African leaders from the African Union’s (AU) 55 member countries gathered from 22-29 January in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the continent’s integration agenda. “Winning the fight against corruption: A sustainable path to Africa’s transformation” was the official topic of the 30th AU Summit. On this occasion, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari launched the AU’s 2018 theme, fighting corruption on the continent. Read on

From 6-8 December in Cotonou, Benin, CILSS organised a conference on “Operational approaches to conflict sensitivity and prevention in pastoral areas,” which was chaired by the Beninese minister of agriculture, livestock and fisheries. The purpose of the event was to present the achievements of the Pastoralism and stability in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa (PASSHA) project. Read on

Laurent Bossard, Director of the SWAC Secretariat, and the economist Jean-Marie Cour were invited to the programme “Eco d’ici Eco d’ailleurs” on RFI, a French public radio channel, where they discussed the issue of rural migration in Africa. They lamented the often-false perception of this phenomenon, which shows how difficult it is for observers and development actors to change the paradigm when it comes to how the continent’s transformations are analysed. Read on

In an interview given to the Swiss Co-operation and published in the June 2017 edition of Africa Brief, Laurent Bossard, director of the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC/OECD), highlighted some key challenges of cross-border co-operation. He pointed out that half the population of West Africa lives within 100-km of a border, where nothing stops “except the policies." Read on