For the sixth time, the High-Level Committee on Food Security of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) took stock of the region’s food and nutrition situation. West African leaders met following the meeting of the UEMOA ministers in charge of agriculture and livestock, on 9 June in Niamey, Niger, under the chairmanship of Niger President Issoufou Mahamadou. Read on

SWAC Secretariat Director Laurent Bossard participated in the weekly radio podcast “Affaires étrangères” (Foreign Affairs) presented by Christine Ockrent on France Culture. In his contribution, Laurent Bossard recalled that Africa is a continent in progress, notably in the field of food security. Read on

The momentum of West Africa’s two jihadi theatres has started to favour al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group, which operates in the Mali/Sahel region, succeeded in consolidating its position, while Boko Haram, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic state, is less active in the Nigeria/Lake Chad region. This evolution suggests that, in the long term, the Islamic state will find it difficult to compete with al-Qaeda in the region. Read on

In Mali, “the Algiers Process is painfully slow, and peace is not advancing,” noted Jean-Hervé Jezequel, Deputy Project Director for West Africa at the International Crisis Group, offering his analysis of the situation in an interview on the website Sahelien.com. “The setting up of the interim authorities is a significant step towards clarifying the division of responsibilities and power in the north of the country. Beyond local tensions, it is also interesting to note that young Malians have been appointed to important positions (sometimes because they are the only graduates). But this remains a fragile and insufficient step,” he said. Read on