Photo : AFP/The Jakarta Post
NIAS Area Studies
AFRICA MONITOR
Photo : AFP/The Jakarta Post
IN BRIEF
By Ashwin Dhanabalan, Angkuran Dey and Meghna Manoj
Algeria: Evian peace accords turns 60
On 18 March, 60 years of signing a peace agreement between France and Algeria was observed. In 1962 both signed the agreement, ending a conflict that paved Algeria’s independence. The settlement had called a ceasefire and ended the eight-year-long conflict for Algerian independence. However, France has managed to hold on to its oil extraction rights and nuclear testing sites even after handing over Algeria.
Burkina Faso: ECOWAS to continue working in Ouagadougou
On 18 March, ECOWAS claimed to continue working with the military government of Burkina Faso even after suspending it from the bloc. Ghana’s Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway said: “The issues and the problems that plague Burkina Faso are our problems, as well. It is not in this time of need of Burkina Faso that ECOWAS will abandon it.” ECOWAS’s position has been different in the case of Burkina Faso because it imposed sanctions on neighbouring Mali and Guinea, but not Ouagadougou. The reasons for its differing approach are not clear.
Ivory Coast: US Secretary of State visits Côte d’Ivoire
On 15 March, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Prime Minister of Ivory Coast Patrick Achi. The two leaders discussed the war in Ukraine and condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They also discussed the USD 524.7 million grant under the Millennium Challenge Corporation(MCC). The two countries are involved in joint terrorism operations in the region. Achi said: “We have also reinforced our equipment, and above all, we have invested in basic social infrastructure as well…for the integration of young people to be able to improve the living conditions of the populations on the northern borders, to try to curb terrorism, which is threatening.”
Africa: Questions of neutrality on the Ukraine war
On 18 March, the US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield called out the African States for their neutral position on the war in Ukraine. Earlier, at the UN General Assembly voting against Russia, 17 states abstained from voting while eight did not vote. She further said that there could be no neutral ground during a crisis and added that this was not a Cold War competition. She also mentioned that the US would support South Africa’s mediation offer between Ukraine and Russia.