Bruce Whitehouse profiles a Mormon candidate running in Mali’s presidential election.
Angola is outside of my normal zone of coverage, but it’s so rare to see blog posts about that country that I wanted to include this solid piece from Africa Is A Country.
Amb. John Campbell takes a look at Senegal’s presidential run-off, scheduled for next Sunday: “If I were a betting man, I would put my money on [challenger Macky] Sall.”
The Economist‘s Baobab ponders what impact the International Criminal Court (ICC) has had, as the Court nears its tenth birthday.
Amb. David Shinn highlights commentary on Kenya’s military operations in Somalia.
Andrew Walker writes movingly about suspected police murders of young men in Nigeria, in a piece entitled “How Not to Stop Boko Haram.”
Zach Warner on negotiating with Boko Haram.
The Foreign Minister of Somaliland, Mohamed Omar: “Somaliland Did Not Surrender Sovereignty by Attending the London Conference.”
Peter Dorrie on genetically modified cotton in Burkina Faso.
What are you reading today?
Sahel Blog 
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On Andrew Walker’s piece about extra-judicial killing, people tend to forget that when the British came to Nigeria, they didn’t come with the London Met, they came with a bunch of brutes. And those brutes became the Nigerian Police Force.
Police brutality has extremely deep historical roots and is sadly, extremely widespread.
I grew up in a small town where the Police where in the habit of periodically shooting “suspects” to de-congest cell space. There was no respect for human life then and there is non today.
And its not just the Police, I’ve seen thieves being lynched and little kids cheering on the process. Human rights in Nigeria is an entire days worth of discussion.
Let me just add that as far back as 1967, 500 men and boys from a village called Asaba in Nigeria’s South East were rounded up and shot by the Nigerian Army. They were buried in mass graves.
Odi in the Niger Delta was sacked by the Nigerian Army and so were hundreds of civilians in Benue State. Sadly, not too many Nigerians care because when Asaba was sacked the rest of the nation didn’t bother. When Odi was destroyed, Maiduguri wasn’t bothered and when that village in Benue State was attacked, nobody else cared…
Another one on the Tuareg and a quick summary of the situation in the Sahel. I have no idea whether or not the suggestion of Tuareg joining AQIM is at all realistic and I have no idea who could say.
http://www.economist.com/node/21550324
Economic impact of Boko Haram: http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/news/284-breaking-news/34645-traders-run-from-north-to-lagos
About the Mormon candidate in Mali and bearing in mind that Mali is like 90% Muslim. A few points.
1. Such a person could never be elected to office is most parts of Muslim Northern Nigeria.
2. The most liberal Muslims in Nigeria are in the South West and Islam is called “Esin-Mali” (Religion from Mali). Could it be that the liberal Islam practiced by Malian traders had an impact on Yoruba Muslims – an impact that is lacking in Nigeria’s North.
Could the scholars please provide some clarification, thanks.
Une partie du travail de Wade http://www.lesamisdusenegal.com/2012/03/22/la-vision-prometteuse/