Topic: Burkina Faso
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Five key reasons Ivory Coast's election led to civil war
Ivory Coast’s long-anticipated Nov. 28 presidential election was meant to help the country move beyond its deep divisions.
Instead, the vote fueled a political stalemate that sucked the country back into civil war.More than four months after voters elected President Alassane Ouattara, renegade incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo still refuses to step down even though rebel forces have now confined him to a bunker beneath the presidential residence.
Hundreds of Ivorians have died in increasingly heavy fighting that included attacks this week by the United Nations and France.
How did a simple vote turn into this? There are a number of reasons that go back years, even decades.
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Photos of the Day: Photos of the Day 01/07
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In Pictures: Super Fans
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Focus
Will Mali be Africa's Afghanistan?Mali was hit by two successive shocks to its system this year – with the north seized by rebels and a coup in the capital – leaving its government fragile and the international community mulling intervention.
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Africa Monitor
Mali, Shari'a, and the MediaReporting tends to portray Islamic Sharia law as barbaric. Guest blogger Alex Thurston writes that this tendency hinders a chance to understand countries like Mali in their complexity.
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Briefing
Turmoil in Mali: Is it another Somalia?Islamists hijacked a long-running Tuareg rebellion in Mali and have turned the north into a strict Islamist state. Here are four key questions about where things might go from here.
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Change Agent
Sharing local knowledge helps farmers succeedFive groups highlight how farmers can share their problems and solutions with each other and policymakers around the world.
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Once a stopover, Mali town becomes frontline destination for displaced people
The town of Sévaré sits along Mali's de facto border with a region now controlled by Tuareg separatists. At a camp there, displaced people speak cautiously about why they fled.
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Keep Calm
At Rio+20 environmental summit, is 'catastrophe' inevitable?Wealthy Western nations are financially exhausted and unwilling to commit to help fund greener development for poorer nations. Will this week's conference in Rio find any solutions?
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Rebel alliances strengthen in Mali's north, rattling neighboring countries
The northern two-thirds of Mali is now under control of Tuareg and Islamist rebels who want to redraw national boundaries and export revolution. Displaced minorities tell of brutality.
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The Monitor's View: At G8 summit, US taps into Africa's 'cheetah generation'
For the G8 summit, Obama unveils a promise by private firms to invest $3 billion in raising Africa's farm productivity. Many young Africans, dubbed 'cheetahs,' are posed for effective private investment.
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Mali's Tuareg rebels claim independence in north
Separatist Tuareg rebels have captured large areas of mail's vast Saraha region and declared the independent state of Azawad.
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Keep Calm
Mali coup leaders pledge to hand over power as Tuareg rebels take TimbuktuDisarray following a March 21 coup has allowed Tuareg rebels to take over much of Mali's north. West African neighbors worry about spillover.
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African presidents forced to turn back from occupied Mali runway
The presidents of Ivory Coast, Benin, Liberia, Niger and Burkina Faso were due to arrive in Mali on Thursday to press for the departure of the junior officers that grabbed power in a coup last week.
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Keep Calm
Outgunned against rebels, Mali soldiers overthrow governmentAfter a string of defeats against better armed Tuareg rebels, Mali's army staged a mutiny and overthrew the government.
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Africa Monitor
Chad: a closer look at the food crisisThe current food crisis in Chad could affect 3.6 million people, writes guest blogger Alex Thurston.
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Africa Monitor
Amid police firings in Burkina Faso, all eyes on 2015 electionNearly a year after protests by trade unions and students, Burkina Faso's rulers are sorting through the fallout and recently fired 100 policemen, writes guest blogger Alex Thurston.
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Africa Monitor
Eritrean opposition takes its politics onlineOpposition leader Mohammed Ali Ibrahim disappeared this week, and opposition-run websites wasted little time in disseminating information in multiple languages.
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Famine ends in Somalia, as drought looms in West Africa
Aid groups say that improved harvests and food donations have ended risk of starvation, but warn that ongoing war in Somalia could still reverse gains made.
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Nigeria closes its borders amid unrest from Islamists, strikers
Nigeria's president met with security chiefs to discuss Islamist group Boko Haram, while Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka warned his country may be heading toward civil war.
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Change Agent
In Africa, using ants and termites to increase crop yieldsResearchers are confirming what African farmers already know: Termites and ants can be used to increase soil fertility and crop yields.
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Change Agent
Five innovations working to empower womenWomen produce more than half of the world's food but face unique challenges as farmers. Five innovative programs are helping them – and strengthening the world's food system.
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For tiny Burundi, big returns in sending peacekeepers to Somalia
For poorer countries like Burundi, sending soldiers to join a UN or African Union peacekeeping mission offers financial and political benefits, as well as better arms and training.
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Change Agent
Five innovations that boost soil fertilityFarmers and scientists are going beyond the massive use of chemical fertilizers to find innovative methods to improve soils and yields.
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Africa Monitor
Sahel grapples with food insecurityThere are major food production shortfalls across the Sahel – the band of countries south of the Sahara – that will jeopardize food availability next year.
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Guns, migrants, mercenaries: Qaddafi's loss is the Sahel's gain
Aside from Qaddafi and his family, up to one million migrants from Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso may leave war-torn Libya, and arms from Qaddafi's arsenal are already showing up in conflict zones as far away as Somalia.
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Qaddafi Watch
Qaddafi reportedly tracked heading south, although not in convoyHis plan may have been to rendezvous with the convoy outside of Libya.
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Qaddafi Watch
Did Qaddafi flee to Niger? Libyan convoy in Niger is reminder of Sahel's close ties.Muammar Qaddafi may not be in Niger, but he has lots of friends to Libya's south.
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