Fifteen undocumented migrants, including one Mauritanian, have died off the coast of Nouadhibou, according to a Sahara Media. Authorities in Nouadhibou discovered a boat carrying 39 migrants, among whom nine were found dead, and ten others were in critical condition. The Mauritanian Red Crescent transported the critically ill survivors to the hospital. The survivors, identified as Senegalese and Malian nationals, informed the Mauritanian Red Crescent that fifteen migrants had died from exhaustion, though their bodies were not recovered. The Nouadhibou municipality received the bodies of the deceased migrants and arranged their burial in the presence of representatives from the neighboring countries of Mauritania. Recently, more African migrants have been using Mauritania as a transit point to reach European shores due to its proximity to Spain’s Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
West Africa: Jihadist Attacks Intensify in Northern Benin Amid Cross-Border Insurgency Pressure
Jihadist attacks in northern Benin have intensified in recent weeks, with militants linked to JNIM claiming a deadly assault on a military position near the Niger border and carrying out additional raids on security posts along the country’s volatile frontiers with Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The violence underscores how northern Benin has become part of a wider cross-border insurgency spilling south from the central Sahel, even as authorities bolster Operation Mirador and try to prevent armed groups from entrenching themselves on Beninese soil.
