North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Egypt’s Red Lines in the Horn of Africa Are Becoming Explicit
Egypt’s expanding posture in Somalia and its firm stance on Sudan reveal a coherent security doctrine taking shape along its southern and southeastern perimeter. Cairo is drawing explicit red lines against state collapse, territorial fragmentation, and the emergence of parallel authorities in strategically sensitive areas of the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea basin.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Sahel: Mali warns ECOWAS against military action in Niger
Mali "will not stand idly by" if foreign governments intervene in neighouring Niger, Bamako's top diplomat warned the United Nations on Saturday, after both countries' juntas joined a mutual defense pact. Rebel elite soldiers overthrew Niger's president Mohamed Bazoum...
Sahel: Niger bans French aircraft from its airspace
Niger's military rulers have banned "French aircraft" from flying over the country's airspace, according to the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) website. Niger's airspace is "open to all national and international commercial...
Sahel: French President makes pragmatic decision to step away from Niger
French withdrawals from Africa After Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic, France is being forced to withdraw troops from yet another former African colony that pivoted to Russia after souring on Paris: Niger. Faced with growing anti-French sentiment...
Mali: Tuaregs say they shot down two military planes, captured soldiers in intensifying conflict
An alliance of armed groups in northern Mali said it has taken several soldiers prisoner and killed a dozen others, while losing eight of its own fighters in a recent operation. The alliance -- which includes the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), a coalition of...
Sahel: The demise of the ancient city of Timbuktu
When jihadists in Mali announced they would blockade the ancient city of Timbuktu, residents thought it was just another intimidation tactic. But a month and a half later, the tens of thousands of inhabitants remain almost completely cut off from the world with the...
Mali: Touareg group kills five army soldiers in Léré
An attack on two military camps in northern Mali claimed by armed rebel groups killed five soldiers, while 11 others are missing, the army said late Monday. It was the latest attack against army positions in northern Mali, which, in addition to suffering frequent...
Sahel: US military resumes surveillance flights over Niger
The United States has resumed surveillance flights over Niger that were halted in the wake of the military takeover there but other activities remain paused, a spokeswoman said Thursday. "We can confirm that US forces in Niger commenced ISR flights to monitor for...
Podcast: Libya’s Floods and Maghreb’s Leadership Deficit
Opinion by Arezki Daoud: The earthquake in #Morocco and the floods in #Libya should be an opportunity for "leaders" in the region to fix long-standing problems that turned the #Maghreb into a virtual war zone. You'd think so? But I am not holding my breath. The...
Sahel: Army-Tuareg war reignites in north Mali
Opinion by Arezki Daoud: The military junta in Mali is now confronted with the realities of war. It is battling on multiple fronts and not always winning. In the north, its policies and violent approach to problems have reignited a Tuareg rebellion. Mali's government...
Sahel: Suspected GSIM militants attack boat on the Niger River in Mali
A passenger boat on the Niger River in northern Mali was attacked on Thursday by suspected jihadists, the Malian army said on social media. "At around 11:00 am (1100 GMT), armed terrorist groups... attacked a Comanav boat" in the Gourma-Rharous area, it said,...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
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, a security source said. The pre-dawn attack at the Karma mine near Ouahigouya saw "several dozen armed men, probably terrorists" raid the facility's...
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 SITE Intelligence monitoring group said on Friday. The Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) has been expanding geographically, threatening...
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 suspected jihadists, army headquarters said on Thursday. A soldier and four Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) were killed on Thursday in...
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 local official and a Malian security source told AFP Friday. They said the abductions occurred late Thursday about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the...
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 the presidency of the regional group. The country's departure from the G5 Sahel security force deepens its isolation after its neighbours hit it with...
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 Burkina Faso, local sources and security officials said on Monday. In the northern region of Sahel, around 25 people were killed in two assaults on...
Libya: Violent clashes in west Tripoli
Violent clashes rocked a western area of the Libyan capital overnight and until Sunday morning, an interior ministry source said, as local media reported the death of a militia commander. Janzour, on the western outskirts of Tripoli, is home to the headquarters of...
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 Burkina Faso, the government said, using a term typically designating jihadists. Togo's troops are deployed in the north of the country to try and...
Terrorism: Members of 84 states and organizations meet in Marrakesh to discuss anti-terror strategy
The global coalition against the Islamic State group gathered Wednesday in Morocco to coordinate efforts to prevent the jihadists staging a revival in the Middle East and North Africa. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to co-host the meeting with Moroccan...
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 near Burkina Faso, local and security sources said on Thursday. Niger, the world's poorest country according to the UN's Human Development Index, is...