North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Niger ditches security arrangements with EU, engages more with Russia
Niger's military leaders said Monday that they were ending two European Union security and defence missions in the country, after earlier in the day agreeing to strengthen military cooperation with Russia. The Nigerien foreign ministry said that it was ending the...
SECURITY & DEFENSE
North Africans lost three decades over the Western Sahara
Armed clashes between Morocco and the Polisario Front reflect the movement's frustration with a three-decade status quo that has frozen its dreams of independence in the Western Sahara, analysts say. The group, backed by Morocco's arch-rival Algeria, has long demanded...
Libya: Europe and Turkey at odds about Libya, threaten and intimidate each other
German navy searches Turkish ship headed for Libya Turkey on Monday said the German navy had conducted an "unauthorised" search on a Turkish-flagged vessel in a bid to enforce an arms embargo on Libya but only found humanitarian aid. The European Union's Operation...
Libya: Despite ceasefire deal, militias and foreign meddlers refuse to withdraw their mercenaries
Rival forces in Libya have failed to begin withdrawing as required under an October ceasefire agreement aimed at ending years of conflict following Moamer Kadhafi's 2011 killing, a UN envoy said Thursday. Last month's ceasefire formally ended fighting between forces...
Security crisis dominates campaigning for Burkina Faso’s presidential election
Burkina Faso will vote in a general election Sunday in the shadow of a growing jihadist insurgency, with President Roch Marc Christian Kabore expected to win re-election. But no votes in the presidential and parliament polls will be cast in one-fifth of the country's...
Morocco and Polisario face off in the Western Sahara, exchange fire
Morocco's army has responded to fire by the Polisario Front along the UN-patrolled buffer zone in Western Sahara, said an online report picked up by the official MAP news agency. "Since 13 November 2020, Polisario militias have fired provocative shots along the line...
German prosecutors charge man with spying for Egypt
A man who worked in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's press office has been charged with spying for Egypt, prosecutors said Monday. The German national, named as Amin A., began working for the visitor service of the federal government press office (BPA), headed by...
Though unconfirmed, western media report death of Al Qaeda leaders
The reported deaths of Al-Qaeda's top two leaders in recent months have raised questions about the future strategy and strength of the terror network, already a shadow of the global force it was two decades ago. The New York Times reported last week that Al-Qaeda's...
The Western Sahara conflict reignites
For three decades, a UN-monitored ceasefire has kept a fragile peace in the disputed Western Sahara. Now a row over a remote desert truck stop is prompting talk of a return to war. The pro-independence Polisario Front declared the ceasefire over on Friday, after...
Western Sahara: Clashes erupt between Morocco and the Polisario Front
The pro-independence Polisario Front said Saturday that clashes are continuing in the disputed territory of Western Sahara after the Moroccan army launched an operation in the buffer zone on its southern border. "Fighting is continuing after the crime committed by...
Sahel: French forces intensify their operations in the Sahel, report killing Al Qaeda’s Ba Ag Moussa
France announced Friday that its anti-jihadist force in Mali had killed the military commander of an Al-Qaeda-aligned group linked to attacks in the region. The killing of Ba Ag Moussa is a major boost for the thousands-strong French Barkhane force stationed in the...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Libya: Fighting outside Tripoli rages on as UN struggles to find a solution to the crisis
Tripoli, April 10, 2019 - The battle for Libya's capital intensified as the UN Security Council prepared to meet Wednesday to discuss the crisis gripping the North African country, where armed rivals are locked in a deadly power struggle. The closed-door talks in New...
Libya: Thousands flee Libya clashes
Tripoli, April 8, 2019 - Fighting raged around Tripoli and an air strike closed its only functioning airport Monday, as Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar defied international calls to halt his advance on the capital. Thousands were also reported by the United Nations to...
Libya: Flights halted at Tripoli airport as fighting continues, death toll reaches 35
Tripoli, Libya, April 8, 2019 - A warplane carried out an air strike Monday against the Libyan capital's only functioning airport and halted all flights, aviation authorities said, as fighting raged for control of Tripoli. A security source at Mitiga airport east of...
Mali: French military doctor killed in Mopti, soldier wounded
April 2, 2019 - A French military doctor was killed in Mali when his armoured vehicle hit an improvised explosive device during an operation against "armed terrorist groups", the French presidency and army said Tuesday. France's army for the past year and a half has...
Sahel: Mali fires senior army officers, disbands Dogon militia after killing of Fulanis
Bamako, March 24, 2019 - By Serge Daniel and Kassim Taore: Mali's government on Sunday announced the sacking of senior military officers and the dissolution of an ethnic militia, a day after the massacre of more than 130 Fulani villagers, including women and children....
Sahel: Massacre in Mali’s Mopti region claims more than 130 lives in case of ethnic conflict
Bamako, March 23, 2019 - Dogon hunters killed more than 100 people (updated to 130) in an attack on a Fulani village in central Mali on Saturday, local officials said, as a UN delegation visited the country. "The new toll is 115 dead" in the village of Ogossagou, said...
Burkina Faso: Jihadists are wrecking havoc on northern Burkina
March 22, 2019 - An offensive by Islamists in northern Burkina Faso has left dozens of civilians dead and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, Human Rights Watch said Friday. "Atrocities by Islamist armed groups in Burkina Faso's northern Sahel region and by...
Chad: Boko Haram launches deadliest attack on military outpost in Chad
N'Djamena, March 22, 2019 - Twenty-three soldiers were killed in southwestern Chad on Friday when they came under attack from Boko Haram jihadists, a military official told AFP. "Boko Haram elements attacked the Chadian army position at around 1 am, killing 23...
Tunisia: Army kills three Islamic State suspects in Kasserine
Tunis, March 20, 2019 - Tunisian security forces have shot dead three Islamic State-linked militants suspected of involvement in the grisly killings of shepherds in the restive Kasserine region, the interior ministry said Wednesday. "Three terrorists were killed...
Sahel: Jihadists attack army camp in Mali’s Mopti region, kill scores of soldiers
Bamako, March 17, 2019 - An attack by suspected jihadists Sunday on an army camp in central Mali killed 23 soldiers, military sources said Monday, raising an initial toll of 21. A local politician and military sources had given the initial toll after a dawn attack...
