Security issues in North Africa have been in the news recently. There is news coverage in Spain about Morocco stepping...
Security & Defense Bound
Libya’s Abnormal New Normal
By Arezki Daoud: Since 2011, Libya has been engulfed in a bloody civil war after the death of Muammar Gaddafi. Over...
Niger: More Russian Weapons and Military Instructors Land in Niamey
The departure of the French and American troops from Niger created an opportunity for the Russians to replace them....
Close advisor to Vladimir Putin, Nikolai Patrushev, in official visit to Algeria
The head of Algeria's army hosted Russia's top security official on Monday to discuss boosting their military ties,...
France to scale back military presence in Africa
By Valerie Leroux: President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced a "noticeable reduction" of French troop presence in...
Russian soldiers in the Algerian Sahara ($)
Algeria has apparently taken a distance from Russia, largely under pressure from the west, but also due to factions of...
Niger: Soldiers sent to prison for attempted coup
A Niger court on Friday handed prison terms ranging from two to 20 years to several soldiers accused of attempting to...
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...
Sahel: Ministers of three countries controlled by juntas meet after visit of Russia’s Lavrov
Foreign ministers from three West African countries that have undergone military coups met in Burkina Faso on Thursday...
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: Russia looks to deepen influence in the Sahel with foreign minister’s visit to Mali
Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrives in Mali late Monday for talks with its junta leaders seeking Moscow's...
Security: Escalation of Russia-Ukraine war could transform crisis into global conflict
By Amélie Bottolier-Depois: UN chief Antonio Guterres warned nations Monday that he fears the likelihood of further...
Mali: New terror attack kills two in the Segou region
A policeman and a civilian were killed and seven were wounded in an attack in jihadist-torn eastern Mali, officials...
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: French army to withdraw from Burkina Faso
France said Wednesday it will withdraw its contingent of hundreds of troops stationed in Burkina Faso within a month,...
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...
Western Sahara: Brahim Ghali reelected head of Polisario Front
The Polisario Front, which seeks independence for Western Sahara, re-elected its leader Friday in its first vote since...
Sahel: UN peacekeeping mission in Mali at risk amid shortage of troops
By Amélie Bottolier-Depois: The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali is "unsustainable" without more personnel, according...
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: Russia strengthens its presence in the Sahel with delivery of warplanes to Mali
Mali's military rulers received more warplanes and helicopters from Russia Thursday, an AFP correspondent noted, the...
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...
Tunisia: Nine women sentenced to prison for plotting to kill government minister
Tunisia has jailed nine members of an all-women "terrorist" gang accused of plotting to assassinate a government...
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...
Insurgencies: Three alleged members of Islamic State group arrested in Morocco and Spain
Moroccan and Spanish authorities have broken up a jihadist cell linked to the Islamic State group and arrested its...
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...
Sahel: Mali avoids escalating regional crisis by pardoning jailed Ivorian soldiers
Mali's junta leader on Friday pardoned all 49 Ivorian soldiers whose arrest in July triggered a bitter diplomatic row,...
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...
Egypt: IS claims attack in Ismailia that killed three policemen
The Islamic State group said Saturday that it carried out a deadly attack on an Egyptian police checkpoint in the Suez...
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...
Egypt: Three policemen killed, others wounded in attack in Suez Canal city
Three Egyptian policemen were killed and four others, including a police officer, wounded Friday in an attack in the...
Sahel: 46 Ivory Coast soldiers detained by Mali get 20 years in prison, setting stage for regional diplomatic crisis
Update: Mali court sentences 46 Ivorian soldiers to 20 years in prison: prosecutor Forty-six Ivorian troops whose...
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...
Libya: Treating each other as enemies, Libyan leaders carry out prisoner swap
Libya's unity government has carried out a prisoner exchange with rival eastern forces, releasing a pilot captured...
Gambia, another West African nation, headed toward turmoil
The Gambia's government on Wednesday said it had thwarted a coup attempt the previous day and arrested four soldiers....
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...