Rinaldo Depagne Deputy Program Director, Africa & Project Director, West Africa Dakar, Senegal Please submit all media inquiries to rdepagne@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71 Crisis Group Role Rinaldo Depagne is West Africa Project Director at International Crisis Group, where he coordinates and oversees the research of a group of analysts in seven countries. He is also the Africa Program's Deputy Director and was previously the organisation’s Senior Analyst for Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. Before joining Crisis Group in 2008, Rinaldo worked as a journalist, specialising for the past 25 years in Africa and, in particular, West Africa. He has worked for various French newspapers and international radio stations and TV channels, including the BBC, Deutsche Welle and Canal +. He spent fifteen years of his life in West Africa, living in Benin, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal and travelling in most of the Ecowas countries. Areas of Expertise The relations between France and Africa The geopolitics and politics of West Africa Armed groups and violence in Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso civilizations History, politics and current affairs of the Greater Sahel region In The News 14 Jul 2020 [Ivorian Vice President] Duncan's resignation was most probably also a result of a failure to reach an agreement with President Alassane Ouattara on a presidential candidacy. Deutsche Welle Rinaldo Depagne Deputy Program Director, Africa & Project Director, West Africa 10 Jul 2020 [Ouattara] has always been a unanimous choice within his own camp. But [running again] would be extremely dangerous, particularly vis-a-vis the opposition, which would find a common enemy. Al Jazeera Rinaldo Depagne Deputy Program Director, Africa & Project Director, West Africa 13 May 2019 [Armed groups in Burkina Faso] have every interest in troubling or going against the good understanding between religions. NYT Rinaldo Depagne Deputy Program Director, Africa & Project Director, West Africa 25 Jun 2018 More people to feed means more agricultural settlement and less available land and water for herders. All of this tend to trigger more and more disputes [between farmers and semi-nomadic herders in Nigeria]. Reuters Rinaldo Depagne Deputy Program Director, Africa & Project Director, West Africa 6 Mar 2018 In Burkina Faso, the intelligence system did not rest on an institution but on the shoulders of one man, General Gilbert Diendere. We know that some of the 566 soldiers have joined jihadist groups. AFP Rinaldo Depagne Deputy Program Director, Africa & Project Director, West Africa 22 Nov 2017 The idea of the leader who stays on for 30 or 40 years is less and less accepted in Africa. [However, the regime change in Zimbabwe] does not necessarily mean more democracy. AFP Rinaldo Depagne Deputy Program Director, Africa & Project Director, West Africa Latest Updates Op-Ed / Africa 5 May 2022 Principles or Pragmatism? How to React to West Africa’s Slew of Coups Originally published in The Georgetown Journal of International Affairs Podcast / Africa 28 January 2022 Another Coup in West Africa: The Burkina Faso Military Seizes Power This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood talks with Crisis Group expert Rinaldo Depagne about the coup in Burkina Faso, the latest in a series of military takeovers in Africa. Q&A / Africa 28 January 2022 L’insécurité, facteur déterminant du putsch de Ouagadougou Le 24 janvier, une junte militaire a renversé le président burkinabé Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. Dans ce Q&A, les experts de Crisis Group, Mathieu Pellerin et Rinaldo Depagne, expliquent en quoi ce nouveau coup d’Etat confirme l’échec des régimes démocratiquement élus en Afrique de l’Ouest. Also available in English Commentary / Jihad in Modern Conflict 27 October 2021 How Islamist Militants Elsewhere View the Taliban’s Victory in Afghanistan While Islamist insurgents around the world are inspired by the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, the question of whether and how they will benefit as a result is more complicated, as Crisis Group experts explain in this 360-degree view. Q&A / Africa 9 September 2021 Alpha Condé a ouvert la voie au retour de l’armée à la tête de son pays Renversé le 5 septembre, le président Condé, par son entêtement à conserver le pouvoir, avait préparé le terrain à la prise de contrôle militaire. Dans ce Q&A, les experts de Crisis Group, Vincent Foucher et Rinaldo Depagne, alertent sur une tendance inquiétante en Afrique de l’Ouest qu’illustre ce nouveau coup d’Etat. Also available in English Load more