North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
North Africa Defense: Morocco Gets Surface-to-Air Missiles, Algeria-Mauritania Sign Defense Pact
April 2025 has seen a notable series of military developments across North Africa, where rivalries and competition for influence are adding more stress.From U.S. missile sales to Morocco to new defense agreements between Algeria and Mauritania, the regional defense landscape is worrying but geopolitical competition will likely continue to exacerbate tensions.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Sahel: Funding the insurgency with illegally acquired gold
Several "suspected terrorists" were arrested and more than 40,000 sticks of dynamite and detonator cords for illegal gold mining -- a new source of funding for armed groups in the Sahel -- were seized in a joint operation with the UN, Interpol said on Monday. Jointly...
Tunisia: Shepherd in Kasserine beheaded, authorities say attackers are terrorists
The decapitated body of a young man has been found in Tunisia's central Kasserine region, in a probable "terrorist" attack, a justice official said. "The decapitated body of a young man has been found... and it is probable that a terrorist group was behind the...
Sahel: Why the G5 Sahel force remains completely ineffective
Three years ago West African nations launched a joint force touted as a giant's stride in the fight against Islamist militants sweeping across the Sahel. But lack of equipment, funds and training, together with problems in deployment and coordination on the ground,...
Evidence of alleged Russian and French involvement in covert online operations targeting North Africa and Sahel
The government of Chad announced Thursday it would open an inquiry after Facebook said it had closed down fake accounts used by Russia and France in a battle for influence in Africa. The US tech giant said on Tuesday it had closed down two Russian-linked networks of...
Sahel: Boko Haram raids village in southern Niger, kills 27
Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist group on Monday claimed responsibility for the weekend attack on a village in neighbouring Niger that left 27 dead. More people were wounded and some reported missing in the assault on Saturday evening on Toumour in the Diffa region, said...
The Western Sahara: What’s at stake?
Disputed and divided Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony, mostly under Morocco's control, where tensions have simmered since the 1970s. An Algerian-backed independence movement -- which holds a fifth of the territory -- has campaigned for a vote on...
Egypt: How both the military and IS terrorize the people of Sinai
Residents of Egypt's restive North Sinai region ran for their lives when an Islamic State group affiliate occupied their villages. Now, they are returning to find their homes booby-trapped. "I lost my sister-in-law and her nine-month-old baby when an explosive device...
Egypt: Bloodbath in Sinai, army claims it killed 40 “takfiris”
The Egyptian army said Tuesday it had killed 40 suspected jihadist militants since September in air and ground operations in the Sinai region, site of an Islamist insurgency. In a video statement posted on Facebook, the army said its air force had "managed to...
Libya: Forces of warlord Haftar seize Turkish commercial ship, hold 17 crewmen
Turkey on Tuesday denounced the seizure of a commercial ship by the forces of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, warning of "serious consequences" if its 17 crewmen are not freed. Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) had announced late Monday that it intercepted on...
Algeria alleges and decries ransom payment to ‘terrorists’ by foreign government
Algeria's prime minister has sounded the alarm over reported ransoms paid to "terrorist groups" for the freeing of hostages, weeks after the liberation of a French aid worker in Mali. "Algeria notes, with great concern, continued transfers to terrorist groups of huge...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Sahel: Unrest in Mali intensifies, scores killed by booby-trapped corpse near Mopti
Feb 27, 2019 - Seventeen civilians were killed and 15 were wounded in a blast caused by a booby-trapped corpse in central Mali, security sources and a local official said on Wednesday. The incident occurred on Tuesday in Diankabou, a small town about 150 kilometres...
Mali: French forces say they hit alleged Jihadis in Mopti
Paris, Feb 25, 2019 - French warplanes struck a group of jihadists in central Mali over the weekend, killing or wounding 15 of them, the defence ministry in Paris said Monday. The raid -- the second in 48 hours -- took place north of Mopti on Saturday evening, as...
France says it killed al-Qaeda Maghreb commander Abu Hamame
Feb 22, 2019 - French armed forces have killed a top jihadist leader in an air and ground ambush in Mali, the government said on Friday, ending a years-long hunt for a man accused of masterminding the kidnapping of Westerners in the Sahel region. Djamel Okacha, an...
Libya: Murzuk’s security chief murdered
Feb 21, 2019 - Armed men have murdered a security official in southern Libya, the UN-backed government said Thursday, a day after forces opposed to it said they had entered his town. The interior ministry of the internationally-recognised unity government branded the...
Sahel: Security forces free Mali official from jihadists
Bamako, Feb 20, 2019 (AFP) - A senior government official and a journalist abducted by suspected jihadists in Mali have been freed, a security source told AFP on Tuesday. Makan Doumbia, the prefect of Tenenkou commune in central Mali, "was freed Monday thanks to an...
Egypt: Terror attack in Cairo kills three policemen
Cairo, Feb 19, 2019 - A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the heart of ancient Islamic Cairo, killing three policemen who were chasing him through its narrow alleyways, medical and security sources said on Tuesday. Monday evening's bombing, in the Darb...
Tunisian oil workers kidnapped in Libya freed
Tripoli, Feb 17, 2019 - Fourteen Tunisian oil workers kidnapped in Libya were freed Sunday night after three days in captivity and are in good health, the Tunisian consul in country said. Armed men seized the 14 Tunisians from a bus on Thursday as they were heading to...
Libya: US hits al-Qaeda position near Ubari
Feb 14, 2019 - The US carried out an air strike against Islamist group Al-Qaeda in southern Libya on Wednesday night, Tripoli's UN-backed Government of National Accord said. The strike near the town of Ubari, some 900 kilometres (550 miles) south of the capital, was...
Niger: Suspected Jihadis strike in southwest Niger, kill three
Feb 13, 2019 - Two policemen and a civilian were killed on Wednesday in a village in remote southwestern Niger, a region that until now has been spared jihadist attacks, local officials said. Five armed men, arriving on three motorcycles, attacked a market in the...
Morocco: Police arrest three foreign nationals suspected to have links to Islamic State
Rabat, Feb 12, 2019 - Moroccan authorities said Tuesday they had arrested three French nationals suspected of links to the Islamic State jihadist group for alleged involvement in "financing terrorism". The suspects, one of whom is of Algerian origin, were arrested...