Africa

The Sahel is facing an unprecedented wave of violence, with more than 4,000 deaths reported last year, and a bloody start to 2020.

Fighting in Libya has dragged on for the past eight years following the ouster of the country’s longtime leader, the dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

Just as Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks have led to thousands of deaths in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, so have these terror groups caused thousands of deaths in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic. The Jihadist groups include Macina Libration Front, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Ansaroul Islam, Katiba Serma, Al-Qaeda in the Magreb Sahara (AQIM), Al Mourabitoun, Katiba Salheddin, Ansar Dine, Jam’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), and some unaffiliated groups. These groups have a common modus operandi, but operate in different regions and countries. However, in 2017 JNIM was formed as the rallying point for all of them, becoming the international face of the group. A report released by Human Rights Watch in December 2019 showed that between April 2019 and the end of last year, JNIM and its affiliates had killed more than 250 persons in Burkina Faso alone.

Ten years may sound like a blurry, distant future. But built into them are minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years that provide harbor for infinitesimal opportunities that transform the lives of men and the fortunes of nations. Men and nations who benefit from time are those who employ their imagination in crafting long-term visions and discipline themselves to take little, vital steps leading to the realization of visions propounded by their imaginations.

Even if violent attacks are now mostly concentrated around the border of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the unstable area subject to terrorism covers a huge area — equivalent to half of Europe or the United States — and is spread over five countries…. Because it involves such a huge territory, and because Europeans simply do not have the air support and intelligence capabilities of the United States, American support in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel is critical.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey is starting deployment of troops to Libya in support of the embattled United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and in line with agreements relating to maritime border demarcation and enhanced security cooperation.

La secrétaire générale adjointe aux Affaires politiques de l’ONU, Rosemary DiCarlo, a exprimé mercredi lors d’un entretien avec le président nigérien Mahamadou Issoufou à Niamey les préoccupations de son institution devant la détérioration de la situation sécuritaire au Niger et dans la région, a-t-on appris jeudi de source officielle.

Les experts et les ministres de « l’Initiative d’Accra » ont réaffirmé leur détermination à combattre le trafic de cigarettes qui est devenu une importante source de financement du terrorisme et d’autres réseaux criminels en Afrique de l’Ouest.

Turkey has intervened in Libya’s internecine civil war in an effort to prop up the increasingly beleaguered Government of National Accord (GNA).