Hundreds rally in Niger’s capital to push for US military departure
Niamey, Niger Reuters Hundreds took to the streets of Niger’s capital on Saturday to demand the departure of US troops, after the ruling junta further shifted its strategy by ending a military accord with the United States and welcoming Russian military instructors. Marching arm in arm through central Niamey, the crowd waved Nigerien flags in […]
Burkina Faso junta’s conscription of critics rattles civil society and unions
Reuters Burkina Faso’s military junta is abusing an emergency law to conscript perceived dissidents and critics to join a deadly fight against militants linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, warned lawyers, journalists and watchdog Human Rights Watch this week. In a series of statements, civil society groups and unions for journalists and lawyers accused the […]
Militants kill more than 60 in Mali on boat and at army camp
Bamako, Mali Reuters Islamist militants killed at least 49 civilians and 15 soldiers in attacks on a military camp and a boat in north-eastern Mali on Thursday, the interim government said. The assailants attacked the boat on a waterway that connects the northern regions of Gao and Mopti during the rainy season, and raided the […]
Explainer – How the military coup in Niger threatens stability in West Africa
Reuters Niger’s regional and international partners are scrambling to respond to a military coup which political analysts say could have grave consequences for democratic progress and the fight against an insurgency by jihadist militants in West Africa. Here is what is at stake. “Only hope” for stability on SahelNiger became a democratic outlier in West […]
Withdrawal request: Mali faces spectre of anarchy after demanding UN’s departure
EDWARD MCALLISTER and DAVID LEWIS, of Reuters, report the MINUSMA mission and what it’s end could mean…
Around 60 civilians killed in northern Burkina Faso attack – prosecutor
Ouagadougou, Burkina FasoReuters Around 60 civilians were killed on Friday in northern Burkina Faso by people wearing the uniforms of the Burkinabe armed forces, local prosecutor Lamine Kabore said on Sunday, citing information from police in the town of Ouahigouya. He said an investigation had been launched after the attack on the village of Karma […]
Forty dead in attack on army and volunteers in north Burkina Faso
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Reuters Unidentified assailants killed 40 people and wounded 33 others in an attack on the army and volunteer defence forces in northern Burkina Faso, the government said in a statement on Sunday. The attack took place on Saturday in the village of Aorema near the town of Ouahigouya in the North Region, […]
UN seeks $US1.3 billion for Nigerians affected by insurgency
Lagos, Nigeria Reuters The United Nations on Thursday appealed for $US1.3 billion to provide assistance to six million Nigerians who are suffering the impact of a long-running Islamist insurgency in the north-east of the country. The militant Boko Haram group and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, have been fighting Nigerian security forces in […]
Abducted Burkina women flee jihadist gunmen through bush
Ouagadougou, Burkina FasoReuters Piercing thorns and stones underfoot did not stop the young woman as she charged through thickets, baby strapped to her back, fleeing armed militants who had kidnapped her with dozens of others in northern Burkina Faso last week. Now back home in the town of Arbinda along with a few who also […]
Islamist militants kidnapped around 50 women in Burkina Faso
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Reuters Islamist militants kidnapped around 50 women searching for food in Burkina Faso’s northern province of Soum, a hotbed of jihadist activity, on 12th and 13th January, the government said on Monday. The mass kidnapping is a first in the insurgency that spread to Burkina Faso from neighbouring Mali in 2015 despite […]