AP: “South Sudan ordered oil companies to restart production Thursday and officials said oil export could resume in about 90 days, ending a nearly nine-month shutdown following a dispute with Sudan over borders and oil.”
IRIN with a piece that is worth thinking about in the context of how the Islamist coalition in northern Mali works to attract support:
Hundreds of displaced northerners in southern Mali are risking life under Sharia law to return home, lured by the prospect of jobs, free water and electricity, and in some parts, relatively cheaper food, Malians in the north and south told IRIN.
Islamist groups have removed taxes on many basic goods, say traders in the region, provide erratic electricity and water services at no charge, and have fixed the price of some basic foods. They are also paying youths to join their ranks, as talk of intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mounts.
A major meeting of ECOWAS, the African Union, the European Union, and the United Nations took place in Bamako yesterday.
Lagun Akinloye on recent flooding in Nigeria.
Garowe writes that talks between the Ethiopian government and the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front have hit “deadlock.”
The United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and others have raised the possibility that al Shabab, now that its major strongholds in southern Somalia have fallen to African Union forces, may seek to establish more of a presence in Puntland. The BBC reports on a seizure of weapons imported into Puntland that were apparently meant for al Shabab.
Yesterday I wrote about border issues in Niger, but neglected to mention that this week Niger and Burkina Faso were at the International Court of Justice to settle a border dispute. It’s worth noting how colonial legacies still come into play: “During the hearings, Burkina Faso explained that the delimitation of the disputed part should be based on a 1927 French colonial decree, when both countries were part of French West Africa, while Niger contended that the decree was not precise enough to define the frontier in certain areas and asked the Court to delimit it by using a 1960 map of the French Institut Géographique as adjusted with factual evidence of territorial sovereignty.”
What else is happening?
Sahel Blog 
You asked, “What else is happening?” … I read your post from last spring about the arrest of Cheikh Béthio Thioune in Senegal.
There’s been some new violence in Dakar by his talibés who are angry at not being allowed into the Dakar jail where he’s been transferred recently. This is the week before Tabaski, when the city is in a bit more of an uproar than normal, so these protests could become significant.
http://www.rewmi.com/Interdits-de-rendre-visite-a-leur-guide-a-Rebeuss-pour-caducite-de-leurs-permis-Les-Thiantacounes-vandalisent-le-centre_a69276.html
I read your blog often after my professor at Ohio University, Dr. Kendhammer, clued us in.
Thanks for sharing this Brendon, I hadn’t heard about the recent violence.
That is great that you are at OU. Please greet Dr. Kendhammer for me.
Interesting which nations can be mediators in conflicts and which can’t.
Reblogged this on Human Rights & Politics.
Interesting Post,Thanks For sharing,
Syrian Refugees
And I wonder who would be crazy enough to actually click on the link. It’s a clever idea to use world interest in Syria and sympathy for refugees, but not so bright to post it on a site about North Africa.
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