Turkish-French dispute carries over to Libya

There are growing indications that Erdogan may be pushing to undermine the ceasefire in Libya.

At the current stage of the French-Turkish political conflict, political and religious considerations are being purposely mixed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but the background of his clash with France confirms it has nothing to do with religion, which is being used to hide an intense conflict governed by geostrategic calculations.

Turkey begins training Libyan coastguards and thus competes with the EU and Italy

Turkish armed forces have started training the Libyan coast guard, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing reports of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. The newspaper rates this as a “further blow” against Rome’s influence on the LibyanGovernment of National Accord [GNA] in Tripoli, as this activity has so far been carried out by the Italian military mission.

Mali: Terrorisme : Les prémisses d’un dialogue ?

Le sort des otages locaux préoccupe au Mali, depuis l’échange de prisonniers entre les autorités et les groupes armés djihadistes ayant favorisé la libération de Soumaïla Cissé et trois autres ex-otages occidentaux.

Jean-Yves Le Drian au Mali, première visite depuis le coup d’État

Le ministre français des Affaires étrangères se rend ce dimanche au Mali pour une visite de deux jours. C’est la première visite d’une autorité civile française depuis le coup d’État du 18 août. Le chef de la diplomatie française aura des entretiens notamment avec le président de la transition et son Premier ministre Moctar Ouane. Paris veut parler de paix, de sécurité, mais également apporter son soutien à la transition.

Cinci ani și jumătate în captivitate. Sora românului răpit de jihadiști în Burkina Faso răbufnește: ”Nu mai avem încredere în autoritățile române”

”Ne așteptăm ca după cinci ani să primim un mesaj de la Iulian sau noi să-i putem trimite un mesaj. Să știe că familia se gândește la el, iar noi să știm că este bine”, spune sora lui Iulian, Elvira Gherguț, pentru Libertatea. Autoritățile de la București menționează că nu au noutăți, dar că se lucrează.

Conflict trends

SUDAN U.S. President Trump announced a normalisation agreement between Sudan and Israel on Friday, shortly after signing an order to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in exchange for the country paying $335mn to the families of victims of the 1998 Al Qaeda bombings in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. Crisis Group expert Jonas Horner says removing Sudan from the U.S. State Department’s terror list will boost Prime Minister Hamdok politically and facilitate Khartoum’s access to desperately needed international debt relief and loans to combat the country’s dire economic crisis. While the Trump administration will herald the normalisation agreement as a foreign policy victory ahead of the U.S. presidential election, the deal may catalyse a new wave of dissent among Sudanese Islamists.

Africa is the next global influencer. That’s an opportunity.

In a COVID-altered landscape of global security threats, economic opportunities and strategic change, Africa is seizing center stage. Africans form the world’s fastest-growing population and national economies. Violent crises, democracy movements, extremist threats, international investments, human displacement and strategic opportunities all are rising. The coronavirus pandemic underscores both Africa’s risks to global stability from fragile states—and the overlooked potential of a continent now outperforming wealthier regions in containing the public health crisis. COVID is the latest reminder that “Africa’s deepening vulnerabilities and its rising capacities will shape global realities whether we prepare for that or not,” according to scholar Joseph Sany.