Francophone Africa update: 8 November 2021

West African regional bloc ECOWAS imposes new sanctions on military transition leaders in Mali and Guinea. France 24 Al Jazeera

Two attacks in Niger’s Tillabery region kill 69 civilians and eleven soldiers. LE FIGARO

Literature: Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, 31-year-old writer born in Senegal, awarded Goncourt prize for The Most Secret Memory of Men. Afrique XXI RFI The Guardian

Ex- Central African Republic president and other rebels said to be in N’Djamena. RFI

British Council study finds English language is gaining ground in Morocco. The Africa Report

Long read (in French): “Au Sahel, le dérèglement climatique a bon dos” Afrique XXI

Interview (in French): Dr Rama Salla Dieng : « L’Afrique a aussi eu ses féminismes et elle ne le doit pas à l’Occident » Le Monde

New publication on the Sahel: Bruno Charbonneau, ‘Counter-insurgency governance in the Sahel’, International Affairs, 97: 6, November 2021 https://academic.oup.com/ia/article/97/6/1805/6412468

North-Africa Roundup

  • The 4th Congrès des études sur le Moyen-Orient et les Mondes Musulmans will be taking place online 28 June – 2 July, with panels including Islam and activism in North-West Africa, post-2011 sociopolitical upheavals through a gender lens, and language education and identities in Morocco and Algeria. Registration is free. More info here.
  • The Funambulist have made their back issues available, including two articles on the inter-related history of Algeria and Palestine. Building on her exhibition Discrete Violence: Architecture the French War in Algeria, Samia Henni discusses landscapes of colonial violence in Palestine and Algeria with Mostafa Minawi. In the second article, Lina Soualem relates how her encounter with Yannis Arab’s research on Palestine’s Algerians / Algeria’s Palestinians stroke a personal chord. Yannis Arab’s talk is available here.
  • The Arab Uprisings Project is a continually updated website with new resources, and event recordings made available monthly. This is a fantastic resources if you’re teaching or researching North Africa, or political engagement more widely.
  • Maghreb Maghrek‘s latest issue focuses on the Hirak and “street politics” in Algeria.