North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Sahel: Russia Replaces Wagner in Mali Under Pressure from Algeria, Touaregs Brace
With Wagner stepping aside, the Africa Corps is moving in, bringing structure and legitimacy to Moscow’s support for Bamako. Touareg leaders, fearing a more efficient and state-backed force, have begun testing quiet understandings with jihadist factions like GSIM. It’s not a formal alliance, but a sign of growing desperation in a region where alliances shift quickly and survival often overrides ideology.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Libya: Russian and other foreign mercenaries still active in Libya
Foreign forces ignored a deadline to pull out of Libya as scheduled Saturday under a UN-backed ceasefire deal, highlighting the fragility of peace efforts after a decade of conflict. Satellite images broadcast by CNN show a trench running tens of kilometres (miles)...
Sahel: Catholic priest missing in jihadist-hit Burkina Faso
A priest has gone missing in southeastern Burkina Faso, triggering fears of a kidnapping in the Sahel state, which is struggling with a five-year-old jihadist offensive, the Catholic Church said Wednesday. The bishop of Banfora, Lucas Kalfa Sanou, said Father Rodrigue...
Sahel: Roadside bomb kills soldiers in south Niger
Four soldiers were killed and eight others seriously injured by a roadside bomb in southeastern Niger, a region hit by jihadist attacks, the government said. The troops were pursuing "terrorists" on Monday following an attack the previous day on a military position in...
Sahel: Violence intensifies in Mali as France announces the killing of 15 insurgents
France's armed forces said Friday they had killed around 15 jihadists near Mali's border with Burkina Faso, where an al-Qaeda-linked group is active. Two operations took place at the weekend in the Boulikessi sector in central Mali, military headquarters said. On...
Sahel: Foreign forces unable to bring stability to Mali, four UN peacekeepers killed in Bambara Maoude
The death toll from an attack on UN peacekeepers in Mali has risen to four after another soldier died from his wounds, the United Nations said Thursday. A detachment of Ivorian peacekeepers was travelling between Douentza and Timbuktu in the northwest on Wednesday...
Breaking: Algeria: Terror attack in Tebessa kills five civilians
On 14 January 2020, a homemade bomb blast killed five civilians and wounded three others in eastern Algeria on Thursday, the defence ministry said, according to AFP. The attack happened at Oued Khenig-Roum near the municipality of Telidjane. . It added that a jihadist...
Tunisia says it neutralized Al-Qaeda cell plotting “terrorist attacks”
Tunisia has arrested a suspected branch leader of Al-Qaeda in North Africa, along with several others suspected of planning "terrorist" attacks, a judicial spokesman said Friday. "Two dangerous wanted individuals, one of whom is an Al-Qaeda leader", were arrested in...
Algeria’s foreign intelligence chief fired
The head of Algeria's foreign intelligence agency General Mohamed Bouzit, known as Youcef was dismissed on Thursday, January 7. Bouzit headed the Directorate of Documentation and External Security (DDSE), an intelligence agency that provided assessment on...
Sahel: Reports of 20 villagers killed in Mali region of Bounti
France said on Tuesday it had killed dozens of jihadists in a weekend air strike in central Mali, while several villagers and a local group said up to 20 wedding guests were killed by a helicopter. Social media has been buzzing with rumours since Sunday about events...
Tunisia wants UN monitors in Libya
Tunisia, the current president of the UN Security Council, called Monday for a resolution sending international monitors to support Libya's brittle ceasefire to be adopted as soon as possible. "We hope that it will be adopted as soon as possible" because "there is a...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Libya crisis update – 11 April 2019
Tripoli, April 11, 2019 - By Rim Taher and Imed Lamloum - The UN chief warned Libya is on the brink of "a very dangerous situation" as forces loyal to the internationally recognised government and a rival strongman battle for control of the capital. Thousands of...
Mali: French forces in Mali set up base near Burkina border after major clean up operation
April 10, 2019 - French and Malian troops killed or captured more than 30 extremists and dismantled a jihadist training camp during a major counter-terrorism operation near Mali's border with Burkina Faso, the French military told AFP on Friday. The operation is the...
Sahel: Boko Haram targets Niger’s Diffa region in new attacks
Niamey, April 10, 2019 - Several people have been taken hostage and a policeman killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants in a troubled region of southeastern Niger, a senior official told AFP on Wednesday. The jihadists, some of them believed to be wearing suicide...
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...