'Quicksilver' is one of the most inspiring novels ever written by a geographer. Should keep me awake during the long trip to American Association of Geographers in Hawai'i this week

Our panel on armed conflicts in Africa is this Thursday American Association of Geographers! With Silvia D’Amato, Alessia, Andrea Bartolucci, Cletus Famous Nwankwo, David Russell and Olivier J Walther anl.geog.ufl.edu/aag2024/

One of many AFRIGOS project research outputs. Thanks again to all contributors & project members for their invaluable insight & effort! Paul Nugent Jose-Maria Munoz Hugh Lamarque Elisa Gambino Tim Zajontz Isabella Ziad Hamoui Sergio Oliete Josa Bruce Byiers Abdoul Mohamadou Olivier J Walther et al.

West Africa has experienced 9 major holy wars (jihads) since the early 18th century, including the two currently underway in the Central Sahel and Lake Chad region. The last time a Jihadist insurgency was defeated militarily was in 1898, when Captain Gouraud captured Samori Touré

Benin and Togo have closed their borders to pastoralists from the Sahel. This study from Lasdel Labo describes the consequences of this policy of forced sedentarization carried out officially to combat terrorism lasdel.net/rapports-sipri…

Political insecurity is seriously affecting food security in West Africa, by deteriorating the means of production and disrupting food supply chains, according to the RPCA issuu.com/swac-oecd/docs…

All I hear from West African policy makers at the moment is 'The West must give us more weapons or we'll ask the Russians'. As if the region needed more weapons. As if insurgencies could be defeated militarily. As if Jihadist weapons were not looted from state arsenals

West African governments should read the latest Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intel Community to realize that their security problems are unfortunately one of the lowest priorities of the U.S government odni.gov/files/ODNI/doc…

Join us at the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting in Hawai’i from 16-20 September. Our Department will be presenting more than 30 papers! geog.ufl.edu/2024/04/10/uf-…

Very happy to announce that we've just signed a contract to edit the Routledge Handbook of African Borderlands! This 27-chapter book is a collaborative project of ABORNE bringing 45 border scholars from Africa, North America and Europe together

Honored to discuss the potential spread of armed conflicts from the Sahel to coastal countries with Ghana's Minister of National Security and his delegation. Thanks for visiting us in Gainesville!

🚨 Reminder: The ABORNE Annual Meeting call for papers is approaching fast! 📅 Don't miss your chance to contribute to discussions on Resilience & Social Cohesion in African Borderlands. Submit by April 12, 2024. Join us in Nairobi, 11-13 Sep 2024. #ABORNE2024

TODAY: Ghana’s Minister of National Security, Hon. Albert Kan-Dapaah, will give a talk on regional cooperation, at 3PM in Smathers 100 in Gainesville: africa.ufl.edu/calendar/

In 2013, we mapped how rebels and violent extremists were connected in Mali. A decade later, more than 70% of the Jihadists identified in our analysis are dead or in prison. The two main survivors are Iyad ag Ghaly and Hamada Ould Khairou, of course tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…

Côte d’Ivoire is building a new cross-border bridge in Chache to facilitate trade between Bouna (🇨🇮) and Bole (🇬🇭). To my knowledge, this is the only bridge on the Black Volta between Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Burkina. Africa needs better infrastructure

There is nothing like driving a Land Cruiser in the Sahara!

Daniel Bach discusses the erosion of multilateralism and its consequences for regional integration in Africa in this inspiring New Perspectives paper journals.sagepub.com/eprint/FMEK6C5…

👉What are the links between food security & armed conflict in West Africa?
Olivier J Walther explains how the combination of food and nutrition data from the Cadre harmonisé with conflict data from the Spatial Conflict Dynamics indicator ( #SCDi ) can help us answer this question. #RPCA

A very interesting podcast but why choose a picture of the Marchand Mission from Libreville to Fashoda to illustrate the colonial Sahel? France Culture radiofrance.fr/franceculture/…

One of my favorites maps shows how each of the Sahelian sedentary cores is associated with a nomadic area in the Sahara. This organization has played a key role in the circulation of people, ideas and goods between North Africa and the Gulf of Guinea shorturl.at/hjnNV