These episodes are supported in part from a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to showcase African voices in peace and security issues. 

Police Brutality in Nigeria Spark Protests and Ignites a Movement

Protesters hold up their placards in front of the Lagos State House, October 11, Photo by TobiJamesCandid via Wikimedia CC BY 4.0.

In early October a video began to circulate on social media in Nigeria depicting a gruesome act of police brutality. The perpetrators of the police violence were from a notorious police unit called the Special Robbery Squad, or SARS.

As this video went viral, Nigerians voiced their own stories of being victimized by this police unit. The hashtag #ENDSARS was born.

But the story does not end there. 

Olorunrinu Oduala, helped to transform this hashtag into a massive youth-led protest movement against police brutality in Nigeria. What started as a hashtag has become a concrete set of demands for police reform and accountability, around which millions of young people in Nigeria have mobilized. 

This episode is supported in part from a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to showcase African voices in peace and security issues. 

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A Major Political Crisis in Cote d’Ivoire

Cote d’Ivoire president Alassane Ouattara is seeking a constitutionally dubious third term in office in elections scheduled for October 31. Opposition supporters have taken to the streets, and several people have been killed in clashes. Cote d’Ivoire has a history of election-related violence and a chaotic situation in the run-up to these elections suggests that the country may erupt in violent conflict. 

Mohammad Diatta, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, explains the high-risk political crisis unfolding in the Ivory Coast.

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This episode is supported in part from a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to showcase African voices in peace and security issues. 

Mali is in the Midst of its Worst Political Crisis in Years

Photo : MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko

Mali is in the midst of its worst political crisis in years. Since June, protesters have gathered in the streets of the capital city of Bamako demanding the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. On top of this, a conflict in the northern part of the country, to which the UN has deployed a large peacekeeping mission, is continuing to drive instability throughout the country. 

My guest, Dr. Amadou Bocoum, is the Mali Director for the NGO Search for Common Ground and I caught up with him from Bamako, the capital city which is in the South. 

In our conversation, Amadou Bocoum describes how these protests were sparked by a court decision to annul the results of parliamentary elections. But as he explains, the discontent that is driving these protests runs much deeper. 

This is a useful conversation about a crisis that is very much unfolding at the present time — and is one that is of profound regional and international significance. 

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Today’s episode is supported in part from a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to showcase African voices in peace and security issues.

The Death of Pierre Nkurunziza and What Comes Next for Burundi

Burundi’s longtime ruler Pierre Nkurunziza died suddenly on June 8th, quite possibly from COVID-19. Nkurunziza has been president of Burundi since 2005, and in recent years his rule became firmly authoritarian.  His death sent shockwaves across Africa and the world

On the line with me today is Yolande Bouka, a professor of political studies at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. We discuss the legacy of Pierre Nkurunziza and what this chaotic moment means for Burundi and the surrounding region. 

We kick off discussing the circumstances surrounding Nkurunziza’s death. We then discuss his fraught time in power, including a key moment in 2015, when he engineered for himself a constitutionally dubious third term in office and survived a coup attempt. The conflict surrounding that episode lead to the displacement of 400,000 people — the impact of which is being felt across the region today. We also discuss the background of the new president of Burundi, Évariste Ndayishimiye and what his rule may bring for the country. 

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Liberia and COVID-19

Dr. Mosoka P Fallah is helping to lead Liberia’s fight against COVID-19. He is an infectious disease and public health expert and is the Director General National Public Health Institute of Liberia. 

Dr. Fallah was a key player in Liberia’s successful suppression of Ebola in 2014, for which he was named as one of Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year. Now, as Dr. Fallah explains, Liberia’s experience with Ebola is very much informing how both government and society approach COVID-19.

Today’s episode is supported in part from a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to showcase African voices in peace and security issues. To view other episodes in this series.

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Uncovering Corruption in Sudan Following the Fall of Dictator Omar al-Bashir

A note from podcast host Mark Leon Goldberg: I have taken the extraordinary step of removing this April 2020 episode from the archives. The interview focused on a report published by The Sentry purporting to expose corruption in Sudan during the reign of the now-deposed dictator Omar al Bashir. The report upon which this interview was based has been removed from the website of The Sentry. The Sentry would not provide for me an on-the-record explanation of why this report was removed.

A Peace Deal Has Ended South Sudan’s Civil War

After years of conflict that killed over 400,000 people and displaced millions, a peace deal was signed to formally end South Sudan’s civil war. On the line to discuss what this peace deal entails and analyze whether or not it can hold is Jok Madut Jok, a professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a senior analyst with the Sudd Institute, which is a public policy center based in Juba, South Sudan.

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Burkina Faso is Experiencing a Surge in Violence

Burkina Faso, the landlocked country in West Africa, is in the midst of an escalating humanitarian emergency. Over half a million people have been displaced in the last year — a 500% increase from one year ago, according to the latest data from the United Nations.

The vast majority of the newly displaced are fleeing an unrelenting series of terrorist attacks. Most of these attacks are occurring in regions near the border with Mali. But terrorist violence has also reached the capitol city Ouagadougou including high profile strikes against foreign targets, like an attack on a western hotel in 2016 and an attack on the French embassy in 2018.

As we enter 2020, the scale and pace of terrorist attacks has picked up in intensity. This includes a late December attack in the town of Arbinda, in a province that borders Mali, which saw at least 37 civilians killed.  Also, earlier this year, there was a bombing of a bus carrying school children that killed 14 people.

This surge in violence in Burkina Faso comes six years after peaceful protests lead to the ouster of longtime ruler Blaise Compaoré.  And according to my guest today, the increase pace of terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso might be tied to upcoming elections in 2020, which are being contested by Blaise Compaoré’s political party.

Arsene Brice Bado is professor of political science at the center for research and action for peace, known as CERAP, at the Jesuit University in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. He is from Burkina Faso, and in this conversation he offers a few explanations for why his country is experiencing such violence after a rather euphoric period following the ouster of Blaise Compaoré.

We kick off discussing some recent attacks in Burkina Faso before having a longer conversation about the causes and consequences of increasing violence in Burkina Faso. We also discuss what kinds of policies and what kinds of international engagement might help reduce the prospect of further violence.

If you have twenty minutes and want to understand why Burkina Faso is experiencing a man-made humanitarian emergency, and what that means for the broader Sahel region — and the world,  have a listen.

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