Africa

Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent: Almost Forgotten

Introduction
The rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) to the forefront of the global jihadist movement challenges al Qaeda’s prominence and influence. The ISIS counter-state that does away with the Iraq-Syria border, as well as its growing presence in such places as Libya, the Sinai, and Afghanistan, are proof of the group’s power and the effectiveness of its strategy. The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, described al Qaeda’s leadership as individuals who have become misguided and who have misled the global jihadist movement.[1] Baghdadi demands allegiance from all Muslims and claims the title, emir al mumineen, commander of the faithful, which was held for decades by Taliban leader Mullah Omar. ISIS’s growth has taken its toll on the al Qaeda network. Groups that had once been associated with al Qaeda have splintered, declaring their loyalty to Baghdadi. Al Qaeda’s name no longer carries the same recruitment power it once did.

How Israel’s Somaliland gambit will reshape Red Sea geopolitics

Late last year, Israel broke new diplomatic ground by becoming the first country to formally recognise the independence of Somaliland, a self-declared republic existing within Somalia’s internationally recognised territory.

Perched along the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden, extremely close to the strategically vital Bab al-Mandab strait, Somaliland has spent more than three decades seeking international legitimacy after declaring independence in 1991.

How Sudan’s shifting battlefield will test Egypt’s ‘red lines’

After El-Fasher’s fall, Egypt faces the choice of intervening in a war against UAE proxies, or standing by as its ‘red lines’ in Sudan fade into irrelevance

For nearly a thousand days, Egypt’s posture toward the civil war in Sudan was one of “strategic patience,” as Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty framed it.

Pakistan’s Reportedly Planned Arms Deal With Sudan Presages Problems For The UAE In Africa

Pakistan is functioning as the force multiplier in the Saudi-Turkish-Egyptian proxy campaign against the UAE in Africa that it’s finally participating in after sitting on the sidelines for so long.

Reuters recently reported that “Pakistan nears $1.5 billion deal to supply weapons, jets to Sudan”, which follows last month’s report from them that “Pakistan strikes $4 billion deal to sell weapons to Libyan force, officials say”. It was assessed after the last-mentioned report that “Pakistan Is Playing Second Fiddle To Turkiye In Afro-Eurasian Security” since there’s now a pattern of it clinching security deals with third countries like Azerbaijan, Somalia, and then Libya sometime after its Turkish strategic partner does.

How Resistance Axis Interpreted Mutual Recognition Between Zionist Entity and “Somaliland”

The mutual recognition between the Zionist entity and the “Somaliland” region is merely the culmination of stages of secret communication. Through this recognition, the entity aims to solidify the division of Somalia and violate its sovereignty. More importantly, it seeks to infiltrate the strategically important Horn of Africa region, exploiting its strategic significance to destabilize the region’s security and stability, undermine its capabilities, and ultimately use it to establish military bases, alongside controlling key ports, as part of the Greater Middle East Project aimed at containing the sources of power in Arab and African countries.

Egypt prepares to launch major projects near Israeli border

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has decided to allocate several plots of land in North Sinai Governorate, including areas near Rafah, as part of its national plan to develop the Sinai Peninsula.

The Official Gazette published Presidential Decree No. 736 of 2025, which allocates state-owned land in North Sinai to the General Authority for Land and Dry Ports. The land will be used to establish logistics zones.

Tendances migratoires à surveiller en Afrique en 2025

La forte restriction des migrations irrégulières hors du continent, combinée à l’escalade des facteurs d’incitation, continuera à façonner les priorités en matière de gouvernance et de sécurité en Afrique et soulignera la nécessité d’une plus grande innovation régionale pour faire face aux mouvements de population intracontinentaux.

Ten security trends in Africa in 2025 in charts

Africa’s complex security landscape has been shaken by the combined effects of the growing regionalization of conflicts, offensives by militant Islamist groups, military coups and rivalries between outside actors.

A return to images in the year 2025 reveals an African security landscape reshaped by increasing external interventions, armies emboldened to seize power and consolidate it, and the proliferation of drones that extends the reach and lethality of armed fighters. The convergence of urbanization, demographic pressure and the increasing regionalization of conflicts is straining Africa’s already fragile security environment. Despite these challenges, many African countries have made significant progress over the past year in the development of their communication, road, rail and space infrastructure to increase economic productivity and opportunities for the continent’s 1.5 billion citizens, mostly young.