Africa - Page 25

President of Chad: ‘Regrettable’ Cooperation with Nigeria Hurting Boko Haram Fight

The President of Chad, Idriss Deby, visited the Nigerian capital Abuja today to meet with both outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan and President-elect Muhammadu Buhari on how to best jointly combat the looming threat of Boko Haram. Speaking to reporters, Deby lamented that cooperation with Nigeria could use improvement, and that such coordination has been a problem in the past.

Reuters

Escaped Chibok Schoolgirls Will Help Boko Haram Victims Reintegrate

As the Nigerian government struggles to provide sustenance and treatment to the estimated 700 hostages freed from Boko Haram in early May, women who escaped the throes of the terrorist group during its raid of a girls’ school in Chibok are offering their support and empathy, having once been captives themselves.

AFP PHOTO/STR

Terror Group Al-Shabaab Continues Murder Spree of Somali Journalists

The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) released a statement to encourage Somali authorities to do more to protect journalists, who face extraordinary danger in practicing their craft. They claim freedom of expression is under fire in the country due to numerous attacks on journalists.

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More than 400 Dead Line Streets of Boko Haram-Ravaged Nigerian Town

The tiny village of Damasak in northeast Nigeria is arguably the most terror-ravaged in the region, save those completely razed to the ground. After months of fighting terrorist group Boko Haram and finally being able to survey the damage of their occupation, Nigerian authorities discovered “hundreds” of decaying bodies lining the streets, homes, and businesses of what is now a ghost town.

AFP/HO/NIGERIAN ARMY

‘Islamic State in West Africa’: Boko Haram Rebrands

Months after accepting a pledge of allegiance from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, the Islamic State has released propaganda through its social media outlets in which the Nigerian group refers to itself as “Islamic State West Africa Province” (ISWAP), suggesting their merger is finally complete.

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Chadian Army Rescues 43 Would-Be Child Soldiers from Boko Haram

The Chadian military has rescued 43 children from the Nigerian town of Damasak who had been abducted and prepared to serve as child soldiers for the jihadist Boko Haram terror group. The Nigerian military is currently embroiled in a struggle in the Sambisa forest, the last known stronghold of the terror group in the nation.

Twitter/@ThinkAgain_DOS

After Ebola, Rabies: Sierra Leone Stray Dog Population Up to Half a Million

Sierra Leone has experienced a dramatic fall in the number of Ebola cases in the nation over the past month, prompting the government to reopen schools and attempt to return civilians to normal daily life. Much has changed in the past year due to the outbreak, including the population of stray dogs, which has doubled to an estimated half a million.

Jose Luis Gonzalez /Reuters

Kenya Begins Construction on Border Wall to Keep Somalis Out

The Kenyan government has broken ground on a new wall that will span a large swatch of the border between Kenya and Somalia. While the project had been announced in March, Kenyan authorities appear to have expedited the groundbreaking in response to the terrorist attack at Garissa University.

Ben Curtis/AP

Sierra Leone’s Women Falling Victim to Kuwaiti Slave Trade

The Guardian published a damning report on recruitment agencies selling women as slaves in Kuwait. These agencies lure women to the tiny country with promises of work, but are “sold like slaves” and resold numerous times. The publication interviewed women from Sierra Leone, but research suggests this is a long-term problem in Kuwait affecting women from other countries, as well.

AP Photo

A New Arc of Evil: The Boko Haram/ISIS Merger

In January, the world’s single largest terror attack since 9/11 was carried out by Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group in northern Nigeria. That incident, which drew only passing notice from the West, saw the slaughter of 2,000 civilians in the border town of Baga. Boko Haram’s oath of allegiance to the Islamic State last weekend raises questions about how this will affect the group. Given Boko Haram’s demonstrable ruthlessness in Baga, a better question would be, why aren’t we aiming to “degrade and destroy” it, too?

via Boko Haram video

Report: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram Training Together

According to Veryan Khan of the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium, the great under-the-radar terror threat comes from an expanse of the Sahara Desert in Mauritania, where ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram are working together to train Western recruits for jihad, including terror attacks in Europe and North America. “The situation in Mauritania is a powder keg very few people are talking about,” Khan told Fox News.

This undated file image posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014 shows fight