RABAT empty streets

Burkina Faso Votes Law Backing Vigilantes Fighting Jihadists

A majority of lawmakers in Burkina Faso voted a new law providing for extending funding and training to local vigilantes in response to the growing firepower of jihadist groups in the Sahel nation. Vigilante groups called koglweogo – “guardians of the bush” in the Moore language – will be the first beneficiaries of the fund. […]

Mali: fighting erupts in key northern area as army closes on Tuareg rebel town

Fighting resumed Sunday (12 November) between Mali’s armed forces and Tuareg separatist rebel groups in the country’s northern region, after the soldiers reportedly closed in on the strategic town of Kidal. Malian army’s clashes with with Tuareg separatist and rebel groups could signal the start of fighting for the strategically important northern crossroads. The Kidal […]

Morocco tips balance in its favor in face-off with South Africa

The last days of Jacob Zuma in power and his meeting with King Mohammed VI were perceived as light at the end of the tunnel of relations between two of Africa’s economic heavyweights, but the persistence of the ANC- led administration in Pretoria puts Morocco and South Africa in a new face-off in which the […]