Recent elections have left the ruling RHDP in a comfortable political position but Tidjane Thiam s ascent in the PDCI has raised the stakes, Unless a yet-to-be-known actor has a spectacular political ascent, the 2025 presidential election will be a contest between the Parti démocratique de Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI) on the one hand – the party has begun its recovery from three decades of sclerosis under the stagnant leadership of its former president, the late Henri Konan Bédié – and the Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix (RHDP) on the other.
Moscow is intent on filling the vacuum as three Sahelian military regimes worry Paris and Washington by cutting regional ties, Announcing their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) without delay , the juntas ruling Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have sent a shockwave through the regional bloc, which was already struggling to persuade them to restore civilian rule.
As the security threats multiply and international troops are forced out, the military rulers in the Sahel have equivocated about their commitments to restoring civilian rule
, The promise of electoral contests to restore constitutional and nominally civilian rule will be a key issue across much of West and West-Central Africa this year, and particularly in the continuing battle of wills between Sahelian military regimes and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Push into civilian energy markets in Africa continues as the shift away from fossil fuels opens up opportunities for Moscow to export its technology, Burkina Faso is the latest African state to strike a deal on nuclear energy with Russia as the Kremlin continues its push towards civilian nuclear markets. Ministers confirmed that they had signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian state nuclear company Rosatom on 13 October to construct a nuclear power plant.
, On 27 September, the government informed the nation that a conspiracy to overthrow it had been foiled. The announcement came just days before the first anniversary of Captain Ibrahim Traoré s coup that removed fellow putschist Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, now in exile in Togo.