Close ties between Senegal and The Gambia go back many decades. But the collapse of the Senegambia Confederation underscores one lesson among many: Every effort must be made to ensure popular support for cooperation endeavours.

One day after being sworn in on 2 April, Senegal’s new President Macky Sall reversed months of public denial of the hunger affecting over 800,000 of his people - part of the Sahel-wide crisis affecting 16 million inhabitants - by calling on partners to help the country get food to those in need. UN agencies and NGOs are struggling to raise enough money to get programmes working so they can catch up with the steadily rising number of hungry people.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the 2012 session of its annual Democratic Governance Institute. It therefore invites researchers to submit their applications for participation in this institute to be held from 23th July to 10th August, 2012 in Dakar, Senegal.

The most salient outcome of the presidential elections in Senegal is a heightened, irreversible sense of empowerment; the notion that ordinary people constitute the first and most important institution in a democracy.

cc E PThe AU and ECOWAS need to act consistently and decisively to protect and uphold democracy when it is threatened by either military or civilian coups.