Depuis quelques semaines, un phénomène préoccupant prend de l'ampleur dans la ville de Cotonou, la capitale économique du Bénin. Il s'agit des rodéos à motos où de groupes de jeunes roulent à grande vitesse sur les grands axes routiers, le plus souvent sans casque de protection, et en violation flagrante des règles de sécurité et de conduite urbaine.
Le phénomène de rodéos urbains à motos qui prend de l'ampleur dans la ville de Cotonou doit attirer l'attention de la hiérarchie policière et des autorités au plus haut niveau. Celles-ci doivent prendre les mesures urgentes pour mettre fin à cette trouvaille de la jeunesse béninoise qui présente de gros risques d'accident.
Les soirées en week-end, il est récurrent de voir les jeunes rouler en groupe sur les grands axes routiers, notamment le boulevard de la Marina, en s'adonnant à des dépassements anarchiques et risqués, ainsi qu'à des démonstrations risquées au milieu du trafic urbain. Fait assez grave au regard du danger qu'il présente.
Ce qui retient aussi l'attention dans ce phénomène de rodéo à motos, c'est la présence de jeunes adolescents et parfois mineurs parmi les clowns de rodéo. On se demande ainsi comment des parents ont pu laisser des enfants de cet âge sortir de la maison, sans casque de protection pour s'adonner à ces spectacles sur la voie publique.
La Police, dans son rôle de maintien de l'ordre et de sécurité des personnes et des biens devrait agir au plus vite pour le bonheur de tous.
F. A. A.
Un nouveau chapitre s’ouvre pour le champ gazier de Touat à Adrar. Un décret présidentiel, daté du 17 février 2026 et publié au Journal officiel, […]
L’article Tebboune signe le départ officiel du français Engie : nouvelle donne pour le champ gazier de Touat est apparu en premier sur .
Le Conseil d'administration du Groupe de la Banque africaine de développement, a approuvé, le 27 février 2026 à Abidjan, une prise de participation de 6,5 millions d'euros au capital du fonds Saviu II afin de soutenir des start-up technologiques en phase d'amorçage et de première levée de fonds institutionnelle, majoritairement en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre francophone
Le Groupe de la Banque investira 4,5 millions d'euros en capitaux propres ainsi que deux millions d'euros sous la forme d'une tranche de couverture de première perte pour le compte de la Commission européenne dans le cadre du Programme Boost Africa. Cette participation de l'institution panafricaine permettra au fonds Saviu II d'accorder la priorité aux entreprises à forte composante technologique ou numérique.
Le fonds de capital-risque Saviu II a pour objectif de réaliser au moins 60 % de ses engagements dans les pays francophones d'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre : la Côte d'Ivoire, le Cameroun, le Bénin, le Sénégal, le Togo, le Burkina Faso et le Mali. Il peut également co-investir en Afrique de l'Est dans des entreprises technologiques prometteuses disposant d'une équipe et d'un modèle commercial solides, ayant pour stratégie de pénétrer le marché des pays francophones d'Afrique de l'Ouest et d'établir une forte présence dans la région.
Saviu II, le second véhicule d'investissement du Saviu Partners, prévoit notamment d'investir entre 500 000 euros et trois millions d'euros dans une vingtaine de start-up « B2B » technologiques ou à vocation technologique, en phase d'amorçage ou de première levée de fonds institutionnelle.
De plus, le fonds consacrera une enveloppe dédiée aux investissements de préamorçage, en apportant des tickets par entreprise pour des prises de participation minoritaires, généralement en co-investissement avec des studios, incubateurs ou autres partenaires de l'écosystème.
À propos du Saviu Partners
Créé en 2018, le fonds Saviu Partner a acquis une solide expérience en matière d'accompagnement des start-up technologiques en phase de démarrage en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre francophone. Le premier véhicule d'investissement du gestionnaire de fonds indépendant, Saviu I, lancé en 2018 avec une capitalisation de dix millions d'euros, illustre la stratégie d'investissement axée sur « l'amorçage et le développement » adoptée par le gestionnaire. Cette approche consiste à investir dans des start-up à fort potentiel et à leur fournir un soutien pratique dans des domaines tels que le développement commercial, le recrutement, l'expansion internationale et la levée de fonds. Le fonds Saviu I a investi dans 12 start-up basées principalement dans les pays francophones d'Afrique de l'Ouest.
Picture alliance / Anadolu | Zed Jameson. Source: International Politics & Society
As fuel runs dry in Havana, Trump’s blockade risks humanitarian disaster and a dangerous new normal. Artikel auf Deutsch lesenЧитать статью по-русски
By Bert Hoffmann
BERLIN, Germany, Mar 2 2026 (IPS)
The crisis could scarcely be more dramatic. The US is blocking practically all oil deliveries to Cuba. The island depends on imports for all diesel, petrol and kerosine. Without diesel trucks cannot move, food cannot reach Cuban towns and hospitals will not get any oxygen.
The airports are already without kerosine and several airlines have already suspended flights to and from Havana. The strategy is clear: strangulation. The US extreme right is jubilant; at last, they have found the ‘choking point’ that may finally bring Havana to its knees, 67 years after Fidel Castro’s revolution.
Trump says that negotiations are already under way, outside of declaring that Cuba is a ‘failed state’ and the government there needs to make a deal. But Trump says a lot of things. Even a sober look at the alternatives, however, is fairly terrifying. There are basically four scenarios:
Scenario 1: Cuba continues to be denied oil deliveries. The government can impose austerity measures and commit itself to heroic resistance. But without new petrol or diesel the current crisis will become a humanitarian catastrophe within weeks. Havana could pin the blame for this on the US and with complete justification. For all its own faults, no other Caribbean island could withstand such an oil embargo, whatever its political system. But what good would playing the blame game do in the end? The social and human costs would be horrendous. Without diesel even international humanitarian aid deliveries couldn’t get from the ports to the towns that need them.
Moscow says that it is willing to supply Cuba with oil, but so far it hasn’t followed through.
Scenario 2: Some oil tankers reach the island, perhaps from Moscow, from spot market purchases or from other sources. This could relieve the worst of it, no doubt. But the question remains, to what degree? And for the foreseeable future? Trump’s threats of punitive tariffs and the seizure of proscribed tankers are already sufficient deterrent.
Even Mexico had to pull its support under pressure from Washington. But who else is up for incurring America’s wrath? Moscow says that it is willing to supply Cuba with oil, but so far it hasn’t followed through.
On top of that, Russian airlines are bringing their passengers home and suspending flights. Up until the US military strikes on Maduro on 3 January Venezuela had provided 70 per cent of Cuba’s oil imports. Instead of demanding hard currency payments, it settled for Cuban medical personnel. Who will take over this role?
Scenario 3: The desperate situation intensifies, leading to protests, unrest and the fall of the government. This is what the hardliners in Miami have been dreaming of. But for all the pent-up frustration Washington’s own policy is stymying mobilisation. Already in Venezuela Trump and Rubio ignored the opposition and made deals only with the post-Maduro elite.
If Trump is now saying that negotiations with Havana are already going on and the regime will fall of its own accord, who on the island will be inclined to put themselves on the line in demonstrations or protests? No doubt there’ll be outbreaks of desperation, windows may be smashed and sporadic looting.
But if the message is that only the power struggle between Washington and Havana really counts it makes more sense for the populace to see how things develop, waiting until things have been decided by those at the top.
Scenario 4: The US oil blockade could be lifted in the course of negotiations. But even though Havana has resumed communications with Washington dialogue remains a distant prospect. Some possible steps seem realistic. The Cuba government could order the release of hundreds of prisoners, held in the protests of 11 July 2021.
It could also remove particularly controversial sections of the penal code, push ahead with market reforms or improve investment possibilities for Cuban emigrees. And all without undermining the foundations of the system. This would not only serve US interests, but also many of the civilian population. In return, Washington could permit a resumption of oil deliveries to Cuba from Mexico and elsewhere. Restrictions on remittances from US Cuban expats could be lifted. A first milestone would be reached.
Never been weaker
Nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine what kind of common denominator could be found that would ease the tension and usher in some kind of new normal. Cuba has been a worldwide symbol for the left since the revolution in 1959. But the same could be said for the right in the US.
Indeed, the latter would like nothing better than to see it fall. Trump won’t say what kind of deal he wants. But rest assured it will involve Cuba once more within the US sphere of influence and a US-friendly government in Havana.
Cuba really has its back against the wall. Its negotiating position has never been weaker. Venezuela has shown, however, that the US wants more than political alignment and access to resources. It also desires stability. The government in Caracas may have changed, but the military and the police, the state apparatus and even para-military forces remain intact.
Cuba isn’t a complete match in this respect, but if the US doesn’t want to put boots on the ground it will continue to need the state’s existing forces of order: police, military and administration. This gives the Cuban side at least something to bring to the negotiating table.
Nevertheless, Havana will have to cross a lot of red lines to reach an agreement with this US administration. And what’s more, under the constant shadow of the latent threat that Washington will again turn off the oil tap. The US government would be well advised to be pragmatic enough to allow the other side to save face.
But this is unlikely given the intoxicating fantasy of omnipotence by which Washington is currently spellbound. Cuban-born hardliners in the US Congress are already demanding that the Department of Justice bring the 94-year-old Raúl Castro to trial.
Or perhaps everything will be resolved very quickly. The power bloc around Raúl Castro’s family and its associated network controls not just the military and the security apparatus, but also by far the biggest business entity in the country, the military holding GAESA. The profound crisis of recent years has enabled them to invest with grim determination in the expansion of luxury hotels, transferring state-run restaurants into private management and acquiring stakes in lucrative online supermarkets that emigrants in Miami and elsewhere use to support their families on the island.
Could the upshot be a form of capitalism that maintains their economic privileges, with American partners in the hotels, while the old networks retain control?
None of the four scenarios seem entirely credible, but surely one of them, or some combination, will be realised in the not-too-distant future. But maybe not, if all those who are currently mute in fear of falling victim to Trump’s random impulses actually come together. Not out of nostalgia for the Cuban revolution, but to stand up and be counted as the Washington regime calls into question the basic norms of coexistence between peoples and states, whether in Cuba or Greenland.
Professor Dr Bert Hoffmann is Lead Research Fellow at the GIGA German Institute for Global and Area Studies in Hamburg and Honorary Professor at Freie Universität Berlin.
Source: International Politics and Society, Brussels
IPS UN Bureau
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