North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Defense: Mauritania and Spain Use Naval Exercises to Bolster Atlantic Maritime Security
Mauritania and Spain have carried out joint naval exercises off Nouadhibou, built around a port visit by the Spanish patrol vessel Furor and focused on navigation safety and operational coordination. The drills, paired with visits to Mauritanian military installations, signal a tightening maritime partnership in Atlantic waters that are central to security, fisheries, and migration routes. Officials in Nouakchott present the cooperation as part of a broader effort to strengthen maritime stability and protect shared interests at sea.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Burkina Faso junta likely to delay return to civilian rule, rejects talks with insurgents
Photo: PM Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla: Burkina Faso's prime minister on Tuesday ruled out negotiations with jihadist insurgents who control swathes of the country, while suggesting that security risks could delay the country's return to civilian rule. His...
Tunisia says it arrested five “IS militants” in Sfax
Tunisia's national guard on Friday announced the arrest of a suspected Islamic State group member in possession of explosives who was planning "four simultaneous terrorist operations" in the country. The suspect was arrested in Tunisia's second city of Sfax on its...
Sahel: Another bloody Sunday in Burkina Faso
More than a dozen people, thought to be mostly shepherds, have been killed in an attack in eastern Burkina Faso, security and local sources told AFP on Monday. On Sunday "several dozen terrorists attacked the outskirts of Kompienga" -- the capital of the province of...
Burkina Faso: At least 12 civilians killed in northern village of Kiè
At least twelve civilians were killed in an attack by suspected jihadists in an area of western Burkina Faso bordering Mali, a local official and residents told AFP on Saturday. The village of Kie was attacked by "unidentified armed individuals on Friday evening", a...
Sahel: More terror attacks on civilians in Burkina Faso
Around 40 people have been killed in a fresh wave of attacks in Burkina Faso, in areas where jihadist attacks are rife, sources said on Friday. In the most recent violence, around 20 people were killed in a series of raids on villages in Burkina Faso's troubled north,...
Burkina Faso: Twenty civilians killed in two terror attacks in Koulpelogo
Around 20 people in east-central Burkina Faso have been killed in attacks by suspected jihadists, sources said on Friday. Armed men on Monday raided the village of Kaongo in the border province of Koulpelogo, killing at least 11 people including two women and...
Sahel: Herders and farmers’ conflicts intensify in southern Chad
Eleven villagers in southern Chad have been killed by "bandits," in a region troubled by violence between herders and sedentary farmers, the military said on Thursday. The attack occurred on Wednesday, coinciding with an announcement by Chad that it had joined with...
Tunisian president evokes ‘tolerance’ after synagogue attack
Tunisian President Kais Saied has hosted Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders following a deadly mass shooting outside a local synagogue, telling them Tunisia was a country of "tolerance and coexistence". The May 9 attack on the resort island of Djerba killed five...
Sahel: French military allegedly tried to use journalist Olivier Dubois to track JNIM leader before his kidnapping
French forces tried to use a journalist's visit to northern Mali to track a jihadist leader but failed to prevent the reporter from being kidnapped by the militants, French media reported Wednesday. The report comes amid an investigation into what happened to...
Sahel: French uranium miner evacuates expatriate staff from Niger as security threats grow
French uranium miner Orano said on Friday it had evacuated expatriate staff from northern Niger after being warned of a threat in the jihadist-troubled region. The company late Thursday was advised of a "security event" in a village located halfway between the Malian...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Burkina Faso: Abbot Rodrigue Sanon found dead in the Cascades region
A priest missing since Tuesday in Burkina Faso's jihadist-plagued southwest has been found dead, security and local sources said Thursday. "The priest's lifeless body was found in the Toumousseni Forest" in the Cascades region bordering Ivory Coast and Mali, a...
Libya: Russian and other foreign mercenaries still active in Libya
Foreign forces ignored a deadline to pull out of Libya as scheduled Saturday under a UN-backed ceasefire deal, highlighting the fragility of peace efforts after a decade of conflict. Satellite images broadcast by CNN show a trench running tens of kilometres (miles)...
Sahel: Armed confrontations escalate in Niger and Mali
More troops killed by roadside bomb in central Mali Three Malian troops were killed and five wounded by a roadside bomb in the centre of the country Thursday, military sources said, in the latest attack in the Sahel state. The three -- members of the National Guard, a...
Tunisia: Rights groups decry mass arrests in Tunisia
Tunisian security forces have arrested at least 1,000 people during six nights of urban unrest between disaffected youths and riot police, human rights and other non-government groups said Thursday. The North African country, where the Covid-19 pandemic has deepened...
Sahel: Catholic priest missing in jihadist-hit Burkina Faso
A priest has gone missing in southeastern Burkina Faso, triggering fears of a kidnapping in the Sahel state, which is struggling with a five-year-old jihadist offensive, the Catholic Church said Wednesday. The bishop of Banfora, Lucas Kalfa Sanou, said Father Rodrigue...
Sahel: Roadside bomb kills soldiers in south Niger
Four soldiers were killed and eight others seriously injured by a roadside bomb in southeastern Niger, a region hit by jihadist attacks, the government said. The troops were pursuing "terrorists" on Monday following an attack the previous day on a military position in...
Sahel: Foreign forces unable to bring stability to Mali, four UN peacekeepers killed in Bambara Maoude
The death toll from an attack on UN peacekeepers in Mali has risen to four after another soldier died from his wounds, the United Nations said Thursday. A detachment of Ivorian peacekeepers was travelling between Douentza and Timbuktu in the northwest on Wednesday...
Breaking: Algeria: Terror attack in Tebessa kills five civilians
On 14 January 2020, a homemade bomb blast killed five civilians and wounded three others in eastern Algeria on Thursday, the defence ministry said, according to AFP. The attack happened at Oued Khenig-Roum near the municipality of Telidjane. . It added that a jihadist...
Tunisia says it neutralized Al-Qaeda cell plotting “terrorist attacks”
Tunisia has arrested a suspected branch leader of Al-Qaeda in North Africa, along with several others suspected of planning "terrorist" attacks, a judicial spokesman said Friday. "Two dangerous wanted individuals, one of whom is an Al-Qaeda leader", were arrested in...
Sahel: Reports of 20 villagers killed in Mali region of Bounti
France said on Tuesday it had killed dozens of jihadists in a weekend air strike in central Mali, while several villagers and a local group said up to 20 wedding guests were killed by a helicopter. Social media has been buzzing with rumours since Sunday about events...