A spread of the Israel-Gaza conflict into Egypt would be very dangerous, Greece’s Migration Minister Dmitris Kairidis said at an Ankara meeting 16 days into the war, because Egypt “has a very big population”.
Africa possesses significant reserves of the minerals that are essential for batteries, solar panels and other green tech that will underpin the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Africa’s mining industry, however, remains largely structured around a “pit-to-port” model that channels mineral ores elsewhere for processing. The inaugural Critical Minerals Africa conference in Cape Town this month explored how this picture could be changed.
On Saturday, 7 October 2023, the Palestinian militant movement Hamas, launched a sudden attack on Israel, which has so far resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Israelis, with approximately 3,000 people wounded, and the capture of around 240 soldiers and civilians. On the first day of the attack, Israel declared a state of war, called upon reserve forces to prepare for a ground intervention and initiated an extensive campaign of aerial bombardment in the Gaza Strip, resulting in over 10,000 casualties.
The Defense Department currently has four lines of effort in the Middle East, said Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, who briefed the media Monday.
The war between rival militaries in Sudan has interrupted encouraging signs of dialogue between Sudan and neighbouring South Sudan and “effectively put on hold” talks over disputed Abyei, senior UN officials told the Security Council on Monday.
With a wave of coups in former French colonies in Africa, France is finding it can no longer take its military role on the continent for granted.
There have been growing protests against France’s presence in Africa, where it has previously flexed its military might. French troops have recently been expelled from Niger and Mali and others are considering scrapping independence-era deals that led to at least 30 French direct military interventions between 1964 and 1995.
The military junta in Mali ordered the United Nations peacekeeping mission MINUSMA to leave the country earlier this year. The peacekeepers’ convoys have been hit by multiple improvised explosive devices.
Before United Nations peacekeepers hurriedly abandoned their base in Kidal in northern Mali on Tuesday, they made a costly call: with insurgents stationed nearby, they destroyed sensitive equipment to avoid it falling into the wrong hands, the U.N. said.
Mali’s army said Tuesday it carried out airstrikes on what it called terrorist targets in the rebel stronghold of Kidal, where witnesses and separatists said civilians, including children, died in the attack.
The armed forces said on social media that the strikes “neutralized several terrorist pickup trucks” at a military camp evacuated by U.N. peacekeepers last week in the strategic northern town.
Le ministre russe de la Défense et son homologue burkinabè Kassoum Coulibaly, ont convenu mardi à Moscou de renforcer les liens entre leurs pays dans le domaine de la défense.