North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Algeria and Niger Restore Ties, Signaling a Shift in Sahel Diplomacy
Algeria and Niger restored diplomatic relations after nearly a year of tensions triggered by regional security disputes. The return of ambassadors and a planned high-level visit signal renewed cooperation centered on energy development, border security, and regional trade. The rapprochement highlights the strategic importance of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline and reflects broader efforts to stabilize partnerships across the Sahel amid ongoing security and economic pressures.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Libya’s Abnormal New Normal
By Arezki Daoud: Since 2011, Libya has been engulfed in a bloody civil war after the death of Muammar Gaddafi. Over the years, it was easy to identify the problem: too many foreign regional players and global powers meddling in Libya’s affairs, explicitly or...
Niger: More Russian Weapons and Military Instructors Land in Niamey
The departure of the French and American troops from Niger created an opportunity for the Russians to replace them. The Russians’ objective is to clearly counter the west and reduce its influence in the Sahel, West Africa and elsewhere on the African continent. The...
Mali: Al Qaeda attacks rebel convoy in the Ouagadou forest
By MondAfrique: A column of armed vehicles from the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), the Touareg rebel coalition driven out of Kidal, was attacked by fighters from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) on Friday in the Ouagadou forest, while that it was...
US-Niger relations face uncertainty, with Niamey’s pivot to Russia
Audio version: The news: The visit a few days ago of a US government delegation to Niamey, the capital of Niger, did not go down well with the ruling junta there. Clearly as the junta is paving the way for the Russian military to enter Niger and expand their presence...
Bloody Sunday: The indiscriminate killing of Muslim and Catholic worshipers in Burkina Faso
Sunday, 25 February was a bloody day for religious groups in Burkina Faso. Two attacks against a church and a mosque confirm the utter instability of the northern and eastern regions of the country. In Essakane-village, in the northeastern Burkina Faso, a terrorist...
War in Gaza forces former Middle East foes to seek reconciliation
By Mondafrique: The war in Gaza is forcing feuding States in the Middle East and in the Gulf to seek the path of reconciliations. Faced with President Biden’s inability to impose a red line on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the four most influential...
Western Sahara: Escalating Tensions Between Morocco and the SPLA
The North Africa Journal: With global attention focused on the Middle East and the Ukrainian crises, the Western Sahara feud has been evolving from a low-intensity conflict to a one with more frequent incidents, risking to shift into a higher-intensity crisis if the...
Russia’s first African military base in a highly unstable nation
By Arezki Daoud: Since Russia started its war on Ukraine, we have been told that Moscow was headed towards disaster. Echoing the views of Western governments, think-tanks and their analysts, many media outlets told us that Russia will not have the stamina to withstand...
Mali junta ends Algiers Agreement
The ruling junta in Mali announced, on Thursday 25 January, the "end, with immediate effect", of the Algiers agreement signed in 2015 with the pro-autonomy and independence groups based in the north of the country. Long considered essential for stabilizing the...
22 Islamist militant suspects arrested in Tunisia ($)
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Mali: Two UN peacekeepers killed in Timbuktu
Two peacekeepers in Mali were killed and four others wounded in an attack on Friday, the UN mission said, in the latest blow to the international operation. Unidentified assailants opened fire on the police patrol in Timbuktu, according to the UN mission, known as...
West Africa to have a common military force
By Serge Daniel and Emmanuel Anule: West African leaders agreed on Sunday to create a regional force to intervene against jihadism and in the event of coups, a senior official said. Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States had decided to act to "take...
Sahel: Jihadist groups target southern Burkina Faso, near Ghana
Six civilians, four of them teachers, were killed in a suspected jihadist attack in southern Burkina Faso close to the border with Ghana, security officials and local sources said on Monday. Gunmen "opened fire on a group" in the town of Bittou on Sunday, a security...
Sahel: Insurgents make major gains in northeast Mali
By Amaury Hauchard Jihadists aligned with the Islamic State group are advancing in northeastern Mali, prompting terrified citizens to flee their homes, sources there say. The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) launched an offensive in the Gao and Menaka...
Sahel: Deadly year for northern Mali
Armed groups affiliated with the Islamic State group have massacred hundreds of people in northeast Mali this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday, adding the state was not doing enough to protect civilians. Tens of thousands of villagers from the Menaka and...
Sahel: Insurgents strike in Banibangou Niger, kill dozen civilians
A suspected jihadist attack on three lorries and a motorcycle in western Niger near the border with Mali killed 11 people, local sources told AFP on Sunday. The attack took place on a remote road in the so-called "three borders" region between Niger, Mali and Burkina...
Libya: 15 bodies found on Sabratha beach
Fifteen bodies were found on a beach near the Libyan city of Sabratha, some of them burned, the Libyan Red Crescent said Friday. The group did not identify the dead or say how they had died, but human rights groups said they were likely migrants. After being notified...
Burkina Faso: As regime in Ouagadougou collapsed last week, terror attack claimed 37 lives up north
A total of 27 troops and 10 civilians were killed in a suspected jihadist attack in northern Burkina Faso last week, the military said on Wednesday. Military search operations carried out since the attack on September 26 "have made it possible to establish the death...
Kinross Gold (Toronto)
Insurgencies: Boko Haram fighters pouring into Niger’s side of Lake Chad
Hundreds of Boko Haram jihadists have fled a forest enclave in northeast Nigeria, escaping air strikes by the military and floods from torrential rains to seek shelter on Niger's side of Lake Chad, sources told AFP. Northeast Nigeria is facing a 13-year armed...