In September 2024, a well-known media outlet from Albania reached out to me for my perspective on a recent €2.7 billion deal between France and Serbia, signed by Presidents Macron and Vučić, to provide the Serbian army with 12 Rafale fighter jets. Over the...

In his New Year’s address, Alassane Ouattara, president of Ivory Coast since 2010—when he took power with the aid of French military intervention—announced, “We have decided on the coordinated and organized withdrawal of French forces” from the country. ...

A decade ago, on a road north of Bamako, Mali, the jeep I was driving in had to pull off the road to permit a French military convoy to pass. The convoy was on its way to the main airfield used by the French air...

In the aftermath of the devastation left behind in the wake of unprecedented floods, Nigeriens are rebuilding their livelihoods and economy with the help of several relief measures instituted by the government to drastically cut prices of essential commodities and services. ...

At 10 p.m. on the night of October 28, 2024, the Israeli air force struck a five-story building in Beit Lahiya, in the northern area of Gaza. Northern Gaza has been pummeled by the Israelis since October 8, 2023. There has been no respite...

On March 19, 2024, the head of France’s ground forces, General Pierre Schill, published an article in the newspaper, Le Monde, with a blunt title: “The Army Stands Ready.” Schill cut his teeth in France’s overseas adventures in the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte...

A group of young people in Paris are enjoying a drink in a café on an unseasonably warm evening. The conversation drifts into politics, but—as one young woman says—“Let’s not talk about France.” The others nod their assent. They focus on the U.S. presidential election,...

In 2024, 12 percent of “forcibly displaced and stateless people” are expected to be from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, said the United Nations. This displacement will be caused due to war, humanitarian crises, and environmental catastrophes. The number’s recent...

Aside from the relatively positive developments in terms of economic cooperation through China-Africa relations, much of the continent is under multidimensional pressure, diplomatically, militarily, and socio-politically. While South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa led a peace delegation to Ukraine and Russia seeking a path to peace,...

On July 26, 2023, Niger’s presidential guard moved against the sitting president—Mohamed Bazoum—and conducted a coup d’état. A brief contest among the various armed forces in the country ended with all the branches agreeing to the removal of Bazoum and the creation of a...