Analysts weigh in ahead of ECOWAS members' exit deadline
Voice of America
FILE - A local resident walks past the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) office in Lagos, Nigeria, Sept. 24, 2024.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are due to officially exit the West African ECOWAS bloc of nations this month, one year after announcing their withdrawal. The bloc hopes to persuade them to remain, but some analysts say growing anti-French sentiment in the region and Nigeria's own recent dealings with France could frustrate negotiations.
Palestinians ride a donkey-drawn cart as others walk past the rubble of houses, destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip FILE - Israeli rescuers and security forces work at the site of an attack near the village of al-Funduq, in the occupied West Bank, on Jan. 6, 2025.
FILE - China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivers a speech at the ministerial conference of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, Sept. 3, 2024. FILE - Republic of the Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at the opening ceremony of the ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, in Beijing, China, Sept. 5, 2024.