African migrants being bought and sold in Libyan ‘slave markets,’ according to IOM

African refugees attempting to migrate through Libya to Europe are being captured and sold in public slave markets, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports. Word of the slave markets reached the organization after survivors were able to pay their ransom or escape by other means. Separate from the migrant crisis engendered by the Syrian Civil […]

France says backs West African cooperation against Islamists

France backs efforts by West African states to boost security in their Sahel region, including a plan for a 5,000-strong multinational force to combat Islamist fighters, its foreign minister said on Thursday. Jean-Marc Ayrault said the G5 Sahel states – Mali, Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso and Niger – must improve their counter-terrorism capacity. “The countries […]

Boko Haram attacks signal resilience of ISIS and its branches

The military convoy was rumbling across a river near the border last month when soldiers suddenly realized they were surrounded. More than 100 Boko Haram fighters, some of them on horseback, had encircled the vehicles, ready to strike. The 300 soldiers from Niger and the handful of American Special Operations forces accompanying them called for […]

US aid worker kidnapped in Niger, taken to Mali

Gunmen raided the house of a U.S. aid worker in central Niger overnight, killing his two guards before driving him off across the desert towards Mali, the mayor of the town said on Saturday. “First they came on a motorbike and killed the guards,” the mayor of Abalak, Ahmed Dilo, told Reuters by telephone. “Then […]

Future U.S. Drone Base in Africa: SOF Perspective

The Associated Press recently reported that the United States and Niger have come into agreement to setup a United States drone base in order to provide intelligence and surveillance capabilities against Al-Qaeda in Northern Africa. The location of the proposed base is unknown (most likely undetermined). Plans are already in place for conventional and special […]