As the United Nations looks to extend its most deadly active mission for peacekeepers for another year, those working closely with its venture in Mali say poor local collaboration and funding gaps are costing lives. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the Security Council to approve 2,500 extra troops and …

At least 11 people were killed and several others injured in fresh violence that erupted over the weekend in northern Mali, local sources said. Clashes erupted between Gatia, a pro-government self-defense group, and Ganda Izo, a group near Tinhabou, northern Mali said to defend sedentary and semi-nomadic groups, Yehia Tandina, …

The Algerian capital on Sunday held the 3rd Algeria-U.S. meeting on security, as instability hitting the Sahel region, including Libya and Mali, was in the agenda of the discussions. The meeting was co-chaired by Algerian Minister for Maghreb Affairs, the African Union and the Arab League, Abdelkader Messahel, and the …

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal on Sunday met with visiting Commander of the U.S. Command for Africa (AFRICOM), General David M. Rodriguez, to discuss the security situation in chaos-ridden Libya and the Sahel region. General Rodriguez is visiting the North African nation as part of the 3rd Algerian-U.S. meeting on …

Uganda plans to withdraw all of its troops from a mission in Central African Republic (CAR) whose goal is to hunt down members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, a military official said on Friday. Authorities have notified the African Union of plans to withdraw the 2 500 …

Niger’s defence minister says his country and Chad will send troops to neighbouring Nigeria to fight Boko Haram extremists. Hassoumi Massaoudou said that the military deployment by the two countries was meant to secure their borders from Islamic extremists, who have staged several attacks in recent weeks in Niger, including …

Militants from the Islamic State group have barricaded themselves in the centre of their stronghold in Libya’s coastal city of Sirte, hoping to draw militias fighting to dislodge them into a protracted street battle, a spokesperson for the fighters loyal to the UN-backed government said on Sunday. Brigadier General Mohammed …

Nigeria says it has agreed to Cameroon’s voluntary return of 80 000 Nigerian refugees who have fled the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency. Nigerian officials had said Cameroon was threatening to force the repatriation. Cameroon previously has dumped thousands on the border.

Eritrea on Monday accused arch-rival Ethiopia of attacking its heavily militarised border, but officials in Addis Ababa said they had no knowledge of the reported fighting. Ethiopia on Sunday “unleashed an attack against Eritrea on the Tsorona Central Front,” Eritrea’s ministry of information said in a statement. Ethiopian government spokesperson …

The EU decided Monday to increase the budget of its mission called EUCAP Sahel Mali by 4. 92 million euro, bringing the total budget of the mission for 2016 to 19 million euro following security incidents in Bamako. This will enhance the ability of the mission to support Malian security …