Africa

On January 8, the al-Qaida affiliated group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) launched a meticulously planned assault on a fortified military post in northern Benin’s Alibori region, near the country’s borders with Burkina Faso and Niger. The attack claimed the lives of 28 soldiers, injured dozens more and sent shockwaves through a region long considered a fragile but reliable buffer against the violence of the nearby Sahel.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

All thanks and praise are due to Allah, from Whom we seek help and forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and the evil consequences of our deeds. Whoever Allah guides will never be misled and whoever strays from Him will never find a guide. I bear witness that there is no god except Allah. Likewise, I bear witness that Muhammad is the servant and the Messenger of Allah.

Le gouvernement militaire du Niger a ordonné au Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) de quitter le pays sans délai, a indiqué mercredi une source proche du dossier à l’AFP.

Cette source a précisé que le Niger avait «révoqué les accords» existants avec le CICR, et que certains expatriés avaient déjà commencé à quitter le pays. Le bureau de la délégation du CICR à Niamey a été fermé depuis mardi, a-t-elle ajouté.

Alors que les dynamiques géopolitiques et sécuritaires du Sahel évoluent rapidement, la Chine s’impose comme un acteur clé, prêt à exploiter le vide laissé par le retrait des puissances occidentales traditionnelles, notamment la France. Cette transformation est emblématique d’un repositionnement global de la Chine sur la scène africaine, où sécurité et développement se croisent.

The boys, whose average age is 10, were intercepted while being transported to Niger Republic.

The Niger State Government has rescued 21 underage boys from an alleged human trafficking syndicate in Magama Local Government Area, officials said on Wednesday.

Le Jnim (Groupe de soutien à l’islam et aux musulmans), lié à al-Qaïda, avait décrété un embargo sur Léré le 29 novembre. La ville située à une soixantaine de kilomètres de la frontière mauritanienne est un important lieu de passage pour les voyageurs et les commerçants. Mais depuis deux mois, le calvaire des habitants se poursuit, dans le plus grand silence des autorités de transition.

Bottom Line Up Front

The conflict in Sudan has seen indiscriminate bombings, extrajudicial executions, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war and yet despite this, has remained on the back pages, overtaken by attention on Gaza and the war in Ukraine.

Before leaving office, the Biden administration and the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against both sides in the conflict—the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armes Forces (SAF), led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

A collection of testimonies of the protest of Sudanese refugees in the Agadez camp, in Niger

As the protests by refugees continue in the controversial “ humanitarian center ” of Agadez , the government of Niger received Elizabeth Tan, director of the Division for International Protection at the UNHCR office in Geneva, in early December. This was an important visit given the profile of Tan, who has worked for UNHCR since 1995 and has operated in several African contexts, including Burundi, Egypt and Sudan.

OVERVIEW

Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) is a terrorist group based in Mali and active across much of West Africa, including parts of Burkina Faso and Niger. It formed in March 2017, when four Mali-based extremist groups—Ansar al-Din, al-Murabitun, the Macina Liberation Front (MLF), and the Sahara Emirate subgroup of al-Qa‘ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)—announced that they had merged, formalizing cooperation among them. The leader of JNIM, Iyad ag Ghali, pledged the group’s allegiance to the amir of AQIM, to the amir of al-Qa‘ida, and to the leader of the Taliban.