Al-Qaeda’s Sahel branch, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM or GNIM in French) is now emerging as the region’s dominant jihadist force. Even the brutal Islamic State has been largely unable to contain JNIM's expansion, which has been expanding its control...
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Brief: Fifteen Migrants Found Dead in a Boat off the Coast of Nouadhibou, Mauritania
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....
Mali Keeps Pressuring Algeria, Accusing it of Interference
Mali has accused Algeria of interference and supporting terrorist groups after top Algerian diplomat criticized its counter-terrorism strategy. Bamako alleges Algeria maintains ties to insurgent groups, a reference to the Toureg tribes, [am4show have='g1;'...
Sahel: Mali and Canadian mining firm Barrick are talking again
Mali’s junta and Canadian gold mining firm Barrick Gold went back to the negotiating table to find a compromise in their ongoing feud. The two spent months fighting over the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mine, where the Malian authorities recently seized nearly three tons of...
Sahel: France Concludes Military Presence in Chad
France has officially ended its military presence in Chad, returning the Kossei base to the Chadian government. This marks the end of a long-standing French military footprint in the Sahel after similar exits from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. [am4show have='g1;'...
French energy firm TotalEnergies Exits Mali, Sells Operations to Bénin Petro-Backed Firm
TotalEnergies has exited Mali, finalizing the sale of its operations to Coly Energy Mali, backed by Bénin Petro. While no official explanation was provided, it is likely that tensions with Mali’s ruling junta may have played a role. Sources say that persistent tax...
Niger: Rebel group attacks pipeline, warns Chinese contractor to stay clear
By MondAfrique: The Patriotic Front of Liberation (FPL), a rebel group based between northern Niger and southern...
Mali: Al Qaeda attacks rebel convoy in the Ouagadou forest
By MondAfrique: A column of armed vehicles from the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), the Touareg rebel coalition...
Bloody Sunday: The indiscriminate killing of Muslim and Catholic worshipers in Burkina Faso
Sunday, 25 February was a bloody day for religious groups in Burkina Faso. Two attacks against a church and a mosque...
Sahel: Death toll in Mali due to insecurity was up 54% in 2022 to nearly 1,300
The number of people killed in Mali continued to increase in 2022, a UN report said Wednesday, also linking more than...
More releases of kidnapped persons in Sahel may signal easing of conflict between West and insurgents to focus on Russian threat
Photo: AQIM's Abu Ubaidah Youssef al-Annabi: Arezki's opinion: It may be too early to conclude that there is an...
Niger secures release of kidnapped French journalist Olivier Dubois and American aid worker Jeffery Woodke
By Camille Laffont: A French journalist and a US aid worker who had been kidnapped by jihadists in the Sahel have been...
Sahel: Mali ratchets up communications on military offensive against insurgents
The Malian Armed Forces known as FAMA, have been increasing their communications to the media to showcase their...
Sahel: Red Cross workers kidnapped in central Mali
Two workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross were kidnapped in northern Mali on Saturday, the...
Mali: New terror attack in Mopti claims lives of more than a dozen villagers
A jihadist attack on a village in central Mali has killed 13 civilians, local officials told AFP on Friday. A local...
Sahel: Burkina Faso to raise troop level to intensify war against insurgents
Burkina Faso announced Thursday a recruitment drive for 5,000 soldiers to serve in the army for at least five years to...
Sahel: Nearly 70 troops killed in two jihadist attacks in troubled Burkina
By Armel Baily: Suspected jihadists killed at least 15 soldiers in troubled northern Burkina Faso, just three days...
Sahel: IED kills three UN soldiers, injures five others in central Mali
Three United Nations peacekeepers were killed and five were seriously injured on Tuesday when their convoy struck a...
Sahel: Intense fight in northern Burkina Faso claims dozens of lives
At least 51 soldiers were killed in an ambush by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso, the army said on...
Africa security: Gulf of Guinea facing growing threat of instability
Criminals in northern Ghana tried to blow up a bridge using explosives for the first time in a region where the...
Security crisis to worsen in Sahel and West Africa with Russia vowing greater military engagement
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday pledged assistance to West African states battling jihadists, as...
Burkina Faso: New terror attack in Sahel province kills 18 people
At least 18 people have been killed in two attacks in Burkina Faso, sources briefed on the incidents told AFP on...
How the insurgents are expanding the Jihadist frontline to West Africa
By Patrick Markey and Kent Mensha: Standing near the dried river bed that marks Ghana's northern border, Alima can see...
Sahel: Mali court convicts unnamed person in killing of UN peacekeepers, issues death sentence
A Malian court has sentenced a man to death over the 2019 killing of three peacekeepers in the south of the country,...
Sahel: Doctor working for WHO in Mali abducted
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that one of its doctors had been abducted in Mali, adding that the...
Sahel: Soldiers rescue women and babies abducted by suspected jihadists in N. Burkina Faso
By Armel Baily: Soldiers rescued a group of 62 women and four babies abducted by suspected jihadists last week in...
Sahel: Jihadist violence intensifies in Burkina Faso
Attacks in Burkina Faso have increased since October and now especially target civilians, according to junta leader...
Sahel: Jihadists in Burkina Faso also abduct children and babies
Investigators now believe that last week's raid by suspected jihadists in Burkina Faso led to the abduction of around...
Sahel: Jihadists abduct dozens of women in north Burkina Faso
By Hugues Richard Sama: Suspected jihadists have abducted roughly 50 women in insurgency-wracked northern Burkina...
Mali: Security agents remain targets of attacks in Mali, four killed in Segou
Four gendarmes were killed and three others injured on Sunday after being ambushed in western Mali, a region prone to...
Sahel: Nine killed in mosque attack in Burkina Faso’s Sahel province
Nine people were killed when suspected jihadists attacked a mosque in northeastern Burkina Faso, local sources said ...
Sahel: Troop toll from Mali jihadist clash rises to 14 dead, 31 “terrorists killed”
Fourteen Malian soldiers were killed in a clash with jihadists this week, the army said Thursday, giving a new toll in...
Sahel: Several killed in army-Jihadists confrontation in central Mali
At least 12 soldiers died in clashes with jihadists in central Mali, army and police officers said on Wednesday. The...
Mali: Unidentified armed individuals kill five people on Bamako-Segou road
Two firefighters and three civilians were killed on Monday night in an attack in southeastern Mali, the ministry of...
Sahel: Ivory Coast hands down four life terms to 4 Mali nationals for 2016 jihadist attack
A court in Ivory Coast on Wednesday handed down life terms to four Malian men convicted of abetting a jihadist attack...
Sahel: Clash at Niger-Nigeria border leaves five Boko Haram fighters dead
Five Boko Haram jihadist fighters have been killed and two Niger soldiers wounded in clashes in southeast Niger near...
Sahel: Worker of Doctors without Borders (MSF) kidnapped in north Mali
A worker with the French-based medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) has been kidnapped in jihadist-torn...
Mali: Two UN peacekeepers killed in Timbuktu
Two peacekeepers in Mali were killed and four others wounded in an attack on Friday, the UN mission said, in the...
West Africa to have a common military force
By Serge Daniel and Emmanuel Anule: West African leaders agreed on Sunday to create a regional force to intervene...
Sahel: Jihadist groups target southern Burkina Faso, near Ghana
Six civilians, four of them teachers, were killed in a suspected jihadist attack in southern Burkina Faso close to the...
Sahel: Insurgents make major gains in northeast Mali
By Amaury Hauchard Jihadists aligned with the Islamic State group are advancing in northeastern Mali, prompting...
Sahel: Conflict in Sahel spills over Togo with thousands of displaced by violence
More than 4,000 people have been displaced this year in northern Togo after the security climate worsened following...
Sahel: Deadly year for northern Mali
Armed groups affiliated with the Islamic State group have massacred hundreds of people in northeast Mali this year,...
Sahel: US concerned about worsening crisis in Mali, blames Russia’s Wagner Group
By Portia Crowe Mali's security situation has become "significantly worse" due to the ruling junta's choices,...
Sahel: Insurgents strike in Banibangou Niger, kill dozen civilians
A suspected jihadist attack on three lorries and a motorcycle in western Niger near the border with Mali killed 11...
Burkina Faso: As regime in Ouagadougou collapsed last week, terror attack claimed 37 lives up north
A total of 27 troops and 10 civilians were killed in a suspected jihadist attack in northern Burkina Faso last week,...
Sahel: Relentless insurgent attacks continue in Burkina Faso
A suspected jihadist attack in the north of Burkina Faso has killed around a dozen people, mostly soldiers, security...
Sahel: Jihadists ambush patrol in Oursi, Burkina Faso, kill eight troops
An attack on a military unit in Burkina Faso's jihadist-hit north has killed eight soldiers, the army said Wednesday....
Sahel: Senior Mali army officer admits defeat, calls for evacuation of part of the north
A well-known Malian commander has urged civilians to flee part of a northern region recently attacked by Islamic State...