Fidel Amakye Owusu at Robert Lansing Institute

From Spoiler to Broker: Can Russia Bridge the ECOWAS–Sahel Divide?

In 2023, relations between West Africa’s coastal states and the military-led governments of the Sahel deteriorated to an unprecedented level. Following the coup in Niger, the Economic Community of West…

August 21, 2026Russia, Sahel

Geopolitics Terrorism

Why is Mali resuming intelligence operations with the US?

Since 2021, when the Malian junta consolidated power in a second coup after the first one in 2020, the military government it controlled was largely seen as anti-Western.This was mainly…

March 12, 2026Mali, USA

- Geopolitics

Knowing that Trump had vowed to negotiate with Russia during his campaign, Sahel’s junta governments were emboldened by his win

Every region is monitoring what the changes in Washington will bring: including the Sahel. After the US elections in early November, the different regional security complexes across the world are closely…

November 28, 2024Russia, Sahel, USA

Geopolitics Governance

Self-promotion in Mali and rapprochement in Niger: signs of domestic differences in junta-led states

Asimi Goita, (the junta leader of Mali since 2021) promoted himself and assumed the special title of "supreme" commander of the "land army". He went further to promote five other…

October 31, 2024Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sahel

Democracy War crimes

The worsening insurgency and insecurity in Mali

One of the major reasons the junta in Bamako gave for taking power from civilian rulers was the worsening insurgency and insecurity in Mali. According to them, and other coup makers…

March 29, 2024Mali, Wagner Group

Democracy Governance

Any instability in Nigeria will be more consequential than recent takeovers in the region

Events in Nigeria need to be well-handled in a region becoming used to political instability. 1. In the 1960s, when successful coups began in sub-Saharan Africa, the military almost always gave…

March 20, 2024Nigeria

Geopolitics ideology Opinion

How Russia is hijacking Africa’s “orphaned” Left

When the independence of many African states became a reality in the 1950s and 1960s, it unfortunately met the Cold War ideological divide of the world. Many had expected these infant…

September 5, 2023Africa, Russia

Posts by Fidel Amakye Owusu