North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Niger Turns to Local Self-Defense Units to Contain Growing Insecurity
Niger has formalized local self-defense units known as Domol Leydi as violence intensifies across its borders, reflecting a shift toward community-based security in response to expanding militant activity and limited state reach.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Mali: UN withdraws troops adding more instability to the region
UN peacekeepers in Mali announced Monday their pullout has started from two camps in the tense Kidal region, opening a new phase in a forced withdrawal igniting fears fighting will intensify between troops and armed actors. The UN stabilisation mission known as...
Egypt: Relief convoys in Egypt head towards Gaza border crossing
Relief convoys which have been waiting for days in Egypt were Tuesday headed towards the Rafah border crossing with the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza, aid officials said. The blockaded territory has been under sustained Israeli bombardment since Gaza's ruling...
Niger: Soldiers and insurgents killed in new clash near Burkina Faso border
Niger's military regime said Tuesday that six soldiers and 31 "terrorists" had been killed in fighting in a restive region plagued by insurgents linked with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. Clashes between armed forces and "terrorist elements" broke out in the...
Niger ups pressure on UN to vacate the country
Niger's military leaders have ordered the United Nations coordinator to leave the country within 72 hours, blaming the world body for hindering international recognition of the post-coup regime. The expulsion order comes a day after the United States cut off more than...
Israel-Gaza conflicts bleeds into Egypt, policeman kills two Israeli tourists and their guide in Alexandria
An Egyptian policeman shot dead two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide Sunday, local media and Israeli authorities said, as war raged for a second day between Israel and Palestinian militants. Israel's National Security Council later said its citizens should...
Sahel: Touaregs say they seized military site in Gao province
Tuareg rebels on Wednesday claimed to have captured a camp of Mali's armed forces in the north of the country, where clashes have been escalating since August. The Upper Council for Azawad Unity (CUA) said in a brief statement on social networks that the army camp at...
Sahel: Nigeria endorses Algeria’s mediation plan for Niger
The Sahel issues are now the domain of the Algerian military, who have sidelined the president and his aids due to their connections with France. Sources say that the Algerian mediation is likely the result of an agreement with the United States, which has been...
UN and AU discuss funding for African peacekeeping
The security councils of the United Nations and African Union on Thursday began talks on funding for peacekeeping missions by the pan-African body on the continent. AU, the bloc of 55 African countries with a population of 1.4 billion people, has long struggled to...
Sahel: French forces are leaving Niger this week
France said Thursday that it would start withdrawing its troops from Niger this week after a falling-out with the post-coup regime, which insists the exit be carried out in accordance with its "conditions". The announcement by the French army follows weeks of tensions...
Sahel: 29 Niger soldiers killed by suspected jihadists
Twenty-nine soldiers were killed in western Niger in an attack by suspected jihadists, the defence ministry said on Monday night, declaring a three-day national mourning period. The soldiers were targeted using "improvised explosive devices and kamikaze vehicles by...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
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 nation, France's army said, after nine years fighting a jihadist insurgency. The UN emissary there warned that the French withdrawal could leave...
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 army said on Friday. A gendarme brigade at Seytenga in the Sahel region came under a "terrorist attack", the military said. "Eleven gendarmes accepted...
Libya: New militia violence in Tripoli
A night of clashes between militias in the heart of a residential district of the Libyan capital Tripoli raised fears on Saturday of escalating violence in the conflict-riven country. The intense fighting that erupted late Friday between two armed groups that back...
Sahel: Mali launches military offensive to retake town of Anderamboukane from insurgents
Malian forces and local armed groups have launched a bid to recapture a jihadist-held border town in a region where hundreds of civilians have died in the past few months, sources there say. Fighting has been unfolding over the last few days at the strategic town of...
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...