Author: M Barbu

How to Build Better Militaries in Africa: Lessons from Niger

In August, jihadists in Niger killed six French aid workers and two Nigeriens just outside of the capital, Niamey. Terrorist attacks have increased by 250 percent over the last two years in Africa’s Sahel region, according to the State Department. To help counter the threat of terrorism and build the capacity of African militaries, the U.S. government spends over $1.5 billion a year on security assistance to the African continent. Does this support work?

Why Nagorno-Karabakh? The history (both ancient and modern) that fuels the deadly conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan

For the second time this year, another round of fighting has broken out in Nagorno-Karabakh, home to the longest-running war on former Soviet soil. Since the late 1980s, the conflict has killed roughly 20,000 people and made refugees of hundreds of thousands more. The self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (officially named the Republic of Artsakh) enjoys close ties to Armenia (though Yerevan has not formally recognized the breakaway republic’s independence), while Azerbaijan insists that this area is its own territory. The stalemate regularly flares up as it has in the past week, but the latest escalation became more serious when Armenia mobilized its military (and Azerbaijan partially mobilized). What started this conflict and what are the risks of renewed fighting? Which is correct: Karabakh or Artsakh? Meduza reviews the background basics and answers other burning questions about a war that refuses to go away.

Bloody conflict | Over 100 fighters killed and injured in clashes between Sweida factions and “Fifth Corps” members in Sweida countryside

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has monitored a spike in the death toll of the conflict in southern Syria, between members of the “Fifth Corps” on the one hand, and the regime-backed forces and local militiamen from Sweida on the other. 13 fighters were killed and more than 60 were wounded of the regime-backed forces and local factions in Sweida.