The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Dec. 9 announced a regional state of emergency following a wave of coups and attempted coups that have destabilized several member states of the regional bloc. The declaration was made during the 55th session of the ECOWAS Mediation & Security Council in Abuja, Nigeria, by the president of the bloc, Gambian diplomat Omar Touray.

The US Department of State imposed sanctions on June 5 on four individuals serving as judges on the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their involvement with the ICC's investigations into the US and Israel. The sanctions were imposed pursuant to Executive Order No. 14,203, "Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court," which President Donald Trump signed on Feb. 6. The order was signed in response to the ICC's warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. The stated purpose of the order was to underline the position that the US and Israel are not within the jurisdiction of the ICC under the Rome Statute, and therefore any investigation into the actions of the two countries is invalid.

The government of Benin announced that 54 soldiers were killed April 17 in attacks by jihadists on military positions in a national park near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger. The attacks in Park W, claimed by al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM, are the deadliest yet in Benin. JNIM attacks in Benin have now caused more fatalities so far in 2025 (157) than they did in the entirety of 2024 (103), according to the monitor Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED). (TNH)

The ruling junta in Niger has revoked the operating license of French nuclear fuel producer Orano at one of the world's largest uranium mines. State-owned Orano announced June 20 that it had been ordered out of the Imouraren mine in Niger's north. The junta reportedly cited the company's slowness in developing the mine, which has been repeatedly put off due to a plunge in world uranium prices following the Fukushima disaster. 

The continually delayed deployment of a Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission has raised concerns over how prepared the UN-approved and US-bankrolled force will be to face the security crisis in Haiti. An analysis from Insight Crime suggests the gangs have been using the extra time to "fortify what could be a fierce response." A first contingent of about 200 Kenyan police officers was expected to land in the capital, Port-au-Prince, in late May, but its arrival was postponed after an advance delegation from Kenya identified a shortage of equipment and infrastructure. In an interview with the BBC, Kenyan President William Ruto said the deployment of 2,500 troops, including 1,000 Kenyan police officers, will now start mid-June.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) on July 12 said it is concerned about reports that hundreds of Burkinabé refugees fleeing to Ghana, including women and children, are being deported. For the past years, Burkina Faso has been experiencing widespread violence and displacement amid an insurgency by extremist groups. According to UNHCR, more than 17,500 Burkina Faso nationals have fled to neighboring countries, also including Niger, Mali, Benin, and Côte d’Ivoire, since January 2021 as a result of the ongoing conflict. Ghana is accused of having forcibly deported more than 500 Burkinabé seeking protection along the border this month. A video on Twitter showing expelled women and children sitting in a parking lot near the border has been widely circulated.

The Group for Support of Islam & Muslims (GSIM, or JNIM by its Arabic rendering), al-Qaeda's West African franchise, has claimed credit for an assault on Togolese forces that left at least 17 soldiers dead outside Tiwoli, a village close to the borders with Burkina Faso and Benin. In a brief online communique, JNIM said its "mujahedeen killed 16 tyrants, burned two cars, and captured 16 Kalashnikovs, 24 rifle magazines, and five motorcycles." Togolese media reported that fighters in large columns of vehicles mounted with heavy machine-guns raided the military outpost at Tiwoli on Nov. 24.

Tensions have been growing in Ghana since late September, when militants of the Western Togoland Restoration Front erected armed roadblocks on arteries into the country's eastern Volta region, and declared the secession of the territory as the independent state of Western Togoland. Security forces shortly cleared the roadblocks. But some 60 members of the Homeland Study Group, a nonviolent civil organization calling for independence for Western Togoland, were immediately arrested in sweeps. They were later ordered released by a judge, but one of the detained reportedly died in police custody.