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Major General Moussa Salaou Barmou has built a reputation as one of the Sahel's most battle-tested tacticians. His political profile rose during the events of July 2023 in Niamey, but his operational credentials rest on advanced instruction at some of the United States' most prestigious military institutions.US military schools: where Barmou's doctrine took shapeBarmou's academic and military record shows a clear progression through elite American training programs. That path combined hands-on infantry schooling with high-level strategic education.Fort Moore and the infantry schoolAt Fort Moore, formerly Fort Benning in Georgia, he completed the U.S. Army Infantry School. The course is a benchmark for infantry tactics, assault operations and close-quarters combat conditioning.National Defe...

World Bank brings direct career and startup opportunities to Abidjan The World Bank will host its Open Days event in Abidjan on 21 and 22 September 2026 at the Sofitel Hôtel Ivoire ice rink, offering young Ivorians direct access to education, training, job, and entrepreneurship programs. Who can benefit from the Open Days in Abidjan? Students seeking career guidance, fresh graduates hunting for their first job, aspiring entrepreneurs, startup founders, and young professionals will have the chance to interact with experts and explore financing options tailored to their needs. What to expect during the Abidjan Open Days The event covers key areas such as: Education and vocational training opportunities Job placement and professional integration support Entrepreneurship and innovation ...

Chad’s Ministry of Justice executed a presidential pardon on Wednesday, releasing 150 inmates from Klessoum Correctional Facility under Decree No. 2151/PR/2026. Presidential Pardon Grants Freedom to 150 Detainees Justice Minister Ndolenodji Alixe Naïmbaye personally supervised the mass release at Klessoum Prison, marking the enforcement of President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno’s clemency decree. The ceremony, held on September 16, 2026, brought together judicial, security, and civil society leaders to witness the historic event. Legal Framework and Humanitarian Justification The decree applies exclusively to inmates serving finalized common-law custodial sentences whose remaining terms were fully absolved under the new provisions. Minister Naïmbaye emphasized the decree’s dual purpose: redu...

The decree that General Abdourahamane Tiani signed on 15 September 2026 was packaged as routine business. The reaction told a very different story. Far from calming the country, the first major cabinet reshuffle since the July 2023 coup has opened a fresh public argument about where Niger is heading, who is being rewarded, and what all of this means for ordinary households already stretched to breaking point.Officially sold as a simple "technical reorganisation", the new team reads to many as a political rescue operation. Boxed in on every front, the Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie (CNSP) appears to have used the reshuffle to close ranks, hand out prizes and lock down power at a moment of widespread frustration. The fallout from that choice, and the debate it has set off, ...

The announcement landed at the close of a Council of Ministers session, dressed up as a routine upgrade of the rules governing online outlets and the foreign press. Within hours, the ordinance had set off something the text itself never mentions: a wave of reaction that spread from newsrooms in Niamey to diaspora forums and encrypted chat groups, pushing one uncomfortable question to the centre of public debate. What remains of independent reporting in Niger, and what comes next? Some words are launched like promises and end up reading like death notices. "Sovereignty" has joined that family. By rolling out a new legal framework for the electronic press and for foreign media, the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) claims to be shielding the country's virtual space. ...

Audit reveals lower debt stock and improved ratio Gabon now has a clearer picture of its public debt. Following an audit commissioned by the state and finalized as of December 31, 2025, the consolidated debt stock has been set at 9,524.643 billion CFA francs, down from nearly 11,700 billion at the start of the process. The debt-to-GDP ratio now stands at 68.91%, compared to 84.6% previously. This revision represents a drop of 15.69 percentage points, bringing the country below the 70% ceiling set by the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). How the audit was conducted Officially launched on June 17, 2026, the work was carried out by the committee established by decree No. 077/MEFDPLVC of April 27, 2026. The goal was to verify, identify, and consolidate the state's finan...

Digitalisation du foncier au Gabon : le Ministre de l’Économie rejoint le protocole avec SNEDAI GROUPE par · 15 septembre 2026 éorte sur la mise en place d’un système foncier et cadastral entièrement informatisé, sécurisé et interconnecté. L’objectif est notamment de fiabiliser les données, d’améliorer la localisation des parcelles, de réduire les risques de doublons et de chevauchements et, plus largement, de renforcer la traçabilité des opérations foncières. Cette réforme s’inscrit également dans les orientations du Pilier III du Plan National de Croissance et de Développement (PNCD) 2023-2030, qui prévoit notamment la mode...

In Yaoundé, the long-awaited hearing of the lead investigator in the Martinez Zogo case has finally concluded, shedding new light on the circumstances surrounding the journalist's death. Colonel Jean-Pierre Otoulou took the stand to defend his investigation, asserting that he had gathered substantial evidence. Among his claims was that Bruno Bidjang, then an associate of businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga—one of the main suspects in the case—had attempted to obtain information about inquiries targeting him. While Bidjang tried to prove his innocence, the lawyer for Martinez Zogo's heirs denounced what he called interference in the proceedings. "This simply reveals what we suspected from the start. He effectively tried to infiltrate the joint commission in an investigation that was sup...

Between 50 and 80 Malian soldiers and members of Africa Corps, the structure that took over from Wagner, were killed on Thursday 10 September in a jihadist attack on the military camp at Dioura, in central Mali. Local authorities confirmed the scale of the killing on Monday 14 September, announcing at the same time "aero-terrestrial operations against the assailants". A blow of exceptional weight for the Malian army Fifteen years of war have produced few days as costly as this one. No fewer than fifty Malian soldiers and five Russian paramilitaries serving under the Africa Corps banner lost their lives in the assault on Dioura, a locality in the centre of the country. Officials who spoke on Monday placed the final figure somewhere between fifty and eighty dead. The raid was claimed the ve...

The terrorist group JNIM (Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin) has attacked a convoy of the African Corps, Russia, and the Malian military government.The ambush occurred on September 9 near the village of Kaka, in the Mopti region. Available information indicates that the attack killed 13 soldiers among the Russian and Malian forces.JNIM claimed to have seized 14 motorcycles, 2 PKM machine guns, 6 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 6 grenades, and a large quantity of ammunition.Earlier on July 14, it was reported that rebels had attacked a military convoy in northern Mali, transporting soldiers of the Malian army and fighters of the "African Corps" of the Russian Ministry of Defense.According to initial information, the convoy consisted of more than 200 Russian mercenaries and about a hundred Mal...