Gilles Yabi

Gilles Olakounlé Yabi is a nonresident scholar with the Africa Program and is the founder and CEO of WATHI, the West Africa Citizen Think Tank, which launched in 2015. WATHI is a unique participative and multidisciplinary citizen-focused think tank on West African issues (www.wathi.org). Gilles Yabi worked as senior political analyst and later as West Africa project director of the International Crisis Group, a think tank dedicated to conflict prevention and resolution. He led the research, policy, advocacy, and media work of Crisis Group in West Africa and worked particularly on the political crises and conflicts in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Nigeria. Gilles Yabi also worked as a journalist for the weekly magazine Jeune Afrique in Paris. Dr. Yabi has authored dozens of articles and book chapters on African political and economic issues. He hosts the weekly column "Ça fait débat avec WATHI" on Radio France Internationale (RFI).