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
Mali: Two more French soldiers killed in IED explosion in Menaka
Two French soldiers died when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in northeastern Mali on Saturday, just days after three others were killed in similar fashion. Their deaths brought to 50 the number of French soldiers killed in the West African nation...
Mali military junta ratchets up repression against political figures
The Malian authorities on Thursday charged six figures, including a former prime minister, with seeking to mount a coup, a move that came after a military putsch in August, their lawyers said. The public prosecutor's office in the capital Bamako said in a statement...
Algeria: Another difficult year ahead, says MEA Risk
Algeria ends the year 2020 with 1,878 critical incidents, down 35.4% from 2,909 in 2019, according to MEA Risk LLC. Critical incidents are defined as events that have an impact on the stability of a region, subregion within a country or an entire country. The figure...
Sahel: Three French troops killed by EID in Hombori, Mali
Three French soldiers were killed Monday in Mali when their armoured vehicle struck an explosive device in the Hombori region in the centre of the poor Sahel state, the French presidency said. The deaths brought to 47 the number of French soldiers killed in Mali since...
Algeria alleges ransom money paid to Jihadists in Mali making its way into Algeria
Algeria's army has retrieved a "slice of the ransom" cash paid out to free hostages held by "terrorist groups" in the troubled Sahel region, the defence ministry has said. Soldiers "recovered the sum of 80,000 euros" ($97,900) during an operation in Algeria's...
Tunisia extends state of emergency, grants exceptional powers to security forces
The Tunisian presidency on Friday announced a six-month extension of the country's state of emergency, in place since a 2015 attack on a presidential guard bus claimed by the Islamic State group. President Kais Saied "decided on the six-month extension of the...
Libya: Despite series of talks to bring peace in Libya, warlord Haftar threatens more violence
Turkey tells Haftar to back off Turkey's defence minister said that any attack by eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar on its personnel in the North African country would be met with force. "A war criminal, murderer Haftar and his supporters must know that they...
Egypt: More unrest in Egypt with explosion of gas pipeline supplying El Arish
A blast hit a gas pipeline in Egypt's restive North Sinai region Thursday, a security source told AFP. "An explosion occurred (Thursday) evening along the main gas pipeline supplying the city of El-Arish," the source said, referring to the provincial capital. The...
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...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Mali: Fulani insurgent leader Amadou Koufa still alive after France announced his killing
March 1, 2019 - Malian and French authorities were verifying the authenticity of a video on Friday that appeared to show one of the West African country's top jihadist leaders alive -- three months after his death was announced. Officials in both countries had said...
Sahel: More soldiers killed in landmine blast in Mopti, Mali
March 1, 2019 - Nine soldiers in the five-nation G5 Sahel anti-jihadist force were killed in central Mali on Friday when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device, the Malian army said. The incident happened at Boulkessy, in the Mopti region, it said on its...
Sahel: Expect more Danish soldiers in the Sahel
Copenhagen, Feb 28, 2019 - Denmark announced Thursday that it plans to send materiel and some troops to Africa to help support the French operation combatting jihadist groups in the Sahel. The government's plans, which must be approved by parliament, include sending...
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...