Africa

A leading commander in Mali’s army has called on ethnic Tuaregs to fight jihadists in the north of the country in a WhatsApp audio message authenticated Monday by AFP.

General El Hadj Ag Gamou, himself a Tuareg and a major figure in the Malian army’s fight against the Islamic State in the Great Sahara (ISGS) — which is affiliated with the Islamic State organisation — called on the military help of all Tuaregs inside and outside the country.

A lone gunman entered a military base in Somalia and killed at least three Kenyan peacekeepers Monday, the latest attack by extremist fighters who oppose the presence of foreigners in the Horn of Africa nation, according to Kenya’s military.

British ministers are expected to fly to Ghana this week to hammer out a new security agreement

Britain may be invited to send special forces to Ghana after it was forced to withdraw all of its 300 peacekeepers from Mali in the face of bands of Russian mercenaries and jihadist groups, The Telegraph understands.

A counter-insurgency expert, Zagazola Makama, disclosed this in a series of tweets on Monday.

In what appeared to be a continuation of their sustained inter-rivalry clash, the fighters of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) has attacked a convoy of Boko Haram, during which many of them were killed.

Boko Haram insurgents have continued to surrender in the terror-troubled North-East as the Nigerian military widens its offensive against terror in the region and around Lake Chad.

France will stop sending public development aid to Mali because of the West African country’s alleged ties to Russian paramilitaries, according to the French foreign ministry.

“Given the attitude of Mali’s junta leader, allied with the Russian mercenaries of Wagner, we have suspended our public development aid to Mali,” a ministry source said on Thursday.

West African coastal states are holding talks on boosting military cooperation against jihadist violence spilling over from the Sahel. This follows recent announcements that several international peacekeeping contingents are being withdrawn from Mali.

Benin, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo are confronting increased risks from Islamic State jihadists and Al Qaeda militants waging war over their northern borders in the Sahel.

Eritrea continues to send military reinforcements to the Tigray region despite the recent peace agreement, according to a statement issued by the regional government on Saturday.

Earlier this month, the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) agreed to a ceasefire as a first step to ending the two-year conflict.

Leaders of French-speaking countries gathered Saturday on a Tunisian island to discuss debt relief, migration, food and energy shortages amid a soaring cost-of-living crisis across Africa, Europe and the Middle East due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The Minister of National Security, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, has revealed that 346 terrorist attacks were recorded in Africa in the first quarter of 2022, with 49 per cent of them occurring in West Africa alone.

Also, he indicated that between July and September this year, 246 terrorist attacks resulting in 745 fatalities and 239 injuries were recorded in West Africa.