Rachel Chason
@rchason.bsky.social
@washingtonpost.com West Africa bureau chief, based in 🇸🇳 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rchasonwp
I love this profile of a thriving Chinatown in Bamako by @rchason.bsky.social. The presence of ordinary Chinese entrepreneurs across Africa is always so much more grassroots and diverse than people might think if they only read 'Belt & Road' coverage
Inside a thriving Chinatown neighborhood in the heart of West Africa
Chinese migrants have created a lively community in the Malian capital of Bamako but the advance of Islamist militants has them questioning their futures.
washingtonpost.com
Mali has grown used to crises amid a 13-year insurgency. But residents, officials & experts say what’s happening now is different. We reported from Bamako on how JNIM pulled off a fuel blockade that has crippled much of Mali and now threatens the government: wapo.st/3IVCrIp
Islamist extremists have taken this African country to the brink
A fuel blockade imposed by al-Qaeda-aligned militants has paralyzed the capital of Mali and roiled its repressive military government.
wapo.st
NEW: The U.S. has ramped up intelligence-sharing with Mali’s repressive military-led gov, officials say, as it targets al-Qaeda & Islamic State affiliates wreaking havoc in W. Africa That’s part of a broader Trump admin push for re-engagement on the Sahel, despite Mali’s work w/ 🇷🇺 wapo.st/4n3cKEi
To fight extremists, Trump administration warms to Russia-friendly junta
America has ramped up intelligence sharing with Mali’s repressive military junta, current and former U.S. officials said, as extremists gain ground in West Africa.
wapo.st
In just the past few months, JNIM has overrun cities & military bases in Burkina Faso & Mali; waged the deadliest attack in the history of Benin’s military and expanded its hardline rule across the region. Our @washingtonpost.com story, with @adrianblancoramos.bsky.social: wapo.st/3FGnzMi
A powerful, opaque al-Qaeda affiliate is rampaging across West Africa
With up to 6,000 fighters, JNIM is now the most well-armed militant force in the Sahel — and among the most powerful in the world, officials and experts say.
wapo.st
Israel's anti-war protests have largely avoid what's happening in Gaza, instead focusing on bringing the hostages home & anger at Netanyahu. After Israel ended the ceasefire, a group of Israeli women decided to change that.... Free link to full story: wapo.st/3GicwsA
Israel’s anti-war protests avoid Gaza. These women are changing that.
Their movement is small, but the women say anger in Israel after the ceasefire ended has given them space to talk about the war’s toll on Gaza’s children.
wapo.st
🎸🇲🇱 A tribute to Amadou Bagayoko of Amadou & Mariam, featuring his childhood friend, mentor, and son. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/w...
Musicians Who Knew Amadou Bagayoko Pay Tribute With Their Songs (Gift Article)
Amadou Bagayoko and his wife, the singer Mariam Doumbia, rose from icons in Mali to international success over the last two decades. After Mr. Bagayoko’s death, those who knew him chose a few of their...
nytimes.com
For those needing a fun news break, I present: The meteorite hunting herders of the Sahara Meteorites fall with the same frequency around the world, but are especially easy to spot in some places. Mauritania is one of them With @guypeterson.bsky.social Free link: wapo.st/4j9Md6i
On the hunt for meteorites in the far reaches of the Sahara
In the Mauritanian desert, nomadic herders look for unusual rocks with a dark surface, hoping to find rare meteorites and strike it big.
wapo.st
In the past few days, there’s been a deluge of letters from Israelis — including from those on the frontlines of the war — calling for the hostages to be brought home and the fighting in Gaza to stop. Our @washingtonpost.com story on the growing anger: wapo.st/4idILqd
Thousands of Israeli reservists condemn leadership for return to war
Air force pilots were the first to express their discontent last week. Paratroopers, tank corps reservists, physicians and former Mossad members have followed.
wapo.st
“Mali was really a black box,” said Lou Osborn, the founder of All Eyes on Wagner. “The images we saw of Wagner in the country were not from Russians. Now Russians are communicating.” Latest from @rchason.bsky.social & I www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Russia’s Wagner mercenaries are leading a campaign of terror in Mali
Fighting alongside Malian soldiers, Wagner mercenaries have massacred civilians and burned their villages in northern Mali, fueling a fast-growing refugee crisis.
washingtonpost.com
Across the Sahel, juntas are limiting freedom of speech. Journalists, activists & politicians have been arrested, disappeared and even sent to fight Finding examples wasn’t hard but finding people who still dared speak was Mohamed Attaher was clear—he wanted his story told…
DEATH IS OUR BUSINESS launches today! Grounded in my five years working in CAR, Mali, Libya, Ukraine, and Syria. Featuring interviews with 40 #Wagner mercenaries, executives, and affiliates. www.amazon.com/Death-Our-Bu...
On today's @lawfare.bsky.social podcast @rchason.bsky.social & @johnalechner.bsky.social help us understand forces that have converged in the Sahel over the past couple years through a series of portraits, including a militia commander, coup leader, defiant broadcaster, Russian mercenary, and more.
This past weekend, @washingtonpost.com published our 16-page special section on the Sahel — a region of the world that over the past decade has been transformed by conflict. A thread below of reporting highlights from 12+ trips to the region & each of the stories in 📰
Pick up @washingtonpost.com's Sunday paper, where @rchason.bsky.social's profiles from the Sahel get the full insert they deserve. Was honored to contribute with the interview with "Nazar," a Wagner mercenary who fought in Mali from 2021 - 2022.
Massive change is underway in the Sahel, where extremism is soaring; democracy declining & Russia rising. Over the past year, I've spoken to those shaping this history, including a jihadist; coup leader; mercenary & more. Our @washingtonpost.com series: wapo.st/4gSNEnM
Crossroads of conflict
Russia is expanding its influence in Africa as democracy wanes, with military strongmen carrying out coups and the United States seeing its influence decline.
wapo.st
President Trump’s sweeping freeze on U.S. foreign assistance has threatened programs intended to counter al-Shabab bombmakers, contain the spread of al-Qaeda across West Africa and secure Islamic State prisoners in the Middle East. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Trump’s global funding freeze leaves anti-terror programs in limbo
U.S. officials say now-suspended programs across Africa were designed specifically to respond to national security threats and contain the spread of terrorism.
washingtonpost.com
Read this from @khoureld.bsky.social, who reported from the frontlines of Puntland’s fight against the Islamic State. “Puntland’s soldiers are now locked in a grinding fight — one with major international implications, but without Western support.” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
The Islamic State has regrouped in Somalia — and has global ambitions
The Post ventured to the front lines of an offensive against the Islamic State in northern Somalia, where foreign fighters are flowing in and cash is flowing out.
washingtonpost.com
Trump’s decision to suspend or cancel billions of dollars’ in foreign aid is deepening humanitarian crises and putting untold lives at risk, recipients and aid workers tell @khoureld.bsky.social in Nairobi and @rchason.bsky.social in Mauritania www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Fear, pain and hunger: The dire impact of U.S. funding cuts in Africa
Across Africa, the policies of the Trump administration are already having profound consequences for some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
washingtonpost.com
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union had far less than the West to offer in development aid. So one of the ways it gained influence was through grants for students, said @ulflaessing.bsky.social Our @washingtonpost.com story in print today on the role of those students now: wapo.st/42aGp6Q
For Sahel/Russia in Africa watchers, some more details from our recent reporting in Burkina Faso on the role that former students in the USSR + Russia have played in Russia’s current outreach efforts in West Africa. Gift link: wapo.st/3BRYe05 + some fun tidbits not in the story threaded below:
As Russia seeks influence in Africa, former students play central role
Going back to the days of the Cold War, many Africans studied in the Soviet Union and later Russia. They’re now among Russia’s biggest boosters.
wapo.st
In Burkina Faso, I met a half dozen former students — now doctors, engineers and businesspeople — who’d studied in the then USSR. Now, they’re integral to Russia’s influence operations in this part of West Africa. Our @washingtonpost.com story: wapo.st/3DKMug9
As Russia seeks influence in Africa, former students play central role
Going back to the days of the Cold War, many Africans studied in the Soviet Union and later Russia. They’re now among Russia’s biggest boosters.
wapo.st
“Their existence contradicts its official narrative: that security is improving and people are safely returning home. Those who fled to Ouagadougou…find fear instead of respite” Read @monikapronczuk.bsky.social reporting from Burkina on the IDPs: apnews.com/article/burk...
They fled from extremists. Now the government in Burkina Faso tries to hide their existence
Their loved ones were slaughtered by extremists or government-affiliated fighters. Their villages were attacked, their homes destroyed.
apnews.com
Awesome reporting from @schmidtsam.bsky.social, Arturo Torres and @anthonyfaiola.bsky.social on the Albanians role in a booming cocaine tracking industry, including record seizures in Africa www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...
A global boom in cocaine trafficking defies decades of anti-drug efforts
The cocaine trade is far bigger and more geographically diverse than at any point in history as Albanian traffickers expand the market in Europe for the drug.
washingtonpost.com
For much of last year, Gambia was debating a bill to roll back a ban on female genital cutting The effort failed, but something that kept coming up as we reported there was women opening up about one of the most common, and usually least discussed, repercussions of FGM — loss of sexual pleasure…
"More than 100,000 Palestinians have been driven from the affected areas over the last 11 weeks, according to the UN." Israel is demolishing northern Gaza and fortifying military positions. New from Miriam Berger @imogenpiper.bsky.social Hazem Balousha @evanhill.bsky.social 🎁 wapo.st/4gFoSrO
Israel is demolishing northern Gaza and fortifying military positions, imagery shows
Visual analysis and interviews show how Palestinians have been forced from their homes in the north as the Israeli military cuts a new corridor through Gaza.
wapo.st
Despite the failure of international plans to cut plastics pollution, the Gambia is redoubling its efforts. A new bold roadmap hopes to eliminate plastic over the next decade. As experts believe the world will soon be “unable to cope” with the volume of plastic waste. My latest @theguardian.com ⬇️
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2y ago‘It is ambitious, but ambition builds the world’: can the Gambia’s bold plan to cut plastic pollution work?
When Israel ordered citizens to evacuate border regions more than a year ago, it allowed poor migrant farmworkers, most of them from Thailand, to stay put — to water crops, prune trees and harvest fruit as rockets fell around them. Six have died this year. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...
Asian farmworkers are being killed in Israel’s embattled border regions
Despite repeated protests from their countries, Israel has continued to let migrant laborers work in high-risk military zones.
washingtonpost.com
Russia has excelled at marketing itself in Africa. “They are much better than the Europeans or Americans at selling themselves. The West funds 90% of development needs, but you never hear about that,” says Ulf Laessing of Konrad Adenauer Foundation www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...
Inside the effort to market Russia and Putin to Africans
The Africa Initiative is part of an opaque network of groups that Western officials and analysts say the Kremlin uses to spread Russian influence in Africa.
washingtonpost.com
