First Independent Mena Newspaper
At least 120 children have been abducted in recent days by Islamist insurgents in Mozambique’s northern oil-rich Cabo Delgado province, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported, adding that they were reportedly being forced into labor, used to transport looted goods, and in some cases turned into child soldiers or forced into marriage. The kidnappings mark […]
Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, has emerged as the most powerful militant force in West Africa, now commanding up to 6,000 fighters and staging coordinated, high-impact attacks across the Sahel, experts warn. According new analysis titled ‘JNIM Expanding Geographic Reach and Staging Coordinated Attacks in the Sahel’, JNIM’s recent assaults in Timbuktu […]
Nigeria is facing a new and dangerous phase in its battle against terrorism, as the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) begins deploying armed drones in its insurgency campaign. In a recent attack in Borno State in Northeast Nigeria, the group used modified drones carrying locally made grenades, injuring five soldiers and signaling a major […]
A deadly assault by the Islamic State (ISIS) targeted a Puntland military base in Somalia’s Bari region, resulting in at least 100 fatalities among both the militants and soldiers. The attack, which reportedly took place in the Togga Jacel area of the Cal Miskaad mountains in Puntland’s Bari region, saw ISIS militants using suicide car […]
The brutal insurgency in Burkina Faso has drawn unexpected participants from neighboring Ghana, revealing complex webs of ethnic ties, revenge motives, and economic incentives driving cross-border violence. Three Ghanaian fighters, speaking anonymously to the BBC, described their involvement in bloody battles since 2018, citing family connections and retribution for military attacks on civilian communities as […]
A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sentenced 25 soldiers to death in a one-day trial on Wednesday (3 July) after finding them guilty of fleeing the enemy, violating orders, dissipation of war munitions and theft, among other charges. The Congolese army has been fighting the Rwanda-backed M23 insurgency in the […]
Former Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria are threatening they may pick up arms again and join the insurgency out of frustration that they have been neglected by the government since they surrendered in the last two years. The Nigerian authorities promised Boko Haram fighters who surrendered that they would receive training and skills as an […]
Mercenaries from the Wagner Group are reportedly making $10 million per month through their involvement in the ongoing conflict in Mali as it exchanges African gold to help fund Vladimir Putin’s war machine, experts have said. US intelligence experts believe the Russian-backed private military company, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin until his violent death in August, […]
Burkina Faso has one of the fastest-growing internally displaced populations in the world, now totaling more than 2 million people, while at least three million people in Cameroon are facing acute food insecurity, according to government data from both countries. Violence linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group has increased the number of displaced […]
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Mali Tuesday (7 February) for talks with its junta leaders who only two days earlier ordered the rights chief with the UN peacekeeping mission in the country to leave for expressing views against Russia’s Wagner Group in Mali. Lavrov’s visit of fewer than 24 hours will be his […]