On 1 February 2014, the newly elected President of the Transition, Ms. Catherine Samba-Panza visited three IDP sites together with the humanitarian community (IOM, OCHA, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHCR, and WFP). The sites visited included the Boy Rabe Monastery in the 4th arrondissement of Bangui, the site of...

Terrorism in West Africa is evolving into a more regional phenomenon. In order to hold back wider destabilization, international partners would be wise to emphasize regional cooperation in response. Take the latest attacks. In late November 2015, militants used grenades and assault rifles to take...

Who Belongs? Statelessness and Nationality in West Africa At least 10 million people around the world are stateless, according to estimates from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but the real number may be much higher. Statelessness severely limits a person’s human rights...

As thousands of refugees flee an Islamist reign of terror in northern Mali, and with military intervention looming, the UN’s top relief coordinator for West Africa, Valentin Topsoba, speaks to Douglas Herbert about an impending humanitarian disaster. Can he persuade Western governments to provide ur...

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has a adopted strategies to eradicate statelessness in the sub-region by 2024. During a 3-day ministerial conference that began on Monday in Gambia’s capital Banjul, experts from the bloc’s 15 member states resolved to finalize a plan of acti...