Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid releasedF

Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid releasedF

Cairo, March 4, 2019 – Award-winning Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid was released on Monday after spending nearly six years in prison following his arrest while covering a bloody crackdown on protests. The photographer, widely known as Shawkan, faces...
Algeria: Court releases blogger Merzoug TouatiF

Algeria: Court releases blogger Merzoug TouatiF

Algiers, March 4, 2019 (AFP) – An Algerian court ordered a blogger released on time served Monday after finding him guilty of colluding with a foreign power at a retrial, his lawyer said. Merzoug Touati, 30, has been through a roller-coaster legal process since...
Algeria: Regime insists on fifth term, people push againstF

Algeria: Regime insists on fifth term, people push againstF

Algiers, March 4, 2019 – Algerians on Monday dismissed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s promise to quit early if re-elected for a fifth time and said they were ready for new protests seeking his resignation. The ailing leader, who suffered a stroke in...
Sahel: More soldiers killed in landmine blast in Mopti, MaliF

Sahel: More soldiers killed in landmine blast in Mopti, MaliF

March 1, 2019 – Nine soldiers in the five-nation G5 Sahel anti-jihadist force were killed in central Mali on Friday when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device, the Malian army said. The incident happened at Boulkessy, in the Mopti region, it said on...
Sahel: Bacteria infection kills thousands of donkeys in NigerF

Sahel: Bacteria infection kills thousands of donkeys in NigerF

Niamey, March 1, 2019 – A contagious bacterial infection known as “equine strep throat” has killed more than 4,000 donkeys in northern Niger since early December, local officials said Friday. “Of the 8,392 donkeys affected by equine distemper...
Sahel: Expect more Danish soldiers in the SahelF

Sahel: Expect more Danish soldiers in the SahelF

Copenhagen, Feb 28, 2019 – Denmark announced Thursday that it plans to send materiel and some troops to Africa to help support the French operation combatting jihadist groups in the Sahel. The government’s plans, which must be approved by parliament,...
Algeria’s dangerous political gridlockF

Algeria’s dangerous political gridlockF

Algiers, Feb 28, 2019 – By Amal Belalloufi and Aymeric Vincenot:  Mounting frustration at their ailing president’s bid for a fifth term has brought protestors to the streets in Algeria, where Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the regime’s candidate for April...
Public health: Outbreak of tropical parasite in LibyaF

Public health: Outbreak of tropical parasite in LibyaF

Tripoli, Feb 27, 2019 – At least 5,000 cases of a potentially deadly tropical disease have been registered in Libya in the past six months, the country’s health ministry said Wednesday. Leishmaniasis, which is caused by a microscopic parasite spread by...
Mali: French forces say they hit alleged Jihadis in MoptiF

Mali: French forces say they hit alleged Jihadis in MoptiF

Paris, Feb 25, 2019 – French warplanes struck a group of jihadists in central Mali over the weekend, killing or wounding 15 of them, the defence ministry in Paris said Monday. The raid — the second in 48 hours — took place north of Mopti on Saturday...
Sahel: Growing concern over impact of climate change on the SahelF

Sahel: Growing concern over impact of climate change on the SahelF

Niamey, Feb 25, 2019 – Leaders of 17 countries on the rim of the Sahel began talks on Monday on a nearly $400-billion plan to help the fragile region cope with climate change. The 2018-30 scheme, covering countries ranging from Mauritania to the Horn of Africa,...
Burkina Faso: Army kills dozens of alleged insurgentsF

Burkina Faso: Army kills dozens of alleged insurgentsF

Feb 24, 2019 – Burkina Faso’s armed forces killed around 30 suspected militants last week in an land and air operation against jihadist groups operating in the east of the country, the military said on Sunday. Burkina Faso, part of a joint French-led...
Egypt: Canadian national held in custody in Egypt on unknown chargesF

Egypt: Canadian national held in custody in Egypt on unknown chargesF

Feb 24, 2019 – A Canadian citizen has been arrested in Egypt, his family has told public news network CBC, asking that Ottawa secure his release. Yasser Ahmed Albaz, a 51-year-old engineer who was in Egypt on business, was stopped and questioned as he was about...
Egypt: Opposition party members arrested by Sisi regimeF

Egypt: Opposition party members arrested by Sisi regimeF

Cairo, Feb 23, 2019 – An Egyptian opposition party founded by Nobel laureate Mohamed El Baradei denounced Saturday a “campaign of arrests” targeting its members after criticizing a bid to extend the president’s powers. The Constitution Party...
France says it killed al-Qaeda Maghreb commander Abu HamameF

France says it killed al-Qaeda Maghreb commander Abu HamameF

Feb 22, 2019 – French armed forces have killed a top jihadist leader in an air and ground ambush in Mali, the government said on Friday, ending a years-long hunt for a man accused of masterminding the kidnapping of Westerners in the Sahel region. Djamel Okacha,...
Libya: Murzuk’s security chief murderedF

Libya: Murzuk’s security chief murderedF

Feb 21, 2019 – Armed men have murdered a security official in southern Libya, the UN-backed government said Thursday, a day after forces opposed to it said they had entered his town. The interior ministry of the internationally-recognised unity government...
Algeria: Fighter jet crashes during routine exercise, two crew killedF

Algeria: Fighter jet crashes during routine exercise, two crew killedF

Feb 21, 2019 – An Algerian fighter jet has crashed during an overnight training exercise, killing its two crew members, the defence ministry said on Thursday. The Russian-made Sukhoi SU-24 plane went down in an uninhabited farming area in the province of Tiaret,...
Egypt: Executions by hanging continue this weekF

Egypt: Executions by hanging continue this weekF

Cairo, Feb 20, 2019 – Egypt hanged nine men on Wednesday for the 2015 assassination of the prosecutor general, judicial sources said, bringing to 15 the number of executions it has carried out this month. Hisham Barakat was killed in June 2015 when a car bomb...
Sahel: Security forces free Mali official from jihadistsF

Sahel: Security forces free Mali official from jihadistsF

Bamako, Feb 20, 2019 (AFP) – A senior government official and a journalist abducted by suspected jihadists in Mali have been freed, a security source told AFP on Tuesday. Makan Doumbia, the prefect of Tenenkou commune in central Mali, “was freed Monday...
Egypt: Executions by hanging continue this weekF

Egypt: Terror attack in Cairo kills three policemenF

Cairo, Feb 19, 2019 – A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the heart of ancient Islamic Cairo, killing three policemen who were chasing him through its narrow alleyways, medical and security sources said on Tuesday. Monday evening’s bombing,...
Tunisian oil workers kidnapped in Libya freedF

Tunisian oil workers kidnapped in Libya freedF

Tripoli, Feb 17, 2019 – Fourteen Tunisian oil workers kidnapped in Libya were freed Sunday night after three days in captivity and are in good health, the Tunisian consul in country said. Armed men seized the 14 Tunisians from a bus on Thursday as they were...
Libya: US hits al-Qaeda position near UbariF

Libya: US hits al-Qaeda position near UbariF

Feb 14, 2019 – The US carried out an air strike against Islamist group Al-Qaeda in southern Libya on Wednesday night, Tripoli’s UN-backed Government of National Accord said. The strike near the town of Ubari, some 900 kilometres (550 miles) south of the...