For months, Mali’s president, Ibrahim Boubakar Keita, has been hounded by a short, harsh refrain: Boua ka bla. In Bambara, the West African country’s most widely spoken language, the words mean, roughly, “The old man must give up.” In the context of Malian politics, they articulate a clear demand that Keita, who is 73, leave office when his term expires this year.
Des sources crédibles ont confirmé à l’Express DZ la mort de Abdelhakim es-Sahraoui, n°2 de l’Etat islamique « Daesh » au Nord-Mali, dans la périphérie du cercle de Ménaka, dans un accrochage avec des unités de combat opérationnelles étrangères.
Reversing the escalating violence of militant Islamist groups in the Sahel will require an enhanced security presence coupled with more sustained outreach to local communities.
Highlights
Violent activity involving militant Islamist groups in the Sahel—primarily the Macina Liberation Front, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, and Ansaroul Islam—has doubled every year since 2016. Employing asymmetric tactics and close coordination, these militant groups have amplified local grievances and intercommunal differences as a means of mobilizing recruitment and fostering antigovernment sentiments in marginalized communities. Given the complex social dimensions of this violence, Sahelian governments should make more concerted efforts to bolster solidarity with affected communities while asserting a more robust and mobile security presence in contested regions.
Fighting between Islamic extremist rebels and Mozambique’s army over a key port is threatening to disrupt the East African nation’s burgeoning natural-gas developments, including a multibillion-dollar project led by French energy giant Total SA .
Hashem Abedi, 23, was convicted of murder, attempted murder and conspiring to cause explosions.
The brother of a suicide bomber who killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, northwest England, in 2017 was on Thursday jailed for life.
Cairo categorically refuses to let the coastal city of Misrata be turned into a base for Turkish naval vessels.
Egypt is showing its frustration with accelerating Turkish and Qatari moves in Libya in support of the Government of National Accord (GNA).
