What happens when the state cannot provide security for its most vulnerable citizens? You hear of peace deals between villagers & non-state actors. But what if these deals collapse partly because of the state? People turn to local elders to mediate fresh deals. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

‘We are familiar faces’: are local peacemakers the answer to Nigeria’s bandit crisis?

Nigeria has struggled to contain bandit groups who kidnap and kill but some communities are finding their own solutions

theguardian.com

@eromoegbejule.bsky.social interviewed bandits in Nigeria's ungoverned north-west. Always fascinating to hear how violent people, in this case a 32yo gang leader, justify violence. “We are just trying to fend for our families. In the process, people are disturbing us – and that brings conflicts.”

Brutal and emboldened: how Nigeria’s bandit crisis spun out of control

Conflicts over land and resources have deepened owing to climate breakdown, deforestation and population growth

theguardian.com

Brutal and emboldened: how Nigeria’s bandit crisis spun out of control

Brutal and emboldened: how Nigeria’s bandit crisis spun out of control

Conflicts over land and resources have deepened owing to climate breakdown, deforestation and population growth

theguardian.com

A tale of two Francks? World’s oldest leader creates deputy role – raising prospect of dynastic succession

A tale of two Francks? World’s oldest leader creates deputy role – raising prospect of dynastic succession

Son and stepson of Cameroon’s Paul Biya are seen as main contenders to be vice-president

theguardian.com

Thanks Rachel!

Rachel Savage@rachelmsavage.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Fantastic, sobering visualisation of the extent of terrorism and other violence in the Sahel, by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social and colleagues. The way it shows the proliferation of violence by different groups across Nigeria is particularly striking.

Fantastic, sobering visualisation of the extent of terrorism and other violence in the Sahel, by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social and colleagues. The way it shows the proliferation of violence by different groups across Nigeria is particularly striking.

How rampant violence made Nigeria an insecurity hotspot in the Sahel – mapped

Data lays bare the extent and geographical spread of attacks in Africa’s most populous country

theguardian.com

This morning in Abidjan, the Djidji Ayôkwé, a 430-kg talking drum confiscated in 1916 and taken to Paris by French administrators after locals resisted forced labour on a road, returned home. The restitution and reparations movement gets another win. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

France returns sacred talking drum looted from Côte d’Ivoire over 100 years ago

Djidji Ayôkwé was handed to Ivorian officials in Paris earlier this month

theguardian.com

No Country for Young People: Notes From Ten Days in Eritrea, The Beautiful Prison Everything you've heard about Eritrea is probably true. But it is more than the sum of your thoughts, both negative and positive. @eromoegbejule.bsky.social 24hoursearlier.substack.com/p/no-country...

No Country for Young People: Notes From Ten Days in Eritrea, The Beautiful Prison

Everything you've heard about Eritrea is probably true. But it is more than the sum of your thoughts, both negative and positive.

24hoursearlier.substack.com

No country for young people. @eromoegbejule.bsky.social on ten days in Eritrea: open.substack.com/pub/24hourse...

No Country for Young People: Notes From Ten Days in Eritrea, The Beautiful Prison

Everything you've heard about Eritrea is probably true. But it is more than the sum of your thoughts, both negative and positive.

open.substack.com

If you want to know what's really going on in Nigeria, where Trump & Nicki Minaj claim there's a "Christian genocide", read The Long Wave newsletter with @eromoegbejule.bsky.social. "There’s never enough data, no one even truly knows the true size of the economy, it’s just inshallah and vibes."

‘Ignoring minorities is our original sin’: the complex roots of Nigeria’s security crisis

Criminal exploitation, economic opportunism and religious persecution are all factors in a broader picture of insecurity

theguardian.com

“It’s like an episode of 24. You know Jack Bauer will win but you don’t know what happens before then.” Deja vu for Cote d'Ivoire, as Alassane Ouattara seeks a fourth term as president while cracking down on opposition and protests. Great @eromoegbejule.bsky.social report

Tensions mount as Alassane Ouattara seeks fourth term in Ivory Coast vote

Protests have been banned and opposition figures sidelined as 83-year-old president ignores calls to step down

theguardian.com

Across Black communities, hairdressers have become a safe space, especially in communities with little / no access to mental health care - or quality healthcare in general. Fascinating piece by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social for the @theguardian.com on community-led therapy <3 buff.ly/MX3Rylz

‘We all need someone’: the hairdressers tackling stigma of mental health issues in west Africa

In Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Togo, where therapy services are almost absent, some stylists are being trained to listen, comfort and guide

theguardian.com

Los nominados para el premio Impacto @josebautista.bsky.social, @andreipopoviciu.bsky.social y el editor @eromoegbejule.bsky.social estarán en el Congreso de Mérida presentando sus trabajos 👏👏👏 Investigación en Al Jazeera 👉 www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

How an EU-funded security force helped Senegal crush democracy protests

An elite EU-trained Senegalese police unit was meant to tackle cross-border crime. Instead it was used to quash protests

aljazeera.com

Fundación porCausa@porcausa.org · 12mo ago

¡¡Finalistas del premio 'Impacto' de Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU)!! Revelamos que el gobierno de Senegal reprimió con violencia (+60 muertos) protestas pro-democráticas usando vehículos 'antimigratorios' regalados por el Gobierno español a través de la FIAP #ExternalizaciónDeFronteras

Super cool piece by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social, and Mauritanian colleagues, from Mauritania's far north about the growing desert trade in meteorites

‘A gift from heaven’: the TikTok traders of Mauritania’s meteorites

Growing desertification is putting traditional livelihoods at risk in western Africa and encouraging the search for rare stones

theguardian.com

92-year-old Paul Biya is running for another 7-year term as president of Cameroon (with much of it likely to be spent in Switzerland if he stays alive). @eromoegbejule.bsky.social reports from Douala and Yaounde

The world’s oldest president is running again: can anyone stop him from winning?

Paul Biya, 92, has ruled Cameroon since the early 1980s. Unseating him in October’s election will not be easy

theguardian.com

Our latest dispatch from the streets of Douala and Yaoundé ahead of this October's election, on the curious case of Paul Biya, 92, who one person said seems "set to hold on to the record of being the world's oldest president, or die trying." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

The world’s oldest president is running again: can anyone stop him from winning?

Paul Biya, 92, has ruled Cameroon since the early 1980s. Unseating him in October’s election will not be easy

theguardian.com

Central African Republic’s President Touadéra is expected to run for a controversial 3rd term this year. The opposition & some in the ruling elite are concerned that Russia & Rwanda, both competing for influence there, will entrench their interests if he wins. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Rwanda and Russia look to lock in influence as CAR’ president eyes another term

Kigali and Moscow expected to back re-election of Faustin-Archange Touadéra as they seek to shield strategic interests

theguardian.com

‘Kush destroys them’ -- The Guinean #rehab clinic tackling a drug epidemic. Growing use of kush -- a deadly mix of cannabis, fentanyl, tramadol, formaldehyde and reportedly human bones -- is a national emergency, by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a... via @theguardian.com

‘Kush destroys them’: the Guinean rehab clinic tackling a drug epidemic

Experts say a crisis is under way in Guinea, fuelled by a growing market run by cross-border trafficking syndicates

theguardian.com

A Nigerian senator accuses the senate president of sexual harassment, but SHE ends up on a six-month suspension. Insane story from the circus that is Nigerian politics. Story by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last yr.

‘We are all Natasha’: senator’s sexual harassment claims roil Nigeria

.@NatashaAkpoti told @guardian: "This was orchestrated to silence my voice. That action is an assault on democracy … I am not apologising for speaking my truth.” Here’s our story on the roots of the ongoing row in Nigeria’s senate.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last yr.

‘We are all Natasha’: senator’s sexual harassment claims roil Nigeria

Update from Conakry. By @eromoegbejule.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

‘Each of us is afraid’: Guinea’s junta leader tightens grip as opposition lies low

Mamady Doumbouya has led the country since a 2021 coup. Some fear he has no intention of relinquishing power

theguardian.com

Restore, destroy or leave to rot? Battle lines drawn over west Africa’s architectural heritage @eromoegbejule.bsky.social for @theguardian.com

Restore, destroy or leave to rot? Battle lines drawn over west Africa’s architectural heritage

Uncompleted or abandoned buildings are a regular feature of the landscape. Now calls for restorations are increasing

theguardian.com

Why foreign correspondents are alarmed and dismayed at plans to sell the Observer | Letter

Why foreign correspondents are alarmed and dismayed at plans to sell the Observer | Letter

Current and former contributors to the international pages of the Guardian and Observer respond to an article by Ole Jacob Sunde, chair of the Scott Trust With regard to Ole Jacob Sunde’s article (We want what’s best for the Observer – and the Guardian.…

theguardian.com

Ça commence… *Nigeria acquires 12 pre-owned alpha jets from French Air Force* www.thecable.ng/nigeria-acqu...

Nigeria acquires 12 pre-owned alpha jets from French Air Force

Nigeria has procured 12 pre-owned alpha jets from the French air force.

thecable.ng

The U.S. government asked a federal judge last month to force Google to sell Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser. Here’s what happens next and how the ruling could potentially reshape the internet.

What’s Next for Google’s Search Monopoly

The federal judge who ruled Google was a monopolist in search is weighing the U.S. government’s proposal to force the company to sell its Chrome browser. Here’s what happens now.

nytimes.com

"Our nation's original sin." My story on Biden's speech on slavery and the rest of his visit to Angola so far

Joe Biden addresses America’s ‘original sin’ of slavery on Angola visit

US president remembers ‘stolen men and women and children brought to our shores’ and lauds American investment in country

theguardian.com

In other news, Ghana is going to the polls this weekend, after a pretty disastrous second half of President Nana Akufo-Addo's term in office - economic crisis, currency crash, debt default 👇

Ahead of Ghana’s presidential election this weekend, we took a look at the legacy of outgoing president Nana Akufo-Addo who many say did decently in the first half but steered his country into hardship in the second half. www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

Ahead of Ghana’s presidential election this weekend, we took a look at the legacy of outgoing president Nana Akufo-Addo who many say did decently in the first half but steered his country into hardship in the second half. www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

Economic hardship looms over Ghana as country readies for polls

Election is being contested between vice-president Mahamudu Bawumia and former president John Mahama, under whom corruption ballooned

theguardian.com

City on the way down, United on the way up. As it should be.

What a script life is sometimes. The French Republican Guard chooses a song like Chop My Money (by brothers who couldn’t stay together) to perform as Macron lays out the red carpet for Tinubu on the same day Chad announces the end of its military partnership with France.

Akeliciousmedia@akeliciousmedia.bsky.social · 2y ago

French Band and Asa Shine at State Dinner for President Tinubu in Paris A state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace in honor of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu featured a memorable cultural exchange. A French band delighted guests by performing P-Square’s hit song…