Africa

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Depuis une quinzaine d’années, de nombreuses régions d’Afrique subsaharienne connaissent un développement des mouvements djihadistes, notamment al-Qaïda au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi) dans la région sahélo-saharienne, Boko Haram dans la région du lac Tchad, Al-Shabaab dans la Corne de l’Afrique, Ansar al-Sharia et l’organisation État islamique (EI) dans la région du Maghreb. Ces groupes ont mené de nombreuses attaques à l’origine de dizaines de milliers de victimes et du déplacement de millions de personnes. Entre 2002 et 2017, seize pays africains sont frappés par des attaques djihadistes : prises d’otages, enlèvements de civils, attaques sporadiques de casernements militaires, attentats-suicides dans des églises, des mosquées, des écoles ou des marchés, occupation de territoires, allant parfois jusqu’à vouloir imposer à ces territoires une administration djihadiste. Des milliers de jeunes Africains issus de milieux sociaux et économiques divers sont piégés par les discours djihadistes. Nombre d’entre eux ont rallié les rangs de groupes qui opèrent sur le continent africain, ou l’EI en Syrie et en Irak [Benmelech et Klor, 2016, p. 16]. À l’heure où l’EI perd le contrôle de plusieurs de ses bastions au Moyen-Orient, il ne fait guère de doute que certains djihadistes chercheront refuge en Afrique. Autant d’évolutions qui témoignent que le continent africain est devenu l’un des foyers du djihadisme dans le monde.

Nearly 100 thousand people have recently fled Sudan for neighboring Chad, according to the UN, adding to the 400 thousand Sudanese refugees already in the country after fleeing previous conflicts.

This latest wave of refugees, 90 percent of whom are women and children, face dire conditions, as many shelter in open, makeshift encampments and experience severe food insecurity.

The eastern Libya strongman, Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifah Haftar, has actively backed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the Sudanese military and armed forces in the ongoing fighting in Khartoum and its surrounding environs.

As in Sudan, contending leaders in Libya, including Haftar, have refused to implement internationally-backed political transition agreements that would require them to cede power.

Acting in support and not instead of: the French armies had to learn the lessons of their forced exit from Mali in the summer of 2022 and are today testing a discreet partnership in Niger, tailored to the demands of Niamey.

Artillery fire could be heard in parts of Khartoum and warplanes flew overhead on Tuesday, residents said, though an internationally monitored ceasefire appeared to have brought some respite from heavy fighting in the Sudanese capital.

Night-time airstrikes were reported in at least one area after the ceasefire started late on Monday, but residents otherwise reported relative calm.

Some Eritreans are reportedly missing in Sudan, raising fears of kidnappings by Eritrean authorities or traffickers.

Nabil Mohamed* last heard from his friend, a fellow Eritrean, on April 19 in Kassala, a city in eastern Sudan near the Eritrean border. He was fleeing Sudan’s war-torn capital, Khartoum, to a refugee camp and to access aid from the United Nations.

Coming rainy season threatens 80,000 living in ‘heartbreaking’ conditions in vulnerable border region after fleeing war at home

Tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees, many of them children, who have crossed the border into Chad risk a “major humanitarian disaster” when the rainy season begins within weeks, a Red Cross official has warned.