Africa

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Monday to allow the European Union’s (EU) maritime force to seize illegal weapons off Libya’s coast for another year, a move aimed at helping restore peace to the deeply divided north African nation. The British-drafted resolution authorises EU ships in Operation Sophia to …

African Union chairperson Alpha Conde on Sunday put himself forward as a mediator in the crisis between Qatar and other Gulf countries, urging dialogue after several African nations also recalled their ambassadors to Doha. Conde, who is president of Guinea which has close ties to Saudi Arabia, said in a …

The United Nations says a fourth peacekeeper from the West African nation of Guinea was killed in an attack by jihadists last week on a UN camp in northern Mali. UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Monday the peacekeeper was missing after last Thursday’s attack on the camp east …

US forces carried out a strike in conjunction with Somali special forces on Sunday against Al-Shabaab approximately 300km southwest of Mogadishu, according to the Pentagon. The Pentagon said the operation occurred at approximately 0600 GMT “in coordination with regional partners as a direct response to Al-Shabaab actions, including recent attacks …

A Nigerian official says a top Boko Haram commander was among many insurgents killed on Sunday as soldiers fought to rescue nine children being trained at a secret camp. Nigerian army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Sani Usman said on Monday that soldiers battled Boko Haram extremists in Jarawa village in Borno …

Heavily armed al-Shabaab extremists have stormed a military base in Somalia’s semiautonomous state of Puntland, killing close to 70 people, officials said Thursday. Officials called it the region’s deadliest attack in years, highlighting the twin challenges facing security forces from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab and the growing presence of fighters linked …

A dawn raid by jihadists on a military camp in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region on Thursday left at least 10 soldiers dead, security officials said. The Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda group, claimed the attack saying it had killed 61 soldiers at the Af-Urur military base close to Golis Mountains, a well-known …

Unknown gunmen on Thursday ambushed a convoy on the main road connecting South Sudan’s capital with the Ugandan border, killing at least 15 people, officials said. Nine others were wounded in the attack on a civilian convoy escorted by the military on the insecure Juba-Nimule highway.

The African Union and the United Nations are proposing major cuts to their joint peacekeeping force in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, paring down one of the world’s largest and costliest peace operations. A joint report sent to the UN Security Council last month recommends that the ceiling set for military …

The UN force commander in the Central African Republic is calling for hundreds of peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo to be sent home for sexual abuse, fuel trafficking and poor discipline, according to a confidential memo released Tuesday.