Latest Articles about Africa
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KENYA’S NAVY JOINS COUNTERTERRORIST OPERATIONS OFF SOMALIA Kenya’s navy has joined the Kenyan military offensive in Somalia with operations designed to end al-Shabaab or third-party resupply or arms, fuel and other material to al-Shabaab-held territories in southern Somalia, secure Kenyan waters from terrorist infiltrators and... MORE
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AL-SHABAAB COUNTEROFFENSIVE IN MOGADISHU THREATENS AFRICAN UNION’S MILITARY GAINS The cautious consolidation of its control over Mogadishu by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) encountered a pair of serious setbacks in late October as al-Shabaab Islamists ambushed a Burundian patrol on October 20 and... MORE
For Profit Jihad: An In-Depth Profile of AQIM’s Abou Zeid
One of the key figures in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Qaeda’s North African franchise, is Abou Zeid. Though there is no agreement on his precise given name, it has recently emerged that his real name is likely Mohadem Ghadir, which surfaced among certain... MORE
Broadcasting Qaddafi: A View of Iraq’s Mishan al-Juburi
After the fall of Tripoli to fighters loyal to Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC), the Syrian-based al-Rai TV station became the prime source of speeches of the toppled regime’s messages. Al-Rai aired audio messages and interviews with the ousted Libyan leader Colonel Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi and... MORE
A Portable War: Libya’s Internal Conflict Shifts to Mali
Mali, like its neighbor Niger, is facing the return of an estimated 200,000 of its citizens from Libya. Most are Malian workers and their families who have been forced to flee Libya by the virulently “anti-African” forces that have seized power in that country. Some,... MORE
The Third Intervention: Kenya’s Incursion into Somalia Goes Where Others Have Failed
As grenades explode in crowded Nairobi pubs, Kenyan jet fighters bomb targets inside Somalia and France agrees to supply Kenyan forces, Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia against the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab raises many questions regarding the future security of East Africa. The Kenyan Army... MORE
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FORMER DEPUTY COMMANDER DESCRIBES WORK OF RUSSIA’S ALFA COUNTERTERRORISM UNIT The former deputy commander and 15-year veteran of Russia’s elite Alfa counterterrorist unit, Sergey Goncharov, has shed some light on various controversial operations carried out by his former unit in a wide-ranging interview carried by... MORE
Perspectives on the Islamist and Salafist Parties in Egypt: Similarities and Dissimilarities
As part of the growing political process that opened up after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, there are now fourteen Islamist parties in Egypt, a dramatic change from less than a year ago, when all such parties were banned. These religious parties mushroomed... MORE
China’s European Satellite Launch Sets New Milestones; South Africa-China Deals Court Controversy; Putin Visits Beijing; New Sino-Kazakh Pipeline Deal Signed
China’s European Satellite Launch Sets New Milestones On October 7, a Chinese Long March-3 rocket blasted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province, delivering a French Eutelsat communications satellite into orbit. This marked the first Chinese launch of a Western communications satellite since the... MORE
A Look at Abd al-Hakim Belhadj’s Transformation from Jihadi to Libyan Revolutionary
“Demonstrating the continuation of the battle against the apostate regime of [Mu’ammar] al-Qaddafi through deliberate and planned action, and with the emphasis on the principle of strategic action, [we carried out an operation] against the tyrant Qaddafi in the city of Barak…last month, which had... MORE