Celeste Hicks is a freelance journalist who has been writing about Chad and the Sahel for more than ten years. Previously BBC correspondent in Chad and Mali, she worked for BBC World Service African Service in London before becoming an independent journalist in 2011. She writes for BBC, the Guardian, World Politics Review, Jane's Intelligence Review, Africa Report, Bloomberg and many others. She is the author of Africa's New Oil: Power, Pipelines and Future Fortunes (Zed 2015).