Senior army officials from the 5 + 5 Defense Initiative met on Tuesday in Algiers to assess the progress of the 2016 action plan and finalize the 2017 plan. The 5 + 5 Defense Initiative includes five Maghreb countries: Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Mauritania and five EU countries: France, …

At least 20 members of the Libyan National Army (LNA) have been killed and 40 injured in two days of fighting in the eastern city of Benghazi, a hospital official said on Wednesday. The clashes come as the LNA, a force loyal to the country’s eastern government, tries to extend …

Visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Wednesday conveyed a message of support for Lebanon’s stability from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to newly-elected President Michel Aoun. During their meeting in Beirut, Shoukry invited the Lebanese president to visit Egypt.

At least 23 militants were killed during security force raids in three cities of the restive northeastern North Sinai province, Egyptian Defense Ministry announced in a statement on Wednesday. According to the statement, the operations killed 13 militants in the city of Arish and 10 in Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid. …

The European Union (EU) on Thursday pledged more than 700 million euros (about 744 million U.S. dollars) in aid to the Central African Republic (CAR) , a poor country coming out of one of the worst conflicts in its history. The pledges were made at the Brussels International Conference for …

The Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui said his country is consulting with Algeria to hold an urgent meeting on Libya. In an interview with the Tunisian television, Jhinaoui said that Tunisia deals with Libya’s Government of National Accord led by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj adding that “unfortunately, the

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is warning of a “very real risk of mass atrocities” in South Sudan and that peacekeepers deployed in the war-torn country will not be able to stop such a bloodbath. Ban told the Security Council in a report released Wednesday that the United Nations …

With Mali’s hard-fought peace deal foundering and jihadist groups back on the offensive, the west African country could be headed for fresh chaos, experts say. Malian, French and the United Nations forces deployed to safeguard the country after a 2013 jihadist offensive in its vast arid north have increasingly come …

The United States will in the coming days present a draft Security Council resolution that would impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on South Sudan, Ambassador Samantha Power said on Thursday. The move followed United Nations warnings that after nearly three years of war, the country risked descending further …

A UN Security Council delegation visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo has called for peace as the country moves to reschedule its November election. Francois Delattre, France’s UN ambassador, said on Saturday the country’s election discussions must be more inclusive.