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☆ How I went from community college to a Blackstone internship in just 5 years
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-16 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

I decided to attend the Bureau of Manhattan Community College to build up my academic skills before eventually transferring to City College. That person suggested I apply to Blackstone's LaunchPad, which gives first-generation college students a chance to experience corporate life through an internship. Before this internship, I had no corporate experience, but now I feel confident because I've succeeded at such a big firm with a good reputation. AdvertisementHere's how I went from being the first person in my family to apply to college shortly after moving to the US to an internship at Blackstone in just a few short years. He referred me to a campus recruiter from Blackstone and also told me about the LaunchPad internship.

Persons: Elian Hilario, Blackstone's, I've, Elian, Braven, Blackstone, LaunchPad, Maura Pally, I'm, we've Organizations: Service, Manhattan Community College, City College, Business, Blackstone, DEI, Diverse, Analysts, Blackstone Charitable Foundation Locations: New York, Dominican Republic, Blackstone's, Blackstone, of New York

☆ A Military Leader to His People: ‘Fight or You Disappear’
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-25 | by ( Elian Peltier | Guerchom Ndebo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Young men posed in front of posters of the country’s military leader. Over dinner in restaurants, families watched television monitors showing footage of drone strikes. The event was billed as a national cultural festival in the West African nation of Burkina Faso. But it often resembled a mobilization campaign in the all-out war against the Islamist terrorists who have gradually occupied the country in recent years. “The motherland or death,” Alaila Ilboudo, a spoken word artist, shouted onstage to the cheers of crowds at the festival, held in May in Bobo-Dioulasso, the country’s second largest city.

Persons: ” Alaila, Dioulasso Locations: West African, Burkina Faso, Bobo

☆ Three Countries Exit West African Bloc, Shaking a Fragile Region
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-10 | by ( Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Three West African countries have broken away from a 15-member regional bloc that has long ensured free movement of people and goods among its tightly knit economies, further destabilizing an area that is home to nearly 400 million people and threatened by violent insurgents. The leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger last weekend announced their “irrevocable and immediate” withdrawal from the bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS. The three countries, all ruled by military leaders friendly to Russia, span more than half of the bloc’s geographic area and are among its most populous. However, they are not the region’s largest economies, and as landlocked nations, all three depend on access to ports in coastal countries for overseas trade. “Our region is facing the risk of disintegration,” Omar Alieu Touray, the president of ECOWAS’s executive arm, said on Sunday.

Persons: ” Omar Alieu Touray Organizations: Economic, West Locations: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, West African States, Russia

At least 18 people were killed and dozens of others were wounded in a series of suicide bombings on Saturday afternoon in northeastern Nigeria, including at a wedding and a funeral, according to local officials and the police. The victims included children and pregnant women, Mr. Saidu said. Some Nigerian news outlets reported that at least 30 people had been killed. As of Sunday morning, no group had claimed responsibility for the bombings. The blasts resembled previous attacks carried out by Boko Haram, whose fighters have killed tens of thousands in Nigeria and whose aggression in the region has led to the displacement of more than two million people.

Persons: Barkindo Saidu, Haram, Saidu, Boko Haram Locations: Nigeria, Borno, Gwoza, Borno State, Nigerian

☆ Year After Failed Mutiny, Russia Tightens Grip on Wagner Units in Africa
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For years, Russia covertly propped up authoritarian leaders, exploited natural resources and fought extremists in a number of African countries. Russia worked through the Wagner group, a shadowy web of political advisers, entrepreneurs and mercenaries. Wagner was led by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, a ruthless tycoon who was once a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. But after Mr. Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny against Mr. Putin in June last year, Mr. Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash. The Russian Ministry of Defense has taken control of Wagner’s mercenary arm in Africa and placed it under a bigger umbrella group, Africa Corps.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny V, Vladimir V, Putin, Prigozhin Organizations: Mr, Russian Ministry of Defense, Africa Corps Locations: Russia, Western, Ukraine, Africa

☆ When a Tale of Migration Is Not Just Fiction
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-18 | by ( Elian Peltier | Annika Hammerschlag | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The two teenagers on the screen trudging through the endless dunes of the Sahara on their way to Europe were actors. But to the young man watching the movie one recent evening in a suburb of Dakar, Senegal’s capital, the cinematic ordeal felt all too real. “This is why they refused to send me money to take that route,” said Ahmadou Diallo, 18, a street cleaner. It is now showing in African countries, and is hitting close to home in Senegal. That’s where the two main characters in the movie embark on an odyssey that epitomizes the dreams and hardships of countless more hoping to make it abroad.

Persons: ”, Ahmadou Diallo, — Locations: Europe, Libyan, Dakar, Senegal’s, Africa, Senegal, That’s

☆ ‘They Shot at Us All’: Burkina Faso Accused of Massacring Civilians
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( Elian Peltier | Christiaan Triebert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

He lay on top of his young sons, trying to shield them with his body, he said. The military had forced them and dozens of other villagers under a baobab tree. “They shot at us all,” said Daouda, a farmer who had survived for years in jihadist-controlled territory only to be shot at by the military that was supposed to protect him. The mass killings in Daouda’s village and a nearby hamlet in February were among the deadliest in a decade of upheaval in Burkina Faso, a country torn apart by the Islamist insurgencies that have swept across parts of western Africa. Burkina Faso has faced such relentless assaults from extremist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State that it topped the Global Terrorism Index last year, becoming the nation hardest hit by terrorism in the world.

Persons: ”, Daouda, Al Qaeda Organizations: Al, Islamic Locations: jihadist, Daouda’s, Burkina Faso, Africa, Islamic State

☆ The Bleak Life of a Deposed President and His Wife, Held Captive
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-04 | by ( Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Held captive by his former security guards in an isolated wing of his house, the deposed president of Niger paces a bedroom with no direct daylight, cut off from the world and unable to talk to his lawyers, according to people with direct knowledge of the conditions of his detention. Nine months since he was toppled in one of the coups that have recently wracked West Africa, Mohamed Bazoum is lingering in detention with no end in sight. The military junta that deposed him is seeking to strip him of presidential immunity, paving the way for him to be prosecuted on charges such as treason, for which the penalty could be life imprisonment, his lawyers said. His only visitor is a doctor, who brings him food once a week. Many of Mr. Bazoum’s closest allies — his cabinet members and advisers — have been thrown into jail or forced to flee Niger.

Persons: Mohamed Bazoum, Hadiza, Bazoum’s, — Locations: Niger, West Africa

It is the middle of Sunday afternoon, and he has not yet finished his shift at the barbershop. “I took a break for the love of the game,” Mr. Adeshina said. Mr. Adeshina became an Arsenal fan in the late 1990s, when Nigerian cable channels first began broadcasting the Premier League. If anything, though, Mr. Adeshina says his connection to the team is even deeper now. “He’s Yoruba, I’m Yoruba,” Mr. Adeshina said, in a tone rather softer than that with which he celebrated his idol’s first-half goal against Spurs.

Persons: Mayowa, “, Mr, Adeshina, Germain, Nwankwo Kanu Organizations: Arsenal, Real, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs Locations: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Nigeria, London

☆ Senegal’s Leader Breaks Up Cabinet and Sets Date for Presidential Election
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Macky Sall of Senegal on Wednesday dissolved his cabinet, replaced the prime minister and rescheduled the country’s presidential election to March 24, according to a government statement. He cited an inquiry into allegations of corruption at the Constitutional Court, but political opponents and some analysts called the maneuver a constitutional coup. His decision Wednesday to set a date may allay some of the fears that he was trying to remain in office. The Constitutional Court, Senegal’s highest tribunal, promptly overturned Mr. Sall’s attempt to delay the election last month. Shortly after the court’s decision, the president said he would leave power on April 2, when his term will expire.

Persons: Macky Sall, Sall, Sall’s Organizations: Wednesday, Constitutional Locations: Senegal, Africa, United States, West, Senegal’s

Lives Ended in Gaza Since the war started, more than 30,000 people have been killed during Israel’s bombardment and invasion. Hamas ruled Gaza and ran a covert military organization, the identity of its fighters unclear, even to other Gazans. She worked with people who had been wounded and displaced by Israeli attacks on Gaza as well as with first responders. She moved to Egypt after the 2014 Gaza war but returned a few months before the current war. He performed complicated operations on Gaza’s war wounded while running Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah until his retirement.

Persons: Israel, Marah, Farah, Farah Alkhatib, Kinder, Selena al, Lubna Elian, Yousef Abu Moussa, Abdulhadi, Maram, Youmna Shaqalih, Abdulrahman Abuamara, Ghadeer Mohammed Mansour, Salah, Khaled Jadallah, Doaa Jadallah, Mahmoud Alnaouq, Jannat Iyad Abu Zbeada, Rami Abu Reyaleh, Alhelou, “, ”, —, Faida AlKrunz, Saud AlKrunz, tinker, Ahmed Abu Shaeera, Al Aqsa, Youssef Salama, Hedaya Hamad, Salah Abo Harbed, Jeries Sayegh, Inas, “ Sara ”, ” Sayel, Ai Wei Wei’s, Heba Zagout, Ali, Amneh, Belal Abu Samaan, Israel ”, Abu Yousef Al, Abdallah Shehada, Tarazi, Heba Jourany, Osama Al, Haddad, Riyad Alkhatib, ” Mahmoud Elian Organizations: UNICEF, Oxygen, Al, Awda, F.C, Barcelona, Facebook, Islamic, Palestinian Authority, Palestine Red Crescent Society, Free Gaza Circus, Christian, Officially, American International School, Palestine Athletics Federation, Najjar, United Nations, West Bank Locations: Gaza, Israel, Spain, Norway, Italian, Australia, Egypt, Turkey, Bolivia, Argentina, Panama, Mexico, Qatar, Al Aqsa, Jerusalem, “ Palestine, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Palestinian, Old City, Mazaj, Gaza City, Manhattan, Chicago, Mecca, Rafah, Libya, Uganda, Ireland

Ghana’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that imposes jail terms on people who identify as L.G.B.T.Q. or organize gay advocacy groups, measures that Amnesty International called among the harshest on the African continent. issues could get five years, and those who engage in gay sex would receive five years instead of the three years under previous legislation. The bill is the latest in a wave of anti-gay legislation passed in Africa: Tanzania, Niger and Namibia have tightened such laws in recent years, while Uganda has adopted an anti-gay law that includes the death penalty. Many have experienced a surge in homophobic attitudes, behaviors and rhetoric in recent years, the rights group said in a report last year.

Persons: Nana Akufo Organizations: Amnesty Locations: Africa, Tanzania, Niger, Namibia, Uganda

For years, Chinese companies and their contractors have been slaughtering millions of donkeys across Africa, coveting gelatin from the animals’ hides that is processed into traditional medicines, popular sweets and beauty products in China. But a growing demand for the gelatin has decimated donkey populations at such alarming rates in African countries that governments are now moving to put a brake on the mostly unregulated trade. The African Union, a body that encompasses the continent’s 55 states, adopted a continentwide ban on donkey skin exports this month in the hope that stocks will recover. Rural households across Africa rely on donkeys for transportation and agriculture. Yet donkeys only breed a foal every couple of years.

Organizations: African Locations: Africa, China, African Union

☆ A Graphic Novel Finds a Relatable Hero in a Modern African Woman
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One of the most successful African comics has no super heroes, and certainly no supernatural powers. Instead, “Aya,” a graphic novel series, is full of everyday heroes, and topping the list is Aya herself, a young woman navigating the delights and obstacles of early adulthood in the West African nation of Ivory Coast. Inspired by the childhood years that its author, Marguerite Abouet, spent in Ivory Coast and focused on daily life in a working-class suburb of Abidjan, the country’s largest city, the series mixes humor and biting takes on society, with a feminist twist — all vividly captured by Clément Oubrerie, the illustrator. In the books, Aya and her friends go on awkward first dates, hook up and share countless shenanigans that celebrate Ivory Coast’s favorite sport after soccer — “palabrer,” or talking endlessly.

Persons: “ Aya, ”, Aya, Marguerite Abouet, Clément Oubrerie, Ivory Locations: West African, Ivory Coast, Abidjan

☆ China Keeps Building Stadiums in Africa. But at What Cost?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Elian Peltier | Joao Silva | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Alassane Ouattara stadium rises like a piece of sculpture from the dusty brown earth north of Ivory Coast’s largest city, its undulating roof and white columns towering over the empty landscape like a spaceship that has dropped onto a uninhabited planet. On Sunday, the three-and-a-half-year-old stadium will host its signature moment, when the national soccer teams of Ivory Coast and Nigeria compete in the final of Africa’s biggest sporting event, in front of tens of thousands of fans chanting and cheering in a stadium financed and built by China. While that is nothing new for the tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations, the arena is just the latest example of the contradictions that emerge from Chinese projects built on Chinese terms, and on African soil. Stadiums have been a cornerstone of China’s diplomatic reach into Africa since the 1970s, but their number has increased since the early 2000s, part of a larger Chinese strategy to build infrastructure — from highways to railroads, ports to presidential palaces and even the headquarters of the African Union — in exchange for diplomatic clout or access to natural resources.

Persons: Ouattara Organizations: Africa, of Nations, African Locations: Ivory Coast’s, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, China, Africa

☆ Playing Soccer in Abidjan? Get Yourself a Pair of Lêkê.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Elian Peltier | Joao Silva | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The wealthy pros of Ivory Coast’s national soccer team were resting in their luxury hotel last week, preparing for a match in Africa’s biggest tournament, when Yaya Camara sprinted onto a dusty lot and began fizzing one pass after another to his friends. Shiny soccer cleats like his idols’? No thanks, said Mr. Camara, a lean 18-year-old midfielder, as he wiped sweat from his brow. “How did the pros started playing when they were kids like us? With lêkê,” he added, referring to the sandals that are ubiquitous not only in his pickup game but almost any place an Ivorian puts their feet.

Persons: Ivory, Yaya Camara, ’, Camara Organizations: soccer team, Africa’s Locations: Ivory Coast’s

☆ Dozens Feared Dead in Collapse of Informal Gold Mine in Mali
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Elian Peltier | More About Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Scores of people have died in the West African nation of Mali after an informal gold mine collapsed last week, the country’s Ministry of Mines said on Wednesday, highlighting the risks that countless artisanal miners face in one of Africa’s largest gold-producing countries. Several West African countries have experienced a new boom in informal mining, also known as artisanal mining, over the past two decades. It has provided a livelihood to thousands of people, fed trafficking routes and attracted armed groups. In northern Mali, for instance, Tuareg rebels and insurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda control mining sites. About six tons came from artisanal mining.

Persons: Seydou Traoré Organizations: country’s Ministry of Mines, Associated Press, Al Locations: West African, Mali, Bamako, Al Qaeda

The bus station in Agadez, a remote city of low mud-brick buildings in the West African nation of Niger, is buzzing again. For years, this portal was closed, at least officially. The country’s government, friendly to Europe, outlawed migration out of Agadez, and in exchange the European Union poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Niger’s coffers and the local economy. But last summer, after generals in Niger seized power in a military coup, the European Union suspended financial support to the government — and in response, the generals severed the migration arrangement with the European Union in November. The gate is once again open, and a fresh flock of hopeful migrants is once again passing through, to the relief of many locals.

Organizations: European Union Locations: Agadez, West African, Niger, West, Central Africa, North Africa, Europe

☆ Saudi Arabia isn’t ruling out befriending Israel. But it may come at a higher price
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +70 min

Fatima Shbair/AP Mourners collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza, on December 24. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/picture-alliance/AP Relatives and friends bid farewell to the body of Al Jazeera camera operator Samer Abu Daqqa in Khan Younis, Gaza, on December 16. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images Israeli soldiers form an honor guard at the funeral of Israeli reserve soldier Master Sgt. Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Children use candles for lighting in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Friday, October 20. Maya Alleruzzo/AP A boy carries salvaged belongings from the wreckage of his family's home in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 11.

Persons: UAE CNN —, Antony Blinken, ” Blinken, ”, “, “ There’s, ” Prince Khalid bin Bandar, ” Ali Shihabi, Shihabi, Israel, Blinken, Evelyn Hockstein, Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden, Abraham, Biden, Yousef Al Otaiba, Israel “, ” Otaiba, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Firas Maksad, Abir, Prince Khalid, Maksad, Jamal Khashoggi, ” Maksad, ” Prince Khalid, Isaac Herzog, Oded, Abed Rahim Khatib, Noam Galai, Majdi, Sufian Dagash, Ohad, Abed Zagout, Harel Ittah, Ariel Schalit, Khan Yunis, Stringer, Elisha Yehonatan Lober, Mount Herzl, Maja Hitij, Fatima Shbair, Ahmad Hasaballah, Mohammed Salem, Yaacov Elian, Boris Dunavetski, Amir Levy, Mohammed Abed, Mahmud Hams, Alon Lulu Shamriz, Ilia Yefimovich, Abu Daqqa, Khan, Khan Younis, Ben Shelly, Clodagh Kilcoyne, Eviatar Cohen, Mostafa Alkharouf, Mohammed Dahman, Ibraheem Abu Mustafa, Atef Safadi, Gal Meir Eisenkot, Eisenkot, Gadi Eisenkot, Leo Correa, Alexi Rosenfeld, Alleruzzo, Amir Cohen, Gil Cohen, Menahem Kahana, Sergeant Aschalwu Sama, Tsafrir, John MacDougall, Ahed Tamimi, Nasser Nasser, Viktor, Helena Brodski, Kiril Brodski, Ammar Awad, Jack Guez, Jabel Mukaber, Mahmoud Illean, Alexander Ermochenko, Younis, Mustafa Hassona, Asher, Raz, Doron, Schneider, Jaafar Ashtiyeh, Majed Al, Ansari, Mohammed Hajjar, Said Khatib, Jalaa Marey, Victor R, Liron Snir, James Oatway, Ashraf Amra, Ahmad Gharabli, Rizek Abdeljawad, Major Jamal Abbas, Shir Torem, Alexi J . Rosenfeld, Christopher Furlong, Hatem Ali, Avraham Fetena, Sgt, Raz Abulafia, Fadel Senna, Nasser, Matan Meir, Haitham Imad, Roni Eshel, Eshel, Kenzo Tribouillard, Sadi Berek, Salah al, Varda Goldstein, Nir Oz, Bernat, Tomer Appelbaum, Mohammad Abu Elsebah, Khaled Ibn Al, Walid, Ya'akov Ozeri, Ronen Zvulun, Mohammed Alaloul, Neil Hall, Saeed Jaras, Mohammad Abu Hattab, Mohammed Talatene, Ditza Heiman, Salman Habaka, Yuval Zilber, Jalaa Merey, Ahmad Salem, Ali Jadallah, Anas al, Yosef Vahav, Kiryat Shmona, Albert Miles, Ilan Rosenberg, Manna, Tamar Chaya Torpiashvili, Abed Khaled, Tamir Kalifa, Yoav Gallant, Jehad Al, Kafarnah, Teddy, Dan Kitwood, Dima Vazinovich, Sagiv Ben Zvi, Omar El, Yasser Qudih, Francisco Seco, Mohammed Saber, Ali Mohmoud, Mai Yaghi, Yam Goldstein, Nadav, Khaled Joudeh, Samar Abu, Leon Neal, Hatem Moussa, Wolfgang Schwan, Yousef Masoud, Shadi Tabatibi, Belal al Sabbagh, Janis Laizans, Gallant, Ofir Libstein, Aza, Belal Khaled, Hod, Ayal Margolin, Brendan Smialowski, Netanyahu, Kenny Holston, Kfar Aza, Mahmoud Khaled, Dor Reder, Violeta Santos Moura, Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa, Antonio Macías, Macías, Eli Albag, Liri, Sergey Ponomarev, Dor Kedmi, Saher, Abraham Cohen, Valentin Ghnassia, Ghnassia, Yuri Cortez, Ibrahim Hams, Bashar Taleb, Baz Ratner, Yahya Hassouna, Mapal Adam, Agha, Reuters Itzik, Miriam Shafir, Dor Shafir, Savion Kiper, Maya Alleruzzo, CNN Sergey Ponomarev, Eden Guez, Mohammed Soboh, Said, Noam Elimeleh Rothenberg, Ilai Bar Sade, Erik Marmor, Oren Ziv, Ramez Mahmoud, Roi Levy, Tali Touito, Ahmad Hasballah, Eyad Baba, Itai Ron, Hadas Parush, Lana Nusseibeh, “ That’s, Abu Dhabi, Anwar Gargash, ” Gargash Organizations: UAE CNN, Hamas, BBC, CNN, Palestinian, West Bank, Reuters, United Arab, Abraham Accords, Israel, UAE, Arab League, Saudi, Fox News, Washington Institute for Near East, Middle East Institute, Israeli, Getty, of Health, Congressional, Republicans, United Nations Security, AP, European Hospital, Mount, Rockets, UN, Anadolu, Museum of Art, Security, Nova, Magen, Getty Images, Kiryat, Islamic Jihad, Red, Tel, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical, Young, AP People, Schneider Children's Medical, Sisters, Schneider Children's, Ofer, Cross, Foreign, Artillery, Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Al, Unicef, AP Journalists, Israel Defense Forces, Modern, Nasser Hospital, Nasser Medical, Najjar, Israel Defence Forces handout, Shutterstock, Reuters United Nations, Shifa, Palestine, Pictures, Bloomberg, Israeli Apache, United Nations Relief, Works Agency, Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, IDF, EyePress, New York Times, Nasser Medical Hospital, Deir Al, Tel Aviv University, Reuters Civil, AP Rockets, AP Israel's, Regional, Israel's, Ahli Baptist Hospital, Ben Gurion International, Aris Messinis, Haim, Puma, Mount Herzl Military, Anadolu Agency, Nova Festival, Ben Gurion, United Nations, Reuters Police, Reuters Rockets, Wall, Shihabi Locations: Abu Dhabi, UAE, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Saudi, United Kingdom, Gaza, United States, ”, Palestinian, East Jerusalem, Al Ula, Reuters Israeli, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, Washington , DC, Jerusalem, Abir Sultan, AFP, Turkey, Gulf, Tel Aviv, Israeli, Rafah, Maghar, Anadolu, Netanya, Khan, Khan Younis, Shaul, Shefayim, Jazeera, Kidron, Kfar Saba, Nahal Oz, Herzliya, Ashkelon, Petah Tikva, Ramallah, Egypt, Ofakim, Jabel, Khezaa, Gazan, Sisters Aviv, Beitunia, Gaza City, Galilee, Lebanon, Al, Aqsa, Al Bureij, Deir Al Balah, Xinhua, Pekiin, Mavki'im, Haifa, Sderot, Beit Hashmonai, Europe, Rishpon, Odem, Gaza's Al, Deir Al, Balah, Bureij, Kfar Aza, Meron, Jerusalem's, City, Jerusalem's Old City, Deir Balah, Mahmud, Southern Israel, Yanuh Jat, Netaim, Golan Heights, Shareef, Beit Guvrin, Kiryat, Al Aqsa, Kibbutz Be'eri, Ashdod, Holon, Najjar, Ichilov, Kibbutz Shefayim, Deir, Samar, Samar Abu Elouf, Deir al, Kibbutz Kissufim, Zahra City, Ras, Israel's, Yehuda, Hod HaSharon, Kiryat Shmona, Ahli, Gan, Kfar, North Sinai, Beit Kama, Cyprus, Be'eri, Rehovot, Mount Herzl, Modiin Maccabim, Mount Herzel, Yassin, Beitar Ilit, Ramat Gan, Itai, Beit Hanun, Rishon Lezion, Dhabi, Dubai, Al Arabiya

In palmier times, the leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, appeared at a Russian cultural center in the capital of the Central African Republic, sitting with schoolchildren and promising them free laptops. But Mr. Prigozhin’s death in August has rattled the mercenary group’s once-cozy relations with the Central African Republic, which is now weighing offers from Russia and Western countries, including the United States, to replace Wagner as its primary security guarantor. The outcome of this struggle could be a bellwether for the group’s future on the continent, where the Central African Republic is perhaps the most deeply enmeshed among the handful of African nations partnering with Wagner. The Russian Defense Ministry has sought to absorb some of Wagner’s activities, while preserving its influence and maintaining its wealth of knowledge about the continent. But a senior Western diplomat said that the uncertainty around Wagner in the Central African Republic provided a “window of opportunity” for the United States and France to counter Russian influence.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin’s, group’s, ” Organizations: Central African, Russian Defense Ministry Locations: Russian, Central African Republic, Russia, Western, United States, France

☆ Need Therapy? In West Africa, Hairdressers Can Help.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( Elian Peltier | More About Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Joseline de Lima was wandering the dusty alleys of her working-class neighborhood in the capital of Togo one day last year, when a disturbing thought crossed her mind: Who would take care of her two boys if her depression worsened and she were no longer around to look after them? Ms. de Lima, a single mother who was grieving the recent death of her brother and had lost her job at a bakery, knew she needed help. But therapy was out of the question. “Too formal and expensive,” she recalled thinking. Help came instead from an unexpected counselor: Ms. de Lima’s hairdresser, who had noticed her erratic walks in the neighborhood and provided a safe space to share her struggles amid the curly wigs hanging from colorful shelves and the bright neon lights of her small salon in Lomé, Togo’s capital.

Persons: Joseline, de Locations: Lima, Togo, de Lima, Lomé

☆ As Junta Tightens Grip, Niger Is Being Strangled by Sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Elian Peltier | More About Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Since a military coup in Niger this summer, work days for Ahmed Alhousseïni have been consumed with calls from increasingly worried clients and colleagues asking the same questions. An executive for a leading food importer in Niger, Mr. Alhousseïni said one recent morning that he had spent his weekend hunting for cooking oil in Niamey, the capital city, with no luck. After mutinous soldiers seized power in Niger, West African countries froze financial transactions, closed their borders with Niger and cut off most of its electricity supply in an effort to pressure the generals into restoring constitutional order. Sanctions and other penalties are now strangling Niger’s economy, with food prices and shortages growing and many medicines becoming increasingly scarce. “Closing Niger’s borders is like depriving us of air,” said Mr. Alhousseïni, the managing director of Oriba Rice.

Persons: Ahmed Alhousseïni, Alhousseïni, Gen, Abdourahmane, haven’t, ”, Oriba Rice Locations: Niger, Niamey, Ghana, Senegal, West

On July 26, as a military coup was underway in the West African nation of Niger, the airwaves of Télé Sahel, the state television station, filled with upbeat music videos praising the military. Some of these videos had been circulating for years, but since a group of generals toppled the democratically elected president in July, Niger has witnessed a revival of both old and new military propaganda, now remixed for the TikTok era. Fear and respect toward the military are also deeply entrenched within the society, analysts said. It is not clear how many Nigeriens support the military takeover. Among throngs of men assembled in front of the country’s national assembly, the green and orange Nigerien flags, raised fists and defiant messages against Western countries provided an ideal backdrop for their new song, “Niger Guida,” or “Niger My Home” in the Hausa language.

Persons: —, insurgencies, Zabeirou Barké, Niger, Nigeriens, ” Organizations: Nigerien Locations: West African, Niger, Sahel, West, Nigeriens, Niamey

Mr. Putin himself is under an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children, as is his commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova. The two entities placed under sanctions are a Russian-owned camp and an organization that has overseen Ukrainian children who were sent to a camp in the Chechen Republic. “Children are literally being ripped from their homes in the year 2023 by a country sitting in this very chamber,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said. Some are pressured into accepting Russian citizenship, and others have been adopted by Russian families, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said. “You will hear Russian officials say that their transfers of children are part of humanitarian evacuations,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said on Thursday.

Persons: Ramzan Kadyrov, Aymani Nesievna, Kadyrova, reeducation, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Maria Lvova, Biden, ”, “ It’s, Linda Thomas, Greenfield, Ms, Thomas, ARTEK, AKF, Galina Anatolevna Pyatykh, Irina Anatolyevna Ageeva, Irina Aleksandrovna Cherkasova, Mansur Mussaevich Soltaev, Magomedovich Khuchiev, Konstantin Albertovich Fedorenko, Alievich, Olena Oleksandrivna Shapurova, Vladimir Vladislavovich Kovalenko, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nechaev, “ Organizations: State Department, Kremlin, International, Court, Ukraine, Security, U.S ., Federal, Educational Institute International Children Center, Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, The State Department, Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Youth Army Locations: Russia, Russian, United States, Ukraine, Chechen, Chechen Republic ., U.S, Crimea, Chechen Republic of Russia, Belgorod, Russia’s Kaluga, Russia’s Rostov, Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, Sevastopol, Crimean

☆ What’s in Our Queue? Gyedu-Blay Ambolley and More
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

What’s in Our Queue? Gyedu-Blay Ambolley and MoreI’m The Times’s West Africa correspondent. I love diving into the cultural scenes of the countries I write about — and taking occasional breaks on my Nintendo Switch. Here are five things I’ve been reading, playing and listening to lately →

Persons: Ambolley, → Organizations: Nintendo Locations: Africa

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