Niger’s military junta has announced plans to prosecute deposed President Mohamed Bazoum for high treason and undermining national security. This is the latest sign that the junta intends to resist international pressure to return power to Mr Bazoum. The West African regional bloc Ecowas said it was shocked to learn that the junta...

Niger’s ousted leader has urged the US and “entire international community” to help “restore… constitutional order” after last week’s coup. In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, President Mohamed Bazoum said he was writing “as a hostage”. He also warned that the region could fall further under Russian influence, via...

The lawyer for a Moroccan man accused of criticising the country’s king on social media has told journalists his client has been sentenced to five years in prison. Said Boukioud was charged with “undermining the monarchy” for comments he posted on Facebook in 2020 criticising Morocco’s normalisation of ties...

What caused the coup in Niger? An expert outlines three driving factors. At an emergency meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on 30 July, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded the “immediate release and reinstatement” of Niger’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. He had been held by the military since 19...

The military juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali have said any forcible attempt to restore President Mohamed Bazoum in neighbouring Niger will be seen as a declaration of war on them. This follows a threat from a regional bloc that it would “take all measures” if the president was...

Senegal opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has been formally charged with fomenting insurrection and has been placed in custody, his lawyer is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying. He had also been accused of stealing the mobile phone of a gendarme, whose vehicle had broken down near the...

Two days after Niger’s democratically elected President Mohammed Bazoum was detained and removed in a coup led by members of his presidential guard, it was still unclear who was running the country and what mediation efforts were under way. As of Friday, the soldiers have not announced a leader and Bazoum,...

Ghana minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah reported a robbery. Why was she arrested?   A government minister in Ghana must have thought she was doing the right thing by going to the police to report a theft at her house, but it backfired spectacularly and she is now under arrest...

James Ibori, a former governor of Nigeria’s Delta state, has been ordered by a UK judge to hand over £100m ($130m) that he is accused of having stolen, the Reuters news agency reports. Ibori was convicted in London of fraud and money laundering in 2012. After serving some of...

In a significant breakthrough, soldiers from the 192 Battalion of the Nigerian Army have intercepted a Ghanaian national attempting to smuggle a truckload of ammunitions to Anambra State, in the Eastern part of Nigeria. Acting on credible intelligence, the soldiers busted an international ammunition smuggling syndicate on the Ajilete-Owode...