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: Senegalese President begs Germany to not abandon Mali
Senegalese President Macky Sall on Monday urged Germany to keep its troops in Mali, amid uncertainty over their future in the fragile Sahel country after France announced a military withdrawal. The call came at a news conference in Senegal's capital Dakar with German...
Sahel: The Burkina Faso coup: Not so bloodless after all
Two civilians were killed and a dozen injured in last month's coup in Burkina Faso, an event that had previously been hailed as bloodless, the authorities said on Monday, adding that junta leader and interim president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba had ordered an...
Sahel: 18 civilians killed in Jihadist attack in west Niger
Eighteen civilians have been killed in two suspected jihadist attacks in the west of Niger near the Sahel nation's border with Mali, the government said Tuesday. The attack happened on Sunday when unidentified "armed bandits" on motorbikes attacked a truck travelling...
Egypt and France in joint naval exercises
Egypt has kicked off joint air and naval drills with France, one of its biggest arms suppliers, in the Mediterranean, the Egyptian army said Monday. "Egypt and France are carrying out the 'Ramses 2022' naval and air exercises in the Mediterranean... which will last...
Sahel: Fake news flooding troubled region
By Amaury Hauchard, with Boureima Hama in Niamey Fake news is flooding Africa's conflict-ridden Sahel, according to experts, sowing discord and confusion in the increasingly volatile region. Doctored news bulletins and altered photos often spread like wildfire on...
Sahel: Concern over Russian mercenaries’ entry into Chad
Chad's ruling military junta on Wednesday accused a rebel leader of seeking the help of Russian mercenaries to derail a reconciliation process and topple those in power. Timan Erdimi, who heads the powerful Union of Resistance Forces (UFR), solicited the help of...
Libya now has two prime ministers: expect fresh violence ahead
Libya since Kadhafi: a decade of civil war and chaos With Libya now having two rival prime ministers, this is a timeline of the chaos that has gripped the country since a revolt overthrew dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. 2011: Kadhafi killed Encouraged by Arab Spring...
Western Sahara conflict intensifies: Polisario says it killed 12 Moroccan soldiers as Morocco reportedly uses drones
The Polisario Front said Friday it had killed 12 Moroccan soldiers, including two senior officers, since February 1 in its struggle for independence for Western Sahara. "Twelve soldiers have died in attacks over several days in February, and all the information is...
Sahel: Burkina Faso expects war on Jihadists to intensify in the months ahead
Burkina Faso's new armed forces chief, who was appointed last week following a military coup, on Wednesday vowed to give a "new impetus" to a years-long struggle against jihadist insurgents. At a ceremony to mark his appointment, Colonel David Kabre said he was...
Sahel: Foreign diplomats feel they can save Burkina Faso from turmoil
Diplomats in Burkina Faso on Friday said they would help the junta that seized power last month restore security to the jihadist-wracked country, the Chinese ambassador announced on their behalf. The junta's leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba has in the past week been...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Libya: Khalifa Haftar’s warplane strikes police station in Ain Zara, kills two
Tripoli, Nov 6, 2019 - Two Libyan policemen were killed in an air strike on a police station in the suburbs of Tripoli late Tuesday, the UN-recognised Government of National Accord said. Its interior ministry blamed the strike on the forces of east Libyan strongman...
Sahel: Massacre in Mali’s Menaka region
A "terrorist attack" on a military post in strife-torn northeastern Mali has left 49 soldiers dead, the army said Saturday, revising downward an earlier death toll. The assault on Friday at Indelimane, in the Menaka region, close to the border with Niger, was one of...
Sahel: Insurgents attack police station in Burkina Faso, kill officer
Ouagadougou, Nov 1, 2019 - A police commissioner was killed during a brutal assault by gunmen on a police station in northwestern Burkina Faso, security sources said Friday. It marks the latest deadly attack in the troubled north of the West African country, which is...
Chad: Boko Haram strikes in Chad’s Lac province, kidnaps three
Sahel: Dozen killed in insurgent attack on Niger military base in Diffa
At least 10 people were killed on 29 October, when gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram fighters attacked a military base in Blabrine in southeastern Niger's Diffa region, near the border with Nigeria. The assailants destroyed the base.
Tunisia: Wanted female insurgent captured by authorities in Kairouan
The Tunisian security services arrested on 29 October in Kairouan, a woman sentenced in absentia to 6 years in prison, in a case linking her to terrorism. The suspect was the subject of a court warrant.
Sahel: Five teachers released from kidnappers in Mali
Suspected jihadists have freed at least five teachers kidnapped last week at their school in central Mali for using French in the classroom, a government statement said Monday. "The government is grateful for the good will involved for the freeing of the hostages,"...
Sahel: Togolese soldier dies of injuries from Mali attack
Bamako, Oct 28, 2019 - A Togolese peacekeeper who was seriously wounded during an October 6 attack in central Mali by presumed jihadists has died, a spokesman for the UN mission MINUSMA said Monday. "He succumbed to his injuries on Saturday," Olivier Salgado said on...
Egypt claims it killed more insurgents in North Sinai
Oct 29, 2019 - Egyptian security forces killed 13 suspected militants in a raid in the restive North Sinai, the interior ministry said Tuesday. Police raided a hideout in a deserted farm house in El-Arish, provincial capital of North Sinai, triggering a shootout, the...
Sahel: Insurgents attack Bam Province in Burkina Faso, kill villagers
Ouagadougou, Oct 21, 2019 - Nine people were killed in northern Burkina Faso late Sunday, in the latest attack in a region struggling with a jihadist revolt, a security official said. "Armed individuals carried out an attack on the village of Zoura, killing nine...