North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Burkina Faso Faces New Security Tensions Amid Coup Allegations
Burkina Faso saw a surge in political tension after warnings of a possible destabilization attempt triggered overnight mobilizations in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. Security forces placed several military sites on alert as arrests were reported and social media claims pointed to internal and external actors. While the scale of the threat remains unclear, the episode reflects persistent instability under the country’s military transition and raises questions about internal cohesion, governance, and the long-term outlook for political order.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Sahel: French forces withdraw from Menaka base in northern Mali
French troops were on Monday handing back a military base in northeastern Mali ahead of a final withdrawal from the Sahel nation, France's army said, after nine years fighting a jihadist insurgency. The UN emissary there warned that the French withdrawal could leave...
Libya: New militia violence in Tripoli
A night of clashes between militias in the heart of a residential district of the Libyan capital Tripoli raised fears on Saturday of escalating violence in the conflict-riven country. The intense fighting that erupted late Friday between two armed groups that back...
Moroccan national captured by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine
Pro-Moscow separatists sentenced to death two British fighters and a third from Morocco, who were captured by Russian troops while fighting for Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday. The "supreme court of the Donetsk People's Republic" ordered the death...
Sahel: Jihadists surround Mali town of Boni
Jihadists have since late May blockaded the central Malian town of Boni and interrupted traffic on a major highway in the region, the UN and several local sources say. "Since May 25, 2022, extremist armed groups have prevented the movement of people and goods in this...
Sahel: Mali launches military offensive to retake town of Anderamboukane from insurgents
Malian forces and local armed groups have launched a bid to recapture a jihadist-held border town in a region where hundreds of civilians have died in the past few months, sources there say. Fighting has been unfolding over the last few days at the strategic town of...
Togo: Al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM claims May attack in Togo
A Mali-based coalition of Al-Qaeda aligned militants has claimed responsibility for an attack in Togo last month, the SITE Intelligence monitoring group said on Friday. The Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) has been expanding geographically, threatening...
Sahel: Six killed in attacks on Burkina security forces
Two soldiers and four civilian volunteers with Burkina Faso's security forces have been killed in clashes with suspected jihadists, army headquarters said on Thursday. A soldier and four Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) were killed on Thursday in...
Sahel: Three foreign nationals kidnapped in Mali
Armed men have kidnapped an Italian couple and their child as well as a Togolese national in southeastern Mali, a local official and a Malian security source told AFP Friday. They said the abductions occurred late Thursday about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the...
Mali withdraws from G5 Sahel security force
Mali's junta announced Sunday that it will quit a West African anti-jihadist force after it was blocked from assuming the presidency of the regional group. The country's departure from the G5 Sahel security force deepens its isolation after its neighbours hit it with...
Libya: Violent clashes in west Tripoli
Violent clashes rocked a western area of the Libyan capital overnight and until Sunday morning, an interior ministry source said, as local media reported the death of a militia commander. Janzour, on the western outskirts of Tripoli, is home to the headquarters of...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Sahel: Mystery about disappearance of civilians in Mali
Bamako, Dec 30, 2019 - Malian authorities and the United Nations have opened investigations into the alleged disappearance of more than 20 civilians in the war-torn West African country this month, security and government officials said Monday. There are few details...
Crisis in Sahel: France’s quagmire
The Sahel is experiencing utter destabilization. Almost all countries of the region, starting with Mali, then Niger, Chad, more recently Burkina Faso, and to a certain extent northern Nigeria, are falling apart and suffering from a series of factors that conspire to...
The cost of a civil war, tens of thousands of Libyans flee their homes
Tripoli, Dec 27, 2019 (By Nawas Al-Darraji) - Layla Mohammed barely had time to gather her children's belongings before fleeing their southern Tripoli home when shelling targeted the Libyan capital's outskirts earlier this year. For months she moved her family between...
Sahel: Roadside-bomb attacks kill four in Mali
Bamako, Dec 20, 2019 - Two soldiers and two civilians have been killed and another six people injured in separate roadside-bomb attacks this week in volatile central Mali, local government and security officials said on Friday. The two civilian victims were women...
Sahel: Boko Haram raids village in western Chad, kills scores
Fourteen people were killed and 13 were missing after Boko Haram jihadists attacked a fishing village in western Chad on Tuesday, government officials said. "There were 14 dead, five wounded and 13 missing in the attack" near the village of Kaiga on the shores of...
Africa: Herdsmen-Boko Haram clash in Nigeria, scores dead
Boko Haram jihadists gunned down 19 cattle herders Saturday in northeast Nigeria, civilian militia sources and residents told AFP on Sunday. Ethnic Fulani herders, besieged by a spate of armed attacks targeting their cattle, pursued Boko Haram, sparking a fierce...
Morocco arrests suspected insurgent
Moroccan anti-terror police announced Sunday the arrest of an alleged jihadist who "planned a suicide attack". The 41-year-old extremist tried to "build expertise in the use of arms", Morocco's central office for judicial investigations said in a statement. He was...
Libya: Warlord Khalifa Haftar promises onslaught on Tripoli
Tripoli, Dec 12, 2019 - Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar announced a "decisive battle" for the capital Tripoli on Thursday, eight months after he launched an offensive to wrest it from the unity government. "Zero hour has come for the broad and total assault...
Sahel: Insurgents raid army camp in Tahoua, Niger, 17 casualties
Niamey, Dec 11, 2019 - Three soldiers and 14 attackers died in an assault earlier this week on an army camp in western Niger near the border with Mali, the defence minister said. Heavily armed "terrorists" in a dozen 4x4 vehicles led the attack early Monday morning on...
Libya: Civilians killed in air strikes on Tripoli, authorities say UAE drones used
Tripoli, Dec 2, 2019 - At least five civilians were killed and 10 wounded in overnight air strikes in a suburb of Libya's capital, the unity government's health ministry said on Monday. "Violent air raids on the residential area of al-Swani killed five civilians and...