North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Egypt Deepens Defense-Industrial Engagement With China
Egypt is advancing defense-industrial cooperation with China through localized production, joint exercises, and expanded military training links. Developments during 2025 point to a pragmatic effort by Cairo to diversify suppliers and strengthen domestic manufacturing capacity, while Beijing cautiously broadens engagement beyond conventional arms sales.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
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,...
Sahel: Mali junta carries out air strikes on ‘terrorists’
Mali's military junta said it carried out air strikes on Wednesday against "terrorist groups" that were planning attacks in the north of the country. "Preventive FAMa (Malian Armed Forces) air strikes followed by an airborne operation targeted armed terrorist groups,...
Sahel: Dozens dead in clash in north Burkina Faso
The general staff of the Burkina Faso military said 53 people died in Koumbri, near Ouahigouya in the north of the country on 4 September, when the 12th commando infantry regiment was deployed to secure the resettlement of populations who have left the area for more...
Leaders of Francophone Africa gripped by fear, strengthen their own security
By Arezki Daoud: Leaders of Francophone Africa are in state of panic following a series of coups that toppled their peers in Mali, Burkina, Guinea, Niger and now Gabon. Last week, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame announced the retirement of hundreds of military...
Sahel: France considering selective troop pullout from Niger
The French army is holding talks with Niger's military over withdrawing "elements" of its presence there following a coup, a defence ministry source said on Tuesday. There has been speculation that France will be forced into a full military pullout from Niger after...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
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...
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 bolthole for Islamist rebels, President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said on Wednesday. "This latest loss, which can be ascribed to a terrorist ambush by the...
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 border with Mali, the government said Tuesday. The attack happened on Sunday when unidentified "armed bandits" on motorbikes attacked a truck travelling...
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 in attacks in a national park in Benin's remote north bordering troubled Niger and Burkina Faso, according to a government update. The toll was the...
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 are still living in fear today, the International Criminal Court heard Tuesday. Lawyers representing 1,946 victims of the year-long jihadist occupation...
Conflicts: How the UAE pays mercenaries in Darfur to wage war in Libya in support of Khalifa Haftar
Providing mercenaries in Libya's internal conflict has become the main source of revenue for armed groups from Sudan's own war-torn Darfur region, the United Nations said in a report Friday. The report, drawn up by UN experts in charge of monitoring the arms embargo...
Security/Sahel: Joint Burkina Faso/Niger counter-insurgency operation claims neutralizing dozens of jihadists
The armies of Burkina Faso and neighbouring Niger said Thursday they had killed around 100 "terrorists" in a joint military operation against jihadists on the border between November 25 and December 9. The operation managed to "neutralise around 100 terrorists" and...
Sahel: Niger president says weapons from Libya fuel violence in Sahel
Niger President Mohamed Bazoum on Monday urged his country's allies to step up the fight against arms trafficking from Libya, which he said is fuelling the Sahel's jihadist insurgency. "The partners' biggest failure has been their weak involvement in the fight against...
Sahel: Gunmen kill seven former rebels in northern Mali
Seven former rebels were killed in northern Mali overnight, a spokesman of the group, the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA), said Monday. The alliance made up mainly of separatist Tuaregs and nationalist Arabs signed an accord with the national government in...
Sahel: Attack on bus in Mopti, Mali claims dozens of civilian lives
Suspected jihadists in Mali killed at least 30 civilians in an attack on a passenger vehicle in the volatile central town of Mopti, local officials said Saturday. "The passengers were sprayed with bullets and the vehicle was torched," during an attack by "terrorists"...