At least 11 Libyans fleeing their homeland to Europe drowned on Sunday after their overcrowded boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration reported. An additional 12 would-be refugees who were aboard the rubber dinghy were drawn from the water by the Libyan coast guard …
Read More »Scoop: Biden won’t reverse Trump’s Western Sahara move, U.S. tells Morocco
Secretary of State Tony Blinken told Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita in a phone call on Friday that the Biden administration would not reverse President Trump’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, at least for the time being, two sources familiar with the call told me. Why it …
Read More »Why the World’s Newest Country Has Only Known Conflict
Few nations have seen their dreams and hopes dashed as quickly and ruthlessly as South Sudan. A mere two years after thousands thronged the streets of the capital, Juba, to celebrate independence from Sudan’s autocratic rule, the country descended into a brutal civil war. The fallout between President Salva Kiir …
Read More »Europe Has Spent Years Trying to Prevent ‘Chaos’ in the Sahel. It Failed
“The terrorists are quick,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters after a summit with the leaders of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou in May. “This is why we have to be quicker, so that we can beat them.” What happens in the Sahel, the vast sub-Saharan …
Read More »Libya: 5+5 Joint Military Commission meets in Sirte
Libya’s 5+5 Joint Military Commission held a meeting Tuesday in the coastal city of Sirte. The head of Libya’s Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Menfi, and UN Special Envoy to Libya Jan Kubis took part. Representatives from the warring sides discussed the opening of the coastal road along the north of the …
Read More »Egypt seizes Brotherhood property in Sinai
An Egyptian court is examining a lawsuit that will ease the state’s confiscation of Muslim Brotherhood-owned real estate in Sinai. Egypt is inventorying Muslim Brotherhood assets in Sinai as the judiciary considers a lawsuit for the confiscation of real estate including houses, land and farms owned by Brotherhood leaders.
Read More »Unanswered Questions Swirl Following Burkina Faso Murders
Confirmed by the Spanish prime minister, Western media reports that two Spanish filmmakers and the Irish president of a conservation non-governmental organization (NGO) were murdered in Burkina Faso near the border with Benin on April 26. Roberto Fraile and David Beriain were in Burkina Faso working on a documentary about …
Read More »Is latest Ethiopian proposal on Nile dam talks a play for time?
Ethiopia has called for a meeting of the African Union in a bid to break the stalemate in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam with Cairo and Khartoum, something that is viewed by Cairo as a maneuver by Addis Ababa to play for time until the completion of the second filling …
Read More »Deby’s Death Seen as Blow to Counterterrorism Efforts in Africa’s Sahel
The death of Chad’s President Idriss Deby could be a major setback for counterterrorism efforts in Africa’s restive Sahel region, according to Chadian activists, African politicians and security experts. The 68-year-old longtime leader died Monday from injuries sustained while visiting troops fighting a Libya-based rebel group known as the Front …
Read More »Ethiopia: A New Proxy Battlespace?
Current narratives of the Tigrayan conflict require a broader perspective and an understanding of the various interests at play in Ethiopia. The conflict in Ethiopia’s northern state of Tigray is being fought on two interconnected fronts. The first is physical and on the ground, while the second is a dangerous …
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