Eurasia

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 …

Egypt Presidential spokesperson Alaa Youssef has welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s scheduled visit for March 2, saying the visit will tackle the development of bilateral ties in all fields, which makes German the most important EU partner to Egypt. Youssef highlighted Egypt’s interests in pushing cooperation with Germany forward in …

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met today with General Jospeh L. Votel, commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) to discuss bilateral relations, especially military cooperation, according to a press release by Egyptian presidency. The commander of the US Central Command is visiting Cairo to hold meetings with senior Egyptian …

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson promised more aid for Cairo’s counter-terrorism efforts and economic development plan during a meeting with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Washington on Monday, adding that the Washington considers Cairo a real partner in the Middle East. The two officials stressed during their meeting the …

Three police officers were injured late on Sunday as a suicide bomber blew himself out near a police station in the eastern province of Constantine, local media reported. The terrorist attack occurred in the locality of Bab el Kantara in downtown Constantine, the bomber tried to blow himself out inside …

France on Monday condemned an attack against an Algerian police station in the eastern city of Constantine a day earlier, an official statement said. Reports said police shot a suicide bomber and exploded his explosives belt as he approached the police post for an attack.

The UN peacekeeping operation department has expressed concerns over the MINURSO (UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) personnel expelled by Morocco, noting that such an obstruction will affect the work of the UN mission.

France is to send a contingent of counterterror forces to help the army in Niger after militants ambushed a military patrol killing 16, the defence ministry said. The decision, announced late on Saturday, was taken following a request from President Mahamadou Issoufou after Wednesday’s attack near the border with Mali.

The United Nations says its forces used attack helicopters to subdue rebels in Central African Republic. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday that about 40 heavily armed rebels were just a few kilometers away from the town of Bambari.