Eurasia

Mali’s government and a major Tuareg-led rebel alliance exchanged prisoners this week, the two sides and a UN source have said, in a move hailed as a step forward for the country’s fledgling peace process. A total of 47 prisoners were traded between the government and the Co-ordination of Movements …

Libya’s rival factions resumed talks in Morocco on Monday to try to move forward with a UN-brokered peace deal and agree on a national unity government. The United Nations has been piling pressure on Libyan factions to take the final step and make the appointments after months of difficult negotiations …

Essebsi will hold meetings with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Arab League chief Nabil El-Araby, focusing on bilateral relations and shared interests. Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi will start an official two-day visit to Cairo Sunday to discuss bilateral relations between the countries, an official source within Egypt’s foreign ministry told …

Head of the foreign policy of the EU Federica Mogherini, and the Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil Elaraby, urged all parties to sign the agreement that was filed after negotiations with them. A statement issued by the EU said Mogherini and Elaraby, who met on the sidelines of …

Bangui was paralyzed all day Monday through barricades erected in its main roads, in a climate of extreme tension after a weekend of deadly violence accompanied by looting. Three protesters were killed and seven injured in mid-day by peacekeepers firing of the United Nations Mission in CAR (minusca), responsible for …

Burkina Faso coup leaders agreed to return to their barracks and said they would restore the deposed president to power, signing a deal with the army that apparently defused a tense standoff sparked by last week’s putsch. The breakthrough came late on Tuesday after marathon talks in Nigeria’s Abuja, where …

Burkina Faso’s interim president Michel Kafando, who was taken hostage during a coup a week ago, said he was back in power and had restored a civilian transitional government. “I have returned to work,” he said in a brief speech to journalists at the foreign ministry in the capital on …

Egypt’s military announced on Wednesday it was winding down its largest campaign in the Sinai against Islamists, following a 16-day operation in which it said scores of Islamic State group jihadists were killed. The army said the campaign in the Sinai Peninsula had “achieved its goals” in destroying militant hideouts …

The Nigerian Army captured one of the top commanders of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram on Wednesday, a military spokesperson said. Bulama Modu and 43 others were captured in an operation that resulted in the destruction of two “terrorist camps” at Janguoriri and Bulatori in north-eastern Nigeria, the spokesperson …

West African leaders were flying to Burkina Faso on Tuesday night to try to resolve the country’s political crisis following a coup last week. There was a tense stand-off in the capital after the coup leader refused to heed a deadline for his men to return to barracks even after …