North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Niger Dissolves Hundreds of Private Security Firms in Major Industry Overhaul
Niger’s government has dissolved 400 private security firms under new regulations aimed at formalizing industry oversight and raising operational standards. The move leaves thousands of workers facing layoffs and signals a major shift toward stricter licensing, compliance, and government supervision in the sector.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Libya: Efforts to stabilize Libya stymied by persistent violence
Two members of Libya's security forces were killed and five others wounded Sunday evening in a car bomb blast at a checkpoint in the country's south, a police source said. "A car bomb exploded as it was crossing a roadblock set up by the security forces" in the city...
Sahel: Death toll in latest terror attack on Solhan in Burkina Faso updated to 160
Details of the massacre Suspected jihadists killed 160 people -- including 20 children -- in the village of Solhan in Burkina Faso's conflict-wracked north on the weekend, in the deadliest attack since Islamist violence reached the West African country in 2015. Here...
Sahel: Six Chad soldiers killed at border with Central African Republic
Chad has sent men and material to reinforce the border with the Central African Republic despite agreeing to jointly investigate a CAR attack that left six Chadian soldiers dead, a provincial governor said Thursday. "I've come from the area and we have reinforced our...
Sahel: Massacre in northern Burkina Faso
UN chief Antonio Guterres is "outraged" over the massacre of civilians in Burkina Faso's volatile north, his spokesman said Saturday, the deadliest attacks since Islamist violence erupted in the west African country in 2015. "The Secretary-General is outraged by the...
US offers cash rewards to locate Al-Qaeda’s Al-Annabi
The US State Department posted a $7 million reward Wednesday for information leading to the location or identification of Abu Ubaydah Youssef Al-Annabi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The department said Anabi was declared the emir of the...
Libya: Warlord Haftar wants to stay relevant, but no one cares anymore
By Jihad Dorgham and Hamza Mekouar Libya's military strongman Khalifa Haftar is polishing his political image ahead of elections, after a crippling rout on the battlefield and with his support waning at home and abroad, analysts say. Haftar's eastern-based forces...
Libya: With Libya struggling to expel mercenaries, Germany wants another conference to help out
By Hui Min Neo Germany will host a new set of Libyan peace talks on June 23 in Berlin, with Libya's transitional government due to attend, the foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday. The conference follows a first edition in January 2020, and will take stock of...
Morocco uses threat of migrants to force Spain to change its position on the Western Sahara conflict
Morocco-Spain relations facing new challenges as Morocco focuses solely on Western Sahara politics By Hazel Ward, with Daniel Silva in Madrid - Migrants were still trying to cross from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Wednesday after a record 8,000 people...
Sahel: Burkina Faso struggles with terror attacks in the north
Twin attacks in Burkina kill 16 Updated: May 19, 2021 - Attacks on a village and troops in the north and east of Burkina Faso left 15 civilians and one soldier dead, a regional governor and security sources said Wednesday. A brutal resurgence of jihadist violence in...
Libya: UN decries lack of progress in withdrawal of mercenaries from Libya
Libya has seen "no reduction of foreign fighters or of their activities" in the center of the country, says UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a report submitted this week to the Security Council. "While the ceasefire agreement continued to hold, UNSMIL (the UN...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Egypt: Army retaliates for Eid attack on checkpoint in North Sinai, kills 14 suspected militants
Cairo, June 6, 2019 - Egyptian security forces have killed 14 suspected militants during a raid carried out in the restive Sinai Peninsula in response to a deadly checkpoint attack, the authorities said. Wednesday's attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, left...
Egypt: Islamic State attacks army checkpoint in North Sinai, kills eight security agents
Cairo, June 5, 2019 - Militants killed eight Egyptian paramilitaries on Wednesday at a checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, centre of a long-running jihadist insurgency, security and medical sources said. "Eight killed and three wounded were transferred to El-Arish...
Libya: NOC warns of possible collapse of oil production amid intensifying civil war
Tripoli, June 3, 2019 - The head of Libya's National Oil Company warned Monday against a "collapse in production" stemming from conflict in the North African country. Oil production "could collapse at any moment", said NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla, even as he cited...
Libya: Haftar troops unable to capture Tripoli, more violence ahead
Al-Swani, Libya, June 3, 2019 - As meat sizzled on a barbeque in a Tripoli suburb, Libyan fighters defending the capital from a military offensive rested during "the calm before the storm" on the front lines. "We don't deprive ourselves of anything," said a fighter...
Sahel: How Mali is descending into chaos
June 3, 2019 - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning of a "high risk" of atrocities in Mali in a report that calls for beefing up the UN peacekeeping presence in the strife-torn center of the country. In the report to the Security Council obtained by AFP,...
Morocco neutralizes another terror cell
Rabat, June 3, 2019 - Three suspects accused of belonging to a "terrorist cell" affiliated to the Islamic State group were arrested in Morocco on Monday, the country's anti-terror police said. The three men, aged between 26 and 28, were "in the process of preparing...
Niger Republic facing a Boko Haram onslaught
Comment by Arezki Daoud | 3 June 2019: Niger has now become the focal point of Boko Haram, plunging the Sahel into a more unstable region. With different insurgent and terror groups splitting and slicing the Sahel into their own fiefdoms, counter-terror there will...
Sudan army unleashes repression on protesters
June 3, 2019 - Egypt on Monday urged all sides in Sudan to return to the negotiating table as security forces moved to break up a weeks-long protest camp in Khartoum. Violence erupted at the sit-in outside the army headquarters in the Sudanese capital earlier in the...
Libya: UN evacuates vulnerable migrants from war-torn Tripoli
Rome, May 30, 2019 - Nearly 150 migrants from East Africa, including 65 minors and 13 babies under one, were rescued from conflict-torn Libya and airlifted to Rome on Thursday by the UN refugee agency. "Due to the violent clashes and deteriorating security conditions...
Morocco: Court adjourns in tourist murder case, suspect admits to crime
Salé, Morocco, May 30, 2019 | By Hamza Mekouar - The alleged leader of a jihadist cell accused of killing two Scandinavian hikers in Morocco admitted to the murders in court on Thursday, saying they were carried out in the name of the Islamic State group. Danish...