Senegal Constitutional Council Finds Election Delay Unlawful

DAKAR, SENEGAL — Sene­gal’s Con­sti­tu­tion­al Coun­cil on Thurs­day ruled that par­lia­men­t’s unprece­dent­ed post­pone­ment of the Feb­ru­ary 25 pres­i­den­tial vote was not in line with the con­sti­tu­tion, pitch­ing the coun­try into a new phase of elec­toral uncer­tain­ty.  Oppo­si­tion pres­i­den­tial can­di­dates and law­mak­ers last week filed sev­er­al legal chal­lenges to the bill that delayed the vote to December…

Cameroon Opposition Calls for Single Candidate to Face Biya in Next Election

Yaounde, Cameroon — Lead­ers of Cameroon’s main oppo­si­tion par­ty say they are nego­ti­at­ing with more than 30 oppo­si­tion lead­ers to present a sin­gle can­di­date in the next elec­tion, should 91-year-old Pres­i­dent Paul Biya be inca­pac­i­tat­ed by ill health. The oppo­si­tion react­ed after Biya, who has ruled for more than four decades, made no men­tion of running…

French Departure From Niger Underscores Fading Influence

PARIS — France clos­es 2023 with a dimin­ished pres­ence in Africa’s restive Sahel region, after with­draw­ing troops from three once-staunch allied coun­tries col­lec­tive­ly fight­ing an Islamist insur­gency, and see­ing its influ­ence increas­ing­ly replaced by oth­er pow­ers, includ­ing Rus­sia. The last French sol­diers left Niger ear­li­er this month, with Paris tak­ing the unusu­al step of clos­ing its…

Somalia Joins East Africa Trade Bloc as It Eyes New Opportunities

The East African Com­mu­ni­ty trade bloc admit­ted Soma­lia as its eighth mem­ber on Fri­day, a move Soma­li author­i­ties and busi­ness­es hope will boost the coun­try’s war-rav­aged econ­o­my. The EAC com­mon mar­ket — which con­sists of Burun­di, Demo­c­ra­t­ic Repub­lic of Con­go, Kenya, Rwan­da, South Sudan, Tan­za­nia and Ugan­da — was set up in 2010 and currently…