North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Flashpoints: How Emirati and Qatari Competition Is Redrawing the Red Sea Map
A low-profile but consequential rivalry between the United Arab Emirates and Qatar is reshaping access to the Red Sea. Through competing alliances, port investments, and security partnerships, both Gulf states are extending their influence across the Horn of Africa. At the center of this struggle lies Somaliland, whose strategic coastline, port infrastructure, and political status have become critical factors in a broader contest involving regional and extra-regional powers.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Algeria reacts to Israel’s backing Morocco in Western Sahara conflict
Algeria on Thursday denounced Israel's backing of Morocco's "claimed sovereignty" over the disputed Western Sahara region as a "flagrant violation" of international law. The Western Sahara conflict pits Morocco against Sahrawi separatists of the Algiers-backed...
Sahel: Germany and Mali agree ‘smooth’ pullout of UN-backed troops
Germany and Mali agreed Thursday to pursue a "smooth withdrawal" of German troops from the troubled African nation after the UN decided to end its decade-old peacekeeping mission there, Berlin said. Mali's defence minister Sadio Camara assured his German counterpart...
Mali: Ethnic Tuaregs brace for attacks from army and Russian mercenaries ($)
The departure of the French forces and the forthcoming exit from Mali of the UN peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMO, are creating a new set of problems for the Sahelian nation of Mali. In particular, the northern political elite representing the Touareg nation are experiencing a major leadership crisis. There is a lack of consensus among Tuareg leaders as to the way forward, but all of them anticipate the central government in Bamako to take advantage of the absence of foreign observers to launch an offensive against the populations of the north.
The militarization of the Sahel: Governments run by soldiers ($)
Military regimes now dominate the governments of the Sahel nations. The countries in the region have experienced a series of coups that enabled soldiers to take over power.
Morocco and Spain arrest two people they say are supporters of Islamic State
Police in Morocco and Spain said on Wednesday two people have been arrested in a joint operation by both countries' security services targeting "terrorists". An Islamic State jihadist group supporter "active between Morocco and Spain", was arrested Wednesday by...
Burkina Faso: Attackers kill civilians in the Sahel Province
An armed attack in northern Burkina Faso, an area plagued by jihadist violence, has left about 10 civilians dead, security and local sources told AFP on Thursday. A large group of armed men descended on the village of Sampelga, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the...
Mali: MINUSMA convoy attacked near Gao
Armed men attacked a logistics convoy of the UN mission in the north of Mali on Thursday, a source at the UN peacekeeping mission told AFP. "Unidentified armed individuals opened fire against a logistics convoy of the Minusma force moving from the (locality of)...
Libya strongman Haftar issues new threat over oil revenue
Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar, who backs the politically-split country's eastern administration, has threatened military action unless oil revenues are divided fairly by the end of August. The country sits on Africa's biggest oil reserves but the wedge...
Libya: Base hosting Wagner mercenaries supporting warlord Haftar attacked by drones
Drone strikes early Friday hit an airbase in Libya's east used by mercenaries of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, without causing any casualties, a military official told AFP. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the origin of the overnight...
Sahel: UN Mission to leave Mali, but no timetable set yet
By Amélie Bottlier-Depois: With the imminent end of the UN's Mali peacekeeping mission seemingly no longer in doubt, negotiations at the UN are still foundering over the timetable for their departure, which Bamako wants "without delay", according to diplomatic...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Benin: Growing risk of Jihad contagion from the Sahel in West Africa’s Benin
Jihadists operating near Benin's borders with Burkina Faso and Niger may coopt intensifying communal conflicts in the country's north as they seek to extend their influence, a Dutch security report said on Thursday. AFP reports that several jihadist groups operate in...
Nigeria: Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau declared dead by rival ISWAP
By Aminu Abubskar When Nigeria's military claimed Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had been badly wounded in an air strike 2016, the jihadist chief soon appeared in a video to deny another of the many reports of his impending death. Over the weekend, it was an audio...
Niger: Two Chinese workers kidnapped in Mbanga
Armed men have kidnapped two Chinese employees of a mining company in a volatile area near western Niger's borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, the regional governor said Monday. "Two Chinese nationals were kidnapped... by armed men in Mbanga" on Sunday night, the...
Libya: Efforts to stabilize Libya stymied by persistent violence
Two members of Libya's security forces were killed and five others wounded Sunday evening in a car bomb blast at a checkpoint in the country's south, a police source said. "A car bomb exploded as it was crossing a roadblock set up by the security forces" in the city...
Sahel: Death toll in latest terror attack on Solhan in Burkina Faso updated to 160
Details of the massacre Suspected jihadists killed 160 people -- including 20 children -- in the village of Solhan in Burkina Faso's conflict-wracked north on the weekend, in the deadliest attack since Islamist violence reached the West African country in 2015. Here...
Sahel: Massacre in northern Burkina Faso
UN chief Antonio Guterres is "outraged" over the massacre of civilians in Burkina Faso's volatile north, his spokesman said Saturday, the deadliest attacks since Islamist violence erupted in the west African country in 2015. "The Secretary-General is outraged by the...
US offers cash rewards to locate Al-Qaeda’s Al-Annabi
The US State Department posted a $7 million reward Wednesday for information leading to the location or identification of Abu Ubaydah Youssef Al-Annabi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The department said Anabi was declared the emir of the...
Sahel: Burkina Faso struggles with terror attacks in the north
Twin attacks in Burkina kill 16 Updated: May 19, 2021 - Attacks on a village and troops in the north and east of Burkina Faso left 15 civilians and one soldier dead, a regional governor and security sources said Wednesday. A brutal resurgence of jihadist violence in...
Libya: UN decries lack of progress in withdrawal of mercenaries from Libya
Libya has seen "no reduction of foreign fighters or of their activities" in the center of the country, says UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a report submitted this week to the Security Council. "While the ceasefire agreement continued to hold, UNSMIL (the UN...
Sahel: No break during the Eid holiday: Five villagers killed in Niger’s Tillaberi region
Five people were killed on Wednesday in an attack on a village in the western Tillaberi region of Niger, near the border with Mali, as the country celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a local official told AFP. ...