction imposed on Mali. Jonathan said this while speaking in the capital of Mali, Bamako on Wednesday. He also described the measure imposition on the country by the 15-nation bloc “unfortunate.” West African leaders have been putting pressure on Mali’s...

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