North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Washington Returns to Libya’s Frontlines in Bid to Counter Russia and Reunify Militias
The United States is reengaging in Libya through Flintlock 2026, a major U.S. Africa Command exercise set for next spring near Sirte. The training will bring together Libya’s rival eastern and western forces for the first time since 2011, signaling a renewed American role in efforts to unify the country’s military, counter extremist threats, and curb Russian influence in North Africa.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
US-Russia competition expands to Mali and the Sahel
The top US military commander for Africa on Thursday suggested that impoverished and jihadist-hit Mali was paying Russian private military company Wagner $10 million a month. France, Mali's former colonial ruler, has accused Wagner's mercenaries of "supporting" Mali's...
Sahel: Regime in Mali initiates talks with former rebels without France’s blessing
Former Malian rebels have signed a pact designed to "facilitate ties" with the Sahel state's ruling junta, a spokesman for the armed groups said on Thursday. The ex-rebels, who range from former Tuareg separatists to Arab nationalists, had already signed a peace...
Conflicts: How the UAE pays mercenaries in Darfur to wage war in Libya in support of Khalifa Haftar
Providing mercenaries in Libya's internal conflict has become the main source of revenue for armed groups from Sudan's own war-torn Darfur region, the United Nations said in a report Friday. The report, drawn up by UN experts in charge of monitoring the arms embargo...
Sahel: Burkina junta lifts nationwide curfew
Burkina Faso's junta lifted Wednesday a nationwide curfew they imposed after seizing power in a coup last month, the military announced. The restrictions were imposed on January 24 after mutinous soldiers arrested President Roch Marc Christian Kabore following a...
Security: Egypt ups its military hardware with US and South Korean purchase spree
Egypt has signed a $1.66 billion deal for South Korean howitzers, the military said Wednesday, a week after Washington approved a major arms sale to Cairo. The memorandum of understanding was signed on Tuesday during a ceremony attended by Defence Minister Mohamed...
Security: Germany calls for reevaluating Europe’s operations in Mali
European nations must re-evaluate their anti-jihadist duties in Mali in light of growing tensions with the ruling junta, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Wednesday. As several European countries raised doubts about the future of the mission, Baerbock...
Security/Sahel: Joint Burkina Faso/Niger counter-insurgency operation claims neutralizing dozens of jihadists
The armies of Burkina Faso and neighbouring Niger said Thursday they had killed around 100 "terrorists" in a joint military operation against jihadists on the border between November 25 and December 9. The operation managed to "neutralise around 100 terrorists" and...
Sahel: Cameroon refugees pour into Chad in unfolding violence over water
Footage from the conflict zone By Djimet Wiche More than 30,000 people in northern Cameroon have fled to Chad after ethnic clashes erupted at the weekend, claiming at least 22 lives, the UN's refugee agency said on Friday. Violence broke out in the border village of...
Sahel: Niger president says weapons from Libya fuel violence in Sahel
Niger President Mohamed Bazoum on Monday urged his country's allies to step up the fight against arms trafficking from Libya, which he said is fuelling the Sahel's jihadist insurgency. "The partners' biggest failure has been their weak involvement in the fight against...
Sahel: Gunmen kill seven former rebels in northern Mali
Seven former rebels were killed in northern Mali overnight, a spokesman of the group, the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA), said Monday. The alliance made up mainly of separatist Tuaregs and nationalist Arabs signed an accord with the national government in...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
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...
Tunisia: Army kills suspected militant in Kasserine
Tunis, Oct 20, 2019 - An Al-Qaeda leader was killed and another wounded during an anti-terror raid in Tunisia on Sunday, according to the country's defence ministry. Tunisian armed forces and national guardsmen led the operation against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
Libya: Warlord Haftar’s warplanes kill at least three children near Tripoli
Tripoli, Oct 14, 2019 - At least three children were killed and eight civilians wounded Monday in an air strike on a residential neighbourhood near the Libyan capital, the health ministry said. Spokesman Lamine al-Hachemi said another child was seriously wounded and...
Sahel: Conflict with Jihadists expands to southwest Niger
Niamey, Oct 7, 2019 - Two soldiers were killed and five others wounded in a "terrorist" attack in southwest Niger, a region that until recently had been spared jihadist raids, the interior ministry said Monday. "A detachment of the security and defence forces (FDS)...