This new and very personal atlas explores the geography of Mali, through the 1:200,000 maps produced by the French National Geographic Institute. Each map serves as a starting point for a reflection on the nature of geographical space. Taken together, these commentaries show the variety of the Sahara and of the Sahel and the many […]
African armed conflicts express regularities in the way violence is spatially and temporally distributed. This is the main conclusion of a recent paper published in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers with Steve Radil and David Russell. In this paper, we introduce the concept of Spatial Conflict Life Cycle to examine where, when and […]
Call for Papers American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Detroit, March 24-28, 2025 Organizer Olivier J. Walther, University of Florida Session title Armed Conflicts and Transport Infrastructure Abstract Control of transport infrastructure has always been a critical issue in armed conflicts. States are naturally inclined to secure air, surface and maritime systems to control […]
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By Olivier Walther and Daniel Bach, 02/09/2024 The military juntas who broke away from ECOWAS on January 28th have simultaneously reiterated plans to establish their Alliance des États du Sahel (AES). They are also indicating that they wish to remain members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union that celebrated its 30th anniversary this […]
By Olivier Walther. 1/30/2024, updated 2/2/2024 On January 28, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced their unilateral decision to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional bloc founded in 1975. ECOWAS is one of eight regional economic communities recognized by the African Union to foster regional integration on the continent. […]
Read more "Leaving ECOWAS Will Have Catastrophic Consequences for the Sahel"
Olivier J. Walther and David G. Russell will chair a paper session at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, April 20, 2024, from 3:00-4:20 PM in room 302B (Makiki), Third Floor, Hawai’i Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawai’i. Abstract Africa has, in recent decades, experienced a growing number of conflicts that are challenging to monitor […]
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As ECOWAS prepares for a military intervention, a conflict between Niger and Nigeria could threaten the deep social and economic ties developed on both sides of the border. Hausaland divided ‘The people of Niger Republic are one and the same with those living in Northern Nigeria’, wrote former Kaduna State Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai recently. […]
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In a new paper published in The Professional Geographer this week, we model the geography of the 9/11 network members’ many travels from the moment the hijackers first boarded a plane to the United States until they killed 2,977 people on 11 September 2001. Building on publicly available sources, and for the first time in […]
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Livestock trade is an important economic activity in West Africa, a region where approximately half of the population owns livestock. Long distance and cross-border travel is often involved in both the production and trade of livestock, particularly cattle and small ruminants. As discussed at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting in Denver in […]
Conflicts in the Sahel region are intensifying, causing adverse effects on local communities. To better understand the localized impacts of violence, we analyzed primary survey data collected from three regions in Mali in collaboration with the NGO Voice 4 Thought alongside conflict data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). In general, […]
Read more "Assessing vulnerability to political violence in Mali"