Shield and Alert: Sahel Bound

At least 13 civilians have been killed by suspected jihadists in chronically unstable northern Mali, elected officials who requested anonymity said on Wednesday. "The provisional toll is now 13 dead, a dozen wounded and hundreds of people fleeing several villages in...

At least 31 Burkinabe soldiers and three allied volunteer militiamen (VDP) have been killed in an attack by suspected jihadists in the country's north, security sources said Tuesday. Dozens were also killed in a separate attack on Monday, the latest in one of the...

Annual cocaine seizures in the Sahel surged from 13 kilograms (28 pounds) in 2020 to 863 kilos just two years later as armed groups sought to profit from the illicit trade, the United Nations' drug agency said in its 2023 report. The largest seizures of the drug in...

By Amélie Bottollier-Depois: When Mali recently called for a UN peacekeeping force to depart the country "without delay," it was the latest sign of unease in parts of Africa over the role of the so-called Blue Helmet operations. Mali Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop...