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The United States and Ivory Coast signed a health deal Tuesday requiring the U.S. to commit USD 480 million to the West African nation's health sector as part of America First global health funding pacts that mirror the Trump administration's foreign policy. The signing in Ivory Coast's capital of Abidjan covers areas such as HIV, malaria, maternal and child health, and global health security. It is the latest agreement the U.S. has entered with more than a dozen African countries, most of them hit by U.S. aid cuts, including Ivory Coast. U.S. aid cuts have crippled health systems across the developing world, including in Africa, where many countries relied on the funding for crucial programs, including those responding to outbreaks of disease. The new health pact is based on the principle of shared responsibility with Ivory Coast committing to provide up to 163 billion CFA francs (USD 292 million) by 2030, representing 60% of the overall commitment, according to Ivorian Prime ...
Regional countries are facing a crisis of legitimacy as they run out of options and time to restore democratic rule in Niger after soldiers ousted the president last month, say analysts. Defence chiefs from the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, are meeting in Ghana Thursday to discuss Niger's crisis after a deadline passed for mutinous soldiers to release and reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum or face military intervention. Bazoum was overthrown in July and remains under house arrest with his wife and son in the capital, Niamey. This is the first meeting since ECOWAS ordered the deployment of a standby force last week to restore constitutional rule in the country. It's unclear if or when troops would intervene. A force would likely consist of several thousands soldiers from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Benin and could take weeks or months to prepare, say conflict experts. ECOWAS has a poor track record in stemming the region's rampant coups: neighboring Burkina Faso and Mal