North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Southern Libya Boils Over: Three Haftar Soldiers Killed in Border Raid Near Niger
Three soldiers loyal to Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar were killed and several others captured in coordinated attacks on border posts near Niger, underscoring how southern Libya has become a key fault line in the country’s fractured security landscape. Fighters claiming to represent “revolutionaries of the South” say they are targeting Haftar’s forces over dire living conditions and alleged resource plunder, as cross-border armed groups test the limits of state control from Al-Tum to the Salvador Pass.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Sahel: Mali government troops and their Wagner allies are now attacking the ethnic Touaregs
By Arezki Daoud: As I have been saying for a while, the Malian junta is leveraging its honeymoon period with Russia's Wagner group and the withdrawal of the UN peacekeepers to unleash mayhem against the northern Touareg tribes. The army and Wagner mercenaries attacked...
Mali: Mali junta face more disgruntled Ethnic Touaregs
Regional rebels in Mali who signed a peace deal in 2015 have withdrawn their representatives from the capital, a move signalling a widening rift with the country's ruling military, one of their leaders said on Thursday. The Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA)...
Niger: ECOWAS walks away from early threat of using force to restore deposed president
West African leaders will make negotiations with the military leaders who have seized control in Niger the "bedrock" of its attempts to defuse the crisis, stepping back from a threat of military intervention to restore the elected government. "It is crucial that we...
Morocco: 50 people arrested in anti-terror sweeps ($)
Morocco arrested 50 individuals, including 21 kept in preventive detention, following a nationwide raid on terror suspects conducted on July 26, 2023. The sweeps were conducted by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ) and the General Directorate of...
Niger: Thousands of coup supporters gather in Niamey stadium
Thousands of supporters of the military coup in Niger gathered at a Niamey stadium Sunday, when a deadline set by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS to return the deposed President Mohamed Bazoum to power is set to expire, according to AFP journalists. A delegation...
Sahel: Chad acquires military vehicles and security gear from the UAE
The United Arab Emirates has sent military vehicles and other security gear to Chad in support of anti-"terrorism" efforts and border rotection, the oil-rich Gulf state said on Sunday. Chad is a neighbour of Niger, where a coup late last month toppled one of the last...
Nigerian president Tinubu under pressure to avoid war with northern neighbor Niger
By Camille Malpat with Aminu Abubakar in Kano, Nigeria: Political leaders in Nigeria are urging President Bola Tinubu to reconsider a threatened military intervention against junta leaders in neighbouring Niger, ahead of a Sunday deadline to reinstate the country's...
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,...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Libya: Water supply to west and south Libya cut because of political terrorism
Libyan authorities have shut water supplies to swathes of the country after gunmen demanding the release of a jailed Kadhafi-era official threatened to sabotage the water network. Supplies to western and southwestern Libya were interrupted overnight Saturday to...
Sahel: Violence in the Sahel continues to escalate with no end in sight
Deadly competition between two insurgent groups spreads terror in Lake Chad Here is a factfile on Boko Haram and its rival ISWAP following the killing of 24 Chadian troops in the troubled Lake Chad area: The insurgency initiated by Boko Haram in 2009 has left more...
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...