North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
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.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Burkina Faso government says year-end army offensive killed hundreds of “terrorists” ($)
In a year-end offensive carried out by the Burkina Faso military from December 23, 2023 to January 2, 2024 in the East and Center-East regions, involving air and land assets, allegedly claimed the lives of 360 suspected terrorists. Authorities say terror chief Oumarou...
Sahel: Mali acquires lethal drones from Turkey
On January 4, 2024, the Malian military acquired six Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones. The military authorities say the drones will be used to “surveil the national territory, detect suspicious targets, track them and strike them, if necessary, with surgical precision.” ...
Four Mauritanian gold miners were killed last weekend near Gleibat El Foula ($)
Morocco-Mauritania relations: Tensions after killing by drone of Mauritanian civilians
The Moroccan media said the Mauritanian authorities have abruptly increase by 171% the customs duties applied to Moroccan goods entering Mauritania through the border site of El Guerguerat, at the southern tip of the Western Sahara. In its X account (formerly known as...
Tunisia neutralizes human smugglers
The Tunisian police reported on January 7, 2024 the dismantling of an alleged human trafficking network in the Sfax region. Authorities say the gang facilitated the illegal movement in and out of the Tunisian territory of sub-Saharan migrants. The operation consisted...
Sahel: Burkina Faso ratchets up war effort with new army units and taxes for voluntary militia
The North Africa Journal - The new year began in earnest in Burkina Faso, with fresh efforts from the government to create new units and tackle funding for volunteer militiamen. The country has been facing a devastating insurgency and has a military junta that appears...
Egypt intercepts drone of unknown origin in Sinai as region remains destabilized
@northafricajournal #Egypt downs #drone in #Sinai Peninsula near #Israel ♬ original sound - The North Africa Journal The Egyptian air force shot down a drone off the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday down the coast from the Israeli border, state-linked media reported....
Rising Storms: The Pact Uniting Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger Against Jihadists and Isolation
The military rulers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have banded together in a joint defence pact to fight jihadists and present a united political front in their declared aim to restore sovereignty. Against a backdrop of a bloody jihadist insurgency in West Africa's...
Libya releases four Hamas members held since 2016
Libyan authorities on Friday released four members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas who were arrested in 2016 on charges including trafficking arms to Gaza, according to Libyan media. The four men -- Marwan al-Ashqar, his son Baraa, Mouayad Abed and Nasib...
Sahel: Burkina Faso and Niger withdraw from regional anti-terror force
The military leaders of Burkina Faso and Niger said Saturday they would quit the G5 anti-jihadist force in Africa's Sahel area, the latest blow to the fight against insurgents in one of the world's most troubled regions. The G5, created in 2014, has secured only...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Libya: Apparent calm hides potential for more violence
There is potential for new violence in Libya, a United Nations official said Tuesday, as the country faces delays in moving toward elections. Rosemary DiCarlo, under-secretary-general for political and peacekeeping affairs, told the Security Council she was worried...
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 the jihadist-torn region, a local official said Wednesday. Since March, more than 65,000 people have arrived in the town of Menaka near the border...
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 "foreign" personnel, the UN's peacekeeping mission said Wednesday. There was no immediate response from Mali's authorities to the allegations, just...
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 Burkina Faso, the army said Monday. The landlocked Sahel state is in the grip of a seven-year-old insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives...
Sahel/Chad: Government denies rebel attack on troops
A leading Chad rebel group said Saturday it had killed ten soldiers in the north of the country, a claim the government rejected as "fake news". The Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic (CCMSR) said troops had attacked its forces in the Wouri...
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 northern village of Blamonga on the border with Burkina Faso. The attack, which took place on Monday, was the fifth in the country since last year, as...
Libya in turmoil again as tensions escalate
The United Nations on Tuesday voiced "deep concern" over growing tensions between rival Libyan forces, calling for "immediate" moves to calm the situation. The UN's mission UNSMIL said it was "following with deep concern the ongoing mobilisation of forces and threats...
Libya: New mass grave found in Tarhuna
Libyan authorities said Monday that seven unidentified bodies were found in the western town of Tarhuna, where scores of corpses have been discovered in mass graves in recent years. A "mass grave" was discovered on Sunday in a "public waste dump" and seven bodies have...
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 jihadist-fuelled insurgency. On Monday, France pulled out of the country in the face of deep hostility after falling out with colonels who seized power...
Sahel: Understanding the Mali crisis
On August 18 2020, crowds in the Malian capital Bamako applauded as young colonels toppled a civilian government struggling to roll back a bloody jihadist insurgency. Today, the looming anniversary of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's ouster sees a country mired in...