A former Boko Haram leader who abandoned a suicide mission shares shocking actions of women as combatants and her journey to redemption.
Five young women embarked on a one-way journey from a remote location not far away from the Sambisa forest area, each carrying deadly explosives and two AK-47 rifles hidden under their gowns. Their destination: Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in North East Nigeria.
Sudan’s current conflict, which erupted in April 2023, is the latest chapter in a story of rival
predatory networks competing for control over formal and illicit economies, the information
environment and the use of organized violence. As the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid
Support Forces (RSF) spread death and destruction across the country, fuelling a humanitarian crisis,
their battle is driven by the desire to preserve their vast economic empires and the systems that
support them.
Introduction
The Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, has reinvigorated jihadi groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda, which are reprioritizing the cause of “Palestine” and the fight against the “Jews” and their “Crusader” allies as a key foundation of their messaging campaigns which aims at expanding their global threat landscape.
The announcement made on New Year’s Day that Ethiopia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Somaliland covering several areas may have created the first major geopolitical risk of the year 2024.
Israel faces a growing risk of damaging its peace with neighboring Egypt as its military pushes the offensive against Hamas further south in the Gaza Strip. Already, the two sides are in a dispute over a narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza.
Egyptian professor of modern history Mohamed Afifi said in a January 14, 2024 interview on Ten TV (Egypt) that he considers Iran to be an enemy of Egypt. He said that since the times of the ancient Persian Empire, Iran had aspirations to control the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and the trade routes to Europe through the invasion of Egypt.
Latest Developments
Cairo warned Jerusalem on January 22 that an Israeli operation along Egypt’s border with Gaza would present a “serious threat” to Egypt-Israel relations and cross a “red line.” The Egyptian government made the threat in response to reports that Israel may be preparing a military operation to secure the 8.7-mile land route — an area known as the Philadelphi Corridor — and destroy the network of illicit Hamas tunnels that connect Egypt and Gaza.
Can we stop things falling apart? 2024 begins with wars burning in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine and peacemaking in crisis. Worldwide, diplomatic efforts to end fighting are failing. More leaders are pursuing their ends militarily. More believe they can get away with it.
Data Cutoff: January 10, 2024, at 10 a.m.
Key Takeaway: IS affiliates across sub-Saharan Africa have claimed attacks as part of the new IS global campaign and could attempt to carry out high-visibility attacks against civilians and religious sites in their areas of operation to maximize the propaganda value of the campaign. IS central media is branding the campaign as supportive of the Palestinian cause in response to the Israel-Hamas war and is also encouraging lone-wolf attacks against civilians in the West.
An estimated 82 percent of the record 149 million Africans facing acute food insecurity are in conflict-affected countries underscoring that conflict continues to be the primary driver of Africa’s food crisis.