North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Sahel: French Special Forces Accused of Direct Role in Benin Coup Response
Testimony from Benin’s Republican Guard commander that French special forces were flown in from Abidjan during a failed coup has prompted French lawmakers to question whether the operation should have been treated as an external deployment requiring parliamentary notification and whether it exceeded the legal bounds of existing defense agreements.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Sahel: Niger reports major offensive against Boko Haram near border with Nigeria
Jihadist-hit Niger last week killed about 30 members of the Boko Haram group and detained 960 followers, most of them women and children, who had fled neighbouring Nigeria, official sources said. State TV channel Tele Sahel said late Tuesday that on March 7 aerial...
Sahel: Mali ratchets up communications on military offensive against insurgents
The Malian Armed Forces known as FAMA, have been increasing their communications to the media to showcase their alleged wins. Ever since the junta of Assimi Goita took over, there has been a greater emphasis on PR. Earlier this week, FAMA said that 153 "terrorists"...
Sahel: North and center-east Burkina Faso under curfew amid escalating insurgency
Burkina Faso has put the North and parts of the Centre East region under curfew to aid the fight against jihadists, according to official documents seen by AFP on Sunday. The long-running insurgency in the impoverished Sahel nation has left thousands of civilians,...
Sahel: Two prison guards killed during daring escape
Four jihadists have escaped from prison in Mauritania after a shootout left two national guards dead, the interior ministry said Monday, a rare event in a nation spared the insurgency sweeping through the Sahel. The incident, which took place in the capital on Sunday...
Close advisor to Vladimir Putin, Nikolai Patrushev, in official visit to Algeria
The head of Algeria's army hosted Russia's top security official on Monday to discuss boosting their military ties, the defence ministry in Algiers said. General Said Chengriha said the visit of National Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev reflected both...
France to scale back military presence in Africa
By Valerie Leroux: President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced a "noticeable reduction" of French troop presence in Africa, where anti-French sentiment is running high in some former colonies. He was speaking in Paris ahead of a four-nation tour of central African...
Russian soldiers in the Algerian Sahara ($)
Algeria has apparently taken a distance from Russia, largely under pressure from the west, but also due to factions of the regime being influenced by France. But Algeria is almost exclusively dependent on Russia for its military equipment and is therefore not able to...
Niger: Soldiers sent to prison for attempted coup
A Niger court on Friday handed prison terms ranging from two to 20 years to several soldiers accused of attempting to carry out a coup in 2021. In March, Niger's government said it had arrested several people for participating in a coup attempt, two days before...
Sahel: Burkina Faso to raise troop level to intensify war against insurgents
Burkina Faso announced Thursday a recruitment drive for 5,000 soldiers to serve in the army for at least five years to aid the country in its fight against jihadists. The country, one of the world's poorest, has been battling a deadly insurgency since 2015. "An...
Sahel: Nearly 70 troops killed in two jihadist attacks in troubled Burkina
By Armel Baily: Suspected jihadists killed at least 15 soldiers in troubled northern Burkina Faso, just three days after an ambush that claimed the lives of 51 troops, security sources said Tuesday. A unit in Tin-Akoff in Oudalan province near the border with Mali...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Sahel: New terror attack in La Tapoa, Niger
Two forestry workers were killed and two soldiers were reported missing after an attack early Friday in southwestern Niger, the first in the region in almost a year, sources said. "Assailants targeted a position of the Nigerien armed forces and the water and forestry...
Libya: How many foreign mercenaries in Libya? 20,000 is the number
Twenty thousand foreign forces and mercenaries are in Libya despite a ceasefire and long-standing arms embargo, the UN envoy said Wednesday, calling the situation a "shocking violation of Libyan sovereignty". Libya has been wracked by violence and chaos since the...
Algeria: Four die in military-insurgent clashes in northeast Algeria
An Algerian soldier was killed Wednesday during a clash with armed Islamists in the country's northeast, the defence ministry said in a statement. Lelmaya Sifeddine was killed "during a new clash with a terrorist group" during an ongoing operation in the province of...
Sahel: Fragile calm in northern Mali town of Menaka
After years of violence and lawlessness during which the Malian town of Menaka changed hands between rebels and Islamists, a fragile calm has finally returned due to joint patrols by federal troops, militiamen and UN peacekeepers. Situated in the desert northeast of...
Sahel: Military posts in northern Mali attacked
Suspected militants attacked several Malian and foreign military bases with mortars and rockets in the north of the country on Monday, military sources said. No casualties were immediately reported in the attacks on Menaka, Gao and Kidal in what appeared to be a rare...
Global terrorism-related deaths down 15% in 2019, but West witnessing rise in far-right terrorism
The number of people killed in terror attacks worldwide fell for the fifth consecutive year in 2019, with conflict still the main driver of terror but an increase of "far-right terrorism" seen in the West, a leading think tank said Wednesday. Deaths from terrorism...
Libya: The civil war’s human tragedy
Tarhuna, Libya: A year ago armed men took Mohamed al-Magri's son for questioning as fighting raged around the Libyan capital, and now he fears Haitham was killed and buried in a mass grave. Magri believes the masked men took his son at gunpoint in revenge, because his...
Though unconfirmed, western media report death of Al Qaeda leaders
The reported deaths of Al-Qaeda's top two leaders in recent months have raised questions about the future strategy and strength of the terror network, already a shadow of the global force it was two decades ago. The New York Times reported last week that Al-Qaeda's...
Libyan lawyer and media figure Hanan Al-Barasi murdered in Benghazi
A Libyan lawyer was shot dead in her car in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday, a security source told AFP, confirming local media reports. The lawyer, Hanan al-Barassi, "was shot dead in Road 20, one of the main commercial streets in Benghazi," said the security...
Sahel: Gunmen ambush bus in Mali, kill eight people
Gunmen have killed eight people in central Mali, a local official and security ministry staffer said Wednesday, in the latest violence to hit the war-torn Sahel state. Militants attacked a minibus Tuesday, the officials said, which was travelling between the towns of...