Sahel

The United States on Monday formally handed its last military base in Niger over to the ruling military junta, completing a pullout ordered by Niger’s rulers in March.

The U.S. and Niger issued a joint statement on Sunday that set a deadline of September 15 for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces.

The Pentagon has formally ordered all 1,000 American combat troops remaining in Niger to withdraw over the next few months.

U.S. forces were expelled from both Niger and Chad this week, dealing a serious blow to the Biden administration’s diplomacy and counter-terrorism policies in Africa.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) – Mali’s foreign minister is accusing France of having colluded with the same Islamic extremists that it spent nearly a decade fighting until its troops departed earlier this week, an allegation sharply denied by the French government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin pressed the West last week to lift sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame from Russia to the West.

Burkina Faso has witnessed a surge in jihadist violence over the past four months since a coup d’état overthrew its government in late January, Voice of America (VOA) reported on Wednesday.

(AFP) — After nine years deployed in Mali, France is organising a drawdown, with troops preparing to leave the last of three bases in the far north of the insurgency-hit and poverty-wracked country.

Senegal welcomes “China’s influence” to help combat Islamist terrorism throughout the country and its surrounding region of West Africa, Senegal Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall told reporters at a summit with her Chinese counterpart in Dakar on Sunday.

Algeria recalled its ambassador to France on Saturday and closed its airspace to French military aircraft on Sunday, enraged by comments from French President Emmanuel Macron that seemed to question the legitimacy of the Algerian government.

French forces have killed the leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, according to the French government. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday he fears the Taliban terror group’s recent seizure of power in Afghanistan may “embolden” fellow jihadists in the African Sahel to increase terror attacks in the hopes of similarly gaining control over their home countries.

(AFP) — The U.S. and French defence chiefs signed a new “roadmap” for cooperation between their special operations forces Friday as both seek to build international efforts to counter non-state threats like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Child soldiers “between the ages of 12 and 14” perpetrated a massacre in Burkina Faso this month that killed over 130 people, Burkina Faso’s government said on Thursday.

Jihadist violence emptied an entire village of nearly 8,000 people in northern Burkina Faso over the weekend, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on Wednesday.

(AP) — Two French soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in north-eastern Mali on Saturday, just days after three others died in similar fashion, the French presidency announced.

Three French soldiers were killed in Mali on Monday after their armored vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED) during a counterterrorism operation in the West African country, the French government said.

Spain will send law enforcement personnel into Senegal, Africa, to tackle people-smugglers after illegal migration from West Africa to the Canary Islands increased by 1,000 per cent on 2019.

(AFP) — France announced Friday that its anti-jihadist force in Mali had killed the military commander of an Al-Qaeda-aligned group linked to attacks in the region.

Jihadists with ties to the al-Qaeda terror network executed a Christian missionary after four years in captivity in the African nation of Mali, Swiss authorities reported Friday.

Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned Tuesday after being held prisoner for a few hours, along with Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, by a force of mutinous soldiers.

PARIS (AP) – Prime Minister Jean Castex paid homage on Friday to six French aid workers killed last week in Niger, saying they were likely victims of the same kind of hate behind the 2015 terror attack on a French music hall.

PARIS (AP) — French anti-terrorism prosecutors formally opened an investigation one day after eight people, including six French nationals, were killed by gunmen in a Niger giraffe park.

(AFP) — France said its forces have killed the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, in a blow to the group behind a string of deadly attacks across the troubled Sahel region.

(AFP) — France’s defence minister departs for Washington on Sunday hoping to convince officials to keep U.S. soldiers in West Africa, where French authorities are under pressure after years of trying to bolster local forces against Islamic extremists.

PAU, France (AP) – France is preparing its military to better target Islamic extremists in a West African region that has seen a surge of deadly violence. But first, French President Emmanuel Macron is asking African heads of state to answer a key question: “Do you want us there?”

(AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Ivory Coast on Friday to celebrate Christmas with French troops, saying Paris would work to give “new force” to the regional fight against Islamist militants.

PARIS (AP) – West African leaders need to make it clear they want and need France´s military presence, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday, just days after a helicopter collision killed 13 French soldiers fighting Islamic extremists in Mali last week.