Author: Ousmane Tandja

Journalist

Whose strategy, whose sacrifice? Mali’s army and the unresolved cost of its security promise

Ousmane Tandja

Behind the body counts, the captured soldiers and the overrun positions lies a question the authorities in Bamako have yet to answer: what remains of the promise to reconquer the national territory that Assimi Goïta’s government has placed at the centre of its legitimacy? Two realities that no longer align A gap has become impossible to ignore between the rhetoric of strength projected from Bamako and conditions on the ground. For several months, Malian forces have absorbed particularly heavy losses against JNIM and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA). Systematically accusing…

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Who will carry the economic memory of Côte d’Ivoire after Abdoulaye Koné’s death at 91?

Ousmane Tandja

When a figure who helped shape a nation’s financial foundations passes away, the question that lingers is not only who he was, but who will carry forward what he built. Abdoulaye Koné, former Minister of Economy and Finance, died on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at the age of 91, leaving behind a legacy that raises a crucial dilemma for Côte d’Ivoire: how does a country preserve the institutional memory of a generation that no longer exists? A life devoted to the Ivorian state Born in Tingréla, in the north of…

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In Mali’s information war, has Maliweb.net stopped reporting and become the army’s mouthpiece?

Ousmane Tandja

In Mali, the real question is no longer whether the line between factual reporting and wartime communication has blurred — it is whether anyone still has room to say so. Maliweb.net, once a showcase for the diversity of the country’s online press, now occupies a very different position: it works as a central relay for the official line, even when that line contradicts what happened in the field. The stakes are blunt, and they concern every reader: what becomes of public debate when the pages people turn to for news…

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Officers in the classroom, families on the road: what is Burkina Faso’s militarisation really protecting?

Ousmane Tandja

Burkina Faso has made a clear choice: the country will train its own military elite instead of sending its officers abroad. The Institut de l’Enseignement Militaire Supérieur Tiéfo-Amoro, presented under the presidency of Ibrahim Traoré, is described as a decisive step toward strategic sovereignty, with a first cohort of 28 trainee officers schooled in strategy, command, crisis management and geopolitics. On paper, no one can deny a state the right to educate its own soldiers. The real dilemma lies elsewhere. It is about timing, about scale, and about whether the…

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Can Gabon secure a fair fisheries deal with the EU, or will it lose its maritime leverage?

Ousmane Tandja

Aimé Martial Massamba, Gabon’s Minister of Fisheries, Maritime Affairs, and Blue Economy, has been tasked with spearheading preparations for a fresh fisheries partnership with the European Union. During a cabinet meeting held on Friday, September 18, 2026, at the presidential palace in Port-Gentil, the Council of Ministers gave the green light to launch negotiations for a new Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) and its implementing protocol. The Council also approved the formal notification of Gabon’s stance to the European Union and the creation of a national negotiating team, along with…

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Cotonou forum: can UEMOA turn its own savings into a shield against external shocks?

Ousmane Tandja

Cotonou, Benin — The strategic dilemma facing West Africa’s monetary union is blunt: can the region’s own savings be converted into the capital that funds its development, or will it remain dependent on external financing? That question framed the second edition of the Regional Shareholding Forum, held in Cotonou on 17–18 September 2026, where institutional actors, business leaders and market specialists demanded a deep shift in investment habits across the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). Under the theme “Shareholding and financial sovereignty: mobilising savings to accelerate economic transformation”,…

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Is the Benin–Spain cultural alliance a model for intercontinental diplomacy or just a symbolic gesture?

Ousmane Tandja

When Cotonou and Madrid chose to deepen their cultural ties, they raised a crucial question: can art and diplomacy genuinely build a lasting strategic partnership, or is this merely another well-intentioned but hollow declaration? The answer is beginning to emerge through concrete initiatives between Benin and the Kingdom of Spain, where heritage, contemporary creation, and upscale tourism are being positioned as powerful engines of international influence. What exactly is at stake in this cultural convergence? This renewed momentum reflects a remarkable strategic alignment between Spanish diplomacy and Benin’s Ministry of…

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Is Niger’s Tiani risking his own grip on power in Libya’s Fezzan?

Ousmane Tandja

Is Niger’s General Abdourahamane Tiani ready to trade a quiet border for a seat at Libya’s table — and what would that cost his own authority at home? For years the man in Niamey concentrated on defending his power inside Niger. His attention now drifts far beyond those frontiers, towards the Libyan south, where a former Haftar loyalist turned rival is redrawing the balance of force. Mohamed Wardougou’s rise opens a fresh space of confrontation, and Niger could end up as one of its central pieces. Why the Fezzan has…

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A 2002 trade framework, a fresh gamble: what is really at stake in Benin–Cuba’s economic reset?

Ousmane Tandja

Benin and Cuba have reopened a channel that spent years on standby. In Cotonou, Cuba’s ambassador Denisse Amaro Salabarría met the leadership of Benin’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI Benin) for a diplomatic audience that ended with one shared pledge: to breathe new life into economic and commercial exchanges between the two countries. The question now hanging over the file is simple, and far from rhetorical. Will this revival produce signed contracts and moving cargo, or will it stay at the level of warm statements? An old friendship now…

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One year after Marguerite Gnakadé’s arrest: can Togo’s stability outlast its silenced voices?

Ousmane Tandja

Twelve months to the day. That is how long has passed since Marguerite Essossimna Gnakadé, a former minister of the armed forces, was taken into custody on 17 September 2025. The anniversary pushes an awkward question to the centre of the debate in Lomé: under President Faure Gnassingbé, can any critic cross the line of dissent without triggering an institutional or judicial response? For ordinary citizens and regional observers alike, the case of the former defence chief has come to embody a doctrine of power refined over many years. When…

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Can Baudelaire Ndong Ella make Gabon’s Washington embassy a strategic asset?

Ousmane Tandja

What does Gabon stand to gain from its new ambassador in Washington? That is the question at the heart of Baudelaire Ndong Ella’s official entry into office, which took place last Tuesday in the US capital. The Gabonese diplomat presented his credentials to President Donald Trump during a ceremony at the White House, formally opening a mission he intends to use to strengthen the partnership between Libreville and Washington. A mandate built around economic diplomacy At the top of his agenda is economic diplomacy. Ndong Ella is expected to push…

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