Malian soldiers and former Tuareg rebels have staged their first joint patrol in northern Mali, a key step in a 2015 peace agreement meant to help calm a region under threat from multiple extremist and other armed groups. As helicopters with the UN peacekeeping mission hovered overhead last week, 50 …

Some 7 000 people have fled from villages around the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok because of Boko Haram attacks, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday. The IOM said an estimated 4 449 people or 740 households have fled to Chibok itself since February 25, “seeking safety …