North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
French Nationals Urged to Leave Mali as Insurgent Attacks Intensify in the Sahel
Defense ministers from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger met in Niamey to accelerate their joint military alliance, but no deployment date was confirmed. France is advising nationals to leave Mali “temporarily” amid deteriorating security, while international shipping companies hesitate to continue cargo routes. November 7 brought reports of multiple attacks by insurgents, further highlighting the region’s instability.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
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...
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...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
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...
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...