North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Sahel: Jihadist Attack Kills Local Prefect in Southwestern Niger
A jihadist attack in southwestern Niger has killed the prefect of Torodi along with several members of his family, marking the first time a sitting prefect has been killed in an assault in his own district. The attack underscores growing insecurity near the border with Burkina Faso, where violence has led to school closures, population displacement, and a prolonged state of emergency.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Niger: Coup leaders get popular support amid rising regional tensions
By Boureima Hama with Delphine Touitou: Thousands of people rallied Thursday in Niger's capital in support of the coup that toppled the democratically elected government, as security concerns mounted among Western nations. Demonstrators in the heart of Niamey, some...
Sahel: West African states getting stressed over coup in Niger, do not rule out military action
Senegal said Thursday that it will participate if the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decides to intervene militarily in Niger following last week's coup. Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall told reporters during a government press briefing in the...
Niger: Nuclear industry in France seeks to appease concerns over Niger’s uranium
The military coup in Niger last week raises the question of Europe's dependency on uranium mined in the West African nation for its nuclear power plants. France's nuclear fuel firm Orano, formerly part of Areva, operates a uranium mine in the north of the country,...
Niger military junta accuses France of plotting counter-coup
By Boureima Hama: Niger's new junta on Monday accused France of seeking to "intervene militarily" to reinstate deposed President Mohamed Bazoum as tension mounted with the former colonial power and neighbours. Bazoum, a western ally whose election just over two years...
Niger: ECOWAS threatens Niger junta to return power to civilians
African leaders on Sunday gave the junta in Niger one week to cede power or face the possible use of force, and slapped financial sanctions on the putschists, after the latest coup in the jihadist-plagued Sahel region raised alarm on the continent and in the West. In...
Niger: Army General Abdourahamane Tchiani leads Niger’s new ruling junta
By Boureima Hama: Niger's putschists named an army general as the new leader of the unstable jihadist-hit nation on Friday and warned that any foreign military intervention would lead to chaos. General Abdourahamane Tchiani, head of the Presidential Guard since 2011,...
Niger: Army sides with presidential guard in ousting president Bezoum
Niger's armed forces chief on Thursday declared his support for troops who announced they had seized power, despite a defiant stand by the country's president, Mohamed Bazoum. In the latest turbulence to shake the coup-prone Sahel, Bazoum was confined on Wednesday by...
Podcast: Sahel: North Mali is bracing for more violence
Mali in the Sahel region is facing unprecedented crises. With the withdrawal of France forces and the upcoming pull out of the #UN peacekeepers, along with the actions of the Russian mercenary outfit the Wagner Group, the Malian population in the north known as the...
Niger in the footsteps of Mali and Burkina, coup in the offing
The Militarization of the Sahel By Boureima Hama: An attempted coup was underway Wednesday in the Sahel state of Niger as President Mohamed Bazoum was being held by members of his guard, who in turn were given an ultimatum by the army, sources said. The West African...
Sahel: Gunmen kill dozen civilians in Niger’s Tillaberi region
Gunmen have attacked two villages in Niger's vast Tillaberi border region, killing a dozen people working in the fields, security and local sources told AFP on Friday. "There were 12 deaths following the attack on Thursday afternoon by armed men," a municipal official...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Sahel: Another attack in SW Niger at border with Burkina Faso
Fifteen soldiers have been killed and six more are missing after a "terrorist" attack in southwest Niger, near the border with Burkina Faso, the defence ministry announced Sunday. The soldiers were first ambushed and later hit by an improvised explosive device as they...
Niger: 18 civilian killed in terror attack in Banibangou
A fresh attack in western Niger near the border with Mali has left 18 civilians dead, a local elected official said Thursday. The attack Wednesday was in the village of Deye Koukou in the Banibangou area, where 14 civilians were killed Sunday -- also by men aboard...
Middle East: Carnage in Baghdad with dozens killed in suicide attack ahead of Eid
By Salam Faraj: Iraq was in mourning Tuesday for dozens of people killed when a bomb ripped through a crowded Baghdad market on the eve of a Muslim feast in what the Islamic State group claimed as a suicide attack. The bloody carnage Monday evening, one of the...
Catholic hostages freed in Mali
A Malian priest -- the last of a group of five Catholics kidnapped in mid-June -- has been freed, church and government sources said Wednesday. Armed men took the five people hostage in the centre of Mali on June 21 after they left Segue to attend the funeral of...
Burkina Faso: Attack on Niha-Mossi village leaves 10 dead
Ten people were killed in northern Burkina Faso, seven of them members of a civilian defence force, security sources said Monday, in an attack in a region that has been repeatedly hit by jihadists. "Unidentified armed men yesterday attacked the village of Niha-Mossi,...
Niger: Civilians, soldiers and armed attackers killed in Tillaberi clash
Five civilians, four soldiers and 40 armed attackers were killed Sunday in a clash in Niger's restive southwest region near the border with Mali, the government said. Around 100 heavily armed "terrorists" riding motorcycles attacked the Tchoma Bangou village, striking...
Burkina Faso: Mass casualty in ambush on policemen near Barsalogho
Around 10 policemen have been killed in an ambush by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso and several more officers are missing, security sources told AFP on Tuesday. "On Monday evening, a group of police officers were targeted in an ambush by armed...
Sahel: Mali Church officials report kidnapping of Catholics in Mopti
Armed men in central Mali have abducted five Catholics, including an abbot, Church officials said Tuesday, in the latest kidnapping in the war-torn Sahel state. The group disappeared on Monday while travelling from the mostly Catholic area of Segue in the centre of...
Mali: Bomb blast in Timbuktu wounds four Malian civilians and six French soldiers
A suicide car bomber attacked French troops patrolling in central Mali on Monday, according to France's military, wounding six soldiers and four civilians including a child in the war-torn West African country. The French soldiers, who were travelling in a vehicle,...
Sahel: Soldiers killed, UN troops wounded in Mali
Two soldiers have been killed in an ambush by suspected jihadists and eight United Nations troops wounded by a landmine in conflict-riven Mali, military and UN sources said Sunday. "Two of our men were killed by terrorists on Saturday night in an attack on one of our...