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.
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has again claimed control of the contested Ukrainian city of Bakhmut — a claim yet again denied by Kyiv, which says its forces are still fighting southwest of the industrial town and advancing around its flanks. The dense fog of war makes it difficult to determine whether one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Ukraine war has really come to an end.
Fighting between forces loyal to Sudan’s rival generals on Friday rocked the western region of Darfur, witnesses said, on the fourth day of a fragile US-Saudi-brokered ceasefire.
The one-week truce, the latest in a series of agreements that have all been systematically violated, was breached only minutes after it took effect on Monday night.
Bruxelles et Niamey vont collaborer en matière de lutte contre le terrorisme, ont-ils annoncé en marge d’une visite du Centre National de Coordination du Mécanisme d’Alerte Précoce (CNAP) du Niger en Belgique.
Quel statut, quel mandat pour les militaires français au Sahel ? C’est la question que posent aujourd’hui des organisations de la société civile française. Ce mardi 23 mai, le Général Bruno Baratz, qui commande les Forces françaises au Sahel, selon le vocable actuellement utilisé par l’armée, s’est exprimé sur l’antenne de RFI. « Il n’y a plus d’opération française au Sahel » a-t-il assuré, pour exprimer l’idée que la philosophie ayant guidé la défunte force Barkhane est désormais caduque et que les militaires français toujours déployés dans la région sont dorénavant au service des pays hôtes, en l’occurrence le Niger, principalement, et le Tchad.
Turkey’s influence in Africa has been growing massively over the past 20 years and whoever wins Sunday’s presidential run-off will have to consider where next to take the relationship.
Ever since Recep Tayyip Erdogan took power in Turkey two decades ago, first as prime minister then as president, he has taken an increasing interest in Africa.