North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Libya’s Fragile Peace Shaken Again by Local Violence
Tensions are flaring again in Libya, from deadly street battles in Tripoli’s suburbs to violent protests in Sabratha. The killing of a well-known militia leader and the death of a police officer days apart reveal a deeper unraveling—where everyday disputes turn into...
SECURITY & DEFENSE
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...
Tensions escalate in the Western Sahara: Morocco and Polisario brace for confrontation
Polisario Front declares end of truce The pro-independence Polisario Front declared a three-decade-old ceasefire in the disputed Western Sahara was over on Friday after Morocco launched an operation to reopen the road to neighbouring Mauritania. The Polisario, which...
Egypt: Helicopter of observer force crashes in Sinai, seven killed
A helicopter crash in Egypt's Sinai desert involving a multi-national observer force killed seven people on Thursday -- five Americans, a French national and a Czech citizen, an Israeli source told AFP. An official with the Multinational Force & Observers (MFO),...
Egypt: Impasse in talks over Ethiopia dam
Sudan said Wednesday the latest round of talks with Egypt and Ethiopia over Addis Ababa's controversial dam on the Blue Nile ended after they failed to make headway. The negotiations, held over videoconference, kicked off Sunday and were meant to last a week in a...
Sahel: France drags European troops into a conflict they cannot win
Inside a military base in northern Mali, a concrete bollard emblazoned with French, Estonian and Swedish flags marks a zone reserved for a new anti-jihadist unit of elite European troops. Dubbed Task Force Takuba, the new joint deployment marks a coup for France,...
Tunisia’s problem with its radicalized youth
The killing of three people at a church in France has focused attention on extremism in the suspected attacker's native Tunisia, where political instability has hobbled efforts to tackle radicalisation. It is unclear where Brahim Aouissaoui was radicalised in Tunisia,...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Egypt deports second German alleged ‘jihadist’
Berlin, Jan 14, 2019 (AFP) - Egypt has deported the second of two young German men who were arrested last month as suspected jihadist militants, the foreign ministry in Berlin said Monday. Eighteen-year-old Issa Ibrahim ElSabagh landed at Frankfurt airport, reported...
Egypt: Six suspected militants killed by police in Sohag
Cairo, Jan 12, 2019 (AFP) - Egyptian police killed six suspected Islamist militants in a shootout early Saturday in the country's south, the interior ministry said. The clashes broke out during a police raid on a militant hideout in a mountainous area on the edge of...
Egypt arrests two Germans suspected to be joining Islamic State
Cairo, Jan 11, 2019 - Egypt has arrested two German nationals on suspicion they tried to join an Islamic State group affiliate and deported one of them, Egyptian security sources said Friday. German media reported earlier this month that two Germans had gone missing...
Libya: Belgium and the fueling of illegal arms market and human trafficking ($)
Up to 5 billion euros belonging to the Libyan Investment Authority have vanished from Belgian banks. On 30 October, Belgian broadcaster RTBF revealed that the Belgian courts had opened an investigation to determine whether Belgian banks had paid interest and dividends...
Tunisia: Four Jihadists sentenced to death for beheading of shepherd
Tunis, Jan 9, 2019 - A Tunisian court has convicted dozens of jihadists over the 2015 murder of a teenage shepherd, but the vast majority remain on the run, a prosecution spokesman said Wednesday. Mabrouk Soltani, 17, was beheaded as his sheep grazed on Mount Mghilla...
Egypt police officer killed defusing church bomb
Cairo, Jan 6, 2019 (AFP) - A policeman was killed while trying to dismantle an explosive device outside a Coptic church in Egypt on Saturday, a security source said. Two other officers were also wounded in the explosion as security personnel attempted to defuse the...
Morocco: Killing of two tourists prompts Western authorities to caution their citizens when traveling to Morocco
Morocco has long been one of the most sheltered areas in North Africa from terror activity, largely due to the efficiency of its intelligence services and its counter-terrorism measures. But the killing of two European tourists in mid-December 2018 by suspected...
Algeria’s other military campaigns
The North Africa Journal - 8 November 2018: MEA Risk LLC says that for the period of 1 to 7 November 2018, there were 53 critical incidents recorded in Algeria, resulting in a single death and 392 arrests. The share of the Criminality category in the week’s total...
Presentation: The sources of instability in the Sahel
The North Africa Journal - June 5, 2018: This is a presentation made by MEA Risk Analyst and North Africa Journal Editor Arezki Daoud on understanding the sources of instability in the Sahel. The presentation focuses broadly on the root causes affecting countries...
Libya: Nothing new achieved in yet another Paris conference on Libya
By Arezki Daoud, MEA Risk Lead Analyst - May 31, 2018: The headlines in some of the world’s media read as if something new happened in Paris this week. One of them says “Libyan factions agree to December 10 elections at Paris talks,” suggesting to the reader that...