Under Donald Trump, US Africa policy is zeroing in on oil and mineral wealth while using evangelical networks as a back channel into Central Africa — offering political cover to leaders and countering Chinese and Russian influence where Catholic voices are more...
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Protests Erupt as Water Shortage Grips Mauritania
Opposition lawmakers in Mauritania staged a sit-in at the Ministry of Water to protest a two-week-long water shortage in the capital. The demonstration, which included a demand for the immediate resignation of the Water Minister, comes amid growing public frustration...
Ivory Coast Edges Toward Political Flashpoint Ahead of 2025 Election
Rising tensions, legacy rivalries, and fears of renewed violence loom over a fragile democracy. With just months to go before Côte d’Ivoire’s presidential election, the political atmosphere is growing tense—perhaps dangerously so. Both the ruling party and the...
Niger Deepens Strategic Ties with Russia After Break from France
Civil nuclear cooperation and uranium development signal a shift in Niamey's global posture In a development that further signals Niger’s departure from its traditional Western orbit, Niamey hosted a high-level Russian delegation on July 28, 2025, led by Russian...
Jihadist Expansion Threatens Coastal West Africa
The Sahel is confronting an intensifying insurgency that continues to evolve in scale and complexity. Armed groups such as the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS) are adapting and adjusting their...
Mali’s Airports Are Battling a Flow of Cocaine
Mali's airports, from the bustling hub in Bamako to smaller regional ones, have become a key front in the battle against the flood of cocaine pouring into West Africa. While international help and modern tools like AI and trained dogs have led to some big busts,...
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...
Niger: Two soldiers killed in insurgent attack in Diffa
Mali: Katiba Mecina insurgents raid military camp in Niono, repelled
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...
Mali: In the absence of institutional security in Kidal, the Tuaregs are in charge
On a sandy street in a northern Malian town, armed guards take turns at a checkpoint next to two unmarked pickup...
Sahel: Burkina Faso defense chief fired as the destabilization of Burkina Faso continues
Burkina Faso junta chief Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who took power in a January coup, has sacked...
Sahel: Attack on army unit in Deou, Burkina Faso claims two troops and Jihadists
Two soldiers died and a dozen "terrorists" were killed on Monday during an attack against a military detachment in...
Sahel: Three UN peacekeepers hurt in blast near Timbuktu, Mali
Three United Nations peacekeepers were hurt Sunday when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED) in...
Sahel: Islamic State attackers kill dozens of civilians in northern Mali
Dozens of people died after jihadists affiliated with the Islamic State group mounted an attack on a village in...
Beyond the Sahel: Togo extends state of emergency in the Jihadist-torn north
Togo on Tuesday extended a state of emergency for six months in its northern Savanes region, officials said, citing...
Sahel: Region of Talataye in Mali falls in the hands of Islamic State affiliate after bitter fight with Al Qaeda
Jihadists affiliated to the Islamic State group have seized a town in northern Mali after bitter fighting with local...
Sahel: Insurgency in northern Burkina Faso worsens
By Armel Baily At least 35 civilians were killed and 37 wounded Monday when an IED blast struck a convoy carrying...
Sahel: Intense violence in Mali sends thousands fleeing
Tens of thousands of people, many of them children, have fled to a town in northeastern Mali after fighting erupted in...
Sahel: UN reports killing of civilians in a Mali army attack involving foreign troops
At least 50 civilians were killed and hundreds arrested in central Mali in April during an operation by the army and...
Sahel: Burkina Faso military launches counterinsurgency operations in the north
A soldier has been killed and at least 28 "terrorists neutralised" in two military operations in the north and east of...
Sahel: Togo confronted with Jihadi movement from the Sahel
Togo's armed forces said Tuesday they had repelled a "terrorist" attack that injured "several" soldiers in the far...
Burkina Faso: Ethnic Fulanis fear violence will escalate against them
By Armel Baily Jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso have inflamed accusations against the Fulani community, sparking...
Sahel security: France’s military presence in Mali
French troops gained an enthusiastic welcome when they entered Mali more than nine years ago to help it fight a...
Sahel: Militants kill more soldiers and civilians in Mali
Forty-two Malian soldiers died in an attack at the weekend by suspected jihadists, the army said Wednesday in a...
Sahel: Terror onslaught continues in Burkina Faso, 10 killed in Yatenga
Ten civilians, including four security auxiliaries, have been killed by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso,...
Sahel: Suspected jihadists kill 4 Mali soldiers, 2 civilians in Tessit
At least four soldiers, two civilians and five assailants were killed on Sunday in an attack in a strategic border...
Sudan condemns Chadian group’s killing of 18
Sudan's foreign ministry on Saturday condemned the killing of 18 Sudanese people during an attack by an armed group...
Sahel: Bomb attack in Ouakan, central Mali kills civilians
At least 12 civilians have been killed in Mali by suspected jihadists who lured victims into a bomb attack, two...
Sahel: Attack kills dozen soldiers in the troubled Bourzanga region of northern Burkina
Suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso have killed four soldiers and nine civilian auxiliaries, the army said on...
Sahel: Eight UN peacekeepers wounded in Mali blast
Eight UN peacekeepers were wounded Thursday in a mine explosion in Mali's jihadist-wracked Timbuktu region, the United...
Sahel: French forces withdraw from Menaka base in northern Mali
French troops were on Monday handing back a military base in northeastern Mali ahead of a final withdrawal from the...
Sahel: Insurgents kill dozen policemen in north Burkina Faso
Suspected jihadists killed 11 police overnight in an attack in northern Burkina Faso near the border with Niger, the...
Sahel: Jihadists surround Mali town of Boni
Jihadists have since late May blockaded the central Malian town of Boni and interrupted traffic on a major highway in...
Burkina Faso: Terror attack on Karma mine leaves two dead
Unidentified gunmen on Thursday killed a soldier and a civilian in an attack on a gold mine in northern Burkina Faso,...
Togo: Al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM claims May attack in Togo
A Mali-based coalition of Al-Qaeda aligned militants has claimed responsibility for an attack in Togo last month, the...
Sahel: Chaos and killings accelerate in Mali
UN report highlights the brutality of Mali’s army Civilian deaths and rights abuses by Malian soldiers surged in the...
Sahel: Six killed in attacks on Burkina security forces
Two soldiers and four civilian volunteers with Burkina Faso's security forces have been killed in clashes with...
Sahel: Three foreign nationals kidnapped in Mali
Armed men have kidnapped an Italian couple and their child as well as a Togolese national in southeastern Mali, a...
Mali withdraws from G5 Sahel security force
Mali's junta announced Sunday that it will quit a West African anti-jihadist force after it was blocked from assuming...
Sahel: North and south Burkina Faso attacked this weekend
Around 40 people, many of them civilian volunteers with the army, have been killed in suspected jihadist attacks in...
Sahel terror spreads to Togo with new attack in Kpinkankandi
Eight soldiers were killed on Wednesday and 13 wounded in a "terrorist attack" in northern Togo near the border with...
Terrorism: Insurgents raid bus in SW Niger, kill 21 passengers
Suspected jihadists attacked a bus and a truck in southwest Niger, killing 21 people in the troubled Tillaberi region...
Chad: Five soldiers killed in Lake Chad region
Five Chadian soldiers have been killed by jihadists in the Lake Chad region, a vast marshland that has become a...
Sahel: 18 civilians killed in Jihadist attack in west Niger
Eighteen civilians have been killed in two suspected jihadist attacks in the west of Niger near the Sahel nation's...
Sahel: How to destroy a nation: ordinary Malians speak of their horrific life
By Amaury Hauchard Some are men of arms, who have taken up a gun out of need or for a cause. Others are just ordinary...
Sahel: Burkina Faso expects war on Jihadists to intensify in the months ahead
Burkina Faso's new armed forces chief, who was appointed last week following a military coup, on Wednesday vowed to...
Sahel: Jihadists looking to expand beyond Sahel: 9 dead , including French national in north Benin ambush
Update: Benin attacks toll rises to nine, including Frenchman Nine people including a Frenchman were killed this week...
Mali: The demise of the historic Timbuktu and the man who helped destroy it
The fabled shrine city of Timbuktu was reduced to a "shadow of its former self" by Islamist jihadists, and residents...