THEY HAD: No one in the Norwegian government can have read Nathaniel Powell's new book France's War in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa. Had they done so, they would never have sent Norwegian soldiers to the French military force Takuba in Mali.
COMMUNITY BREACH: It is expensive to get married in Niger even though the bride price varies, and in the event of divorce, women are obliged to pay back the bride price.
SAHEL IN ENGLISH: France has strangely managed to preserve the hegemony over its former colonies, including in the dissemination of knowledge. This book is a much needed exception, which provides the background for understanding the recent coup in Mali.
RACISM? Before, it was the Baroque who seduced Mbembe, now it's brutalism – used as an analytical breakthrough to understand Africa and its relationship to Europe.
CONSUMPTION AND CORRUPTION: We haven't heard much about Luanda Leaks in Norway. Perhaps because it is embarrassing that Statoil paid NOK 420 million to a non-existent research center owned by Angola's state oil company Sonangol, where Isabel dos Santos was the director until she was fired in November 2017?
HUMAN TRAFFICKING: The Nigerian mafia is smuggling both people and drugs. Threats, violence and voodoo rituals are used to force girls into prostitution.
AFRICA: A great many consultants and mission researchers have made good money on the crises in the belt that stretches across Africa. Sahel has become important not only for Norway, but also for the EU and the US.