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 and current political transition and the Greater Sahel current issues 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 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 Q&A / Africa 19 November 2020 Burkina Faso et Niger : des élections à l’épreuve des insurrections ? Le Burkina Faso et le Niger se dirigent tous deux vers des élections générales. Rinaldo Depagne et Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim décryptent leurs enjeux et insistent sur la nécessité pour leurs vainqueurs de se pencher sur l’insécurité croissante dans les régions rurales, provoquée en grande partie par la présence de groupes jihadistes. Commentary / Africa 5 March 2018 Burkina Faso’s Alarming Escalation of Jihadist Violence Attacks on the Burkina Faso army headquarters and the French Embassy on 2 March 2018 were better organised, involved heavier weapons and were more sustained than anything seen so far in Burkina Faso. In this Q&A, our West Africa Project Director Rinaldo Depagne says the jihadist assault further exposes worrying weakness in the Burkinabé security forces. Also available in Français Op-Ed / Africa 23 September 2016 Centre du Mali : « Il faut enrayer très vite la spirale de la violence » Originally published in Le Monde Op-Ed / Africa 7 July 2016 À 41 ans, la Cedeao doit s’adapter aux temps présents Originally published in Jeune Afrique Load more