HAVE DARFUR REBELS JOINED QADDAFI’S MERCENARY DEFENDERS?A handful of unconfirmed reports from Libya have cited the presence of Darfur rebels in the ranks of the African mercenaries defending the regime of President Mu’ammar Qaddafi (al-Intibaha [Khartoum], February 21; Reuters, February 22). A spokesman for the... MORE

GAMA’A AL-ISLAMIYA LEADER SAYS EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION BELONGS “ONLY TO THOSE WHO IGNITED IT”An ideological leader of former Egyptian militant group al-Gama’a al-Islamiya (GI - The Islamic Group) recently told a pan-Arab daily that the revolution in Egypt belonged not to the Islamists, but to the... MORE

MAURITANIAN ISLAMISTS EYE EGYPTIAN PROTESTS AS AL-QAEDA SEEKS REVENGE ON PRESIDENT ABDEL AZIZIn an interview with a Nouakchott daily, Jemil Mansour, leader of the Islamist Rassemblement national pour la réforme et le développement (RNRD Tawassoul), compared the demonstrations in Egypt to the situation in Mauritania,... MORE

AFGHAN TALIBAN ISSUE GUIDELINES FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF ISLAMIC EMIRATEOne of the major weaknesses of most militant Islamist groups is their almost complete lack of a political program or consideration of how an Islamic State should be run beyond a general commitment to Shari’a and the... MORE

NEW JUNDULLAH LEADER ABDULRAUF RIGI ARRESTED IN PAKISTAN The successor to the ethnic-Balochi separatist organization Jundullah, Abdulrauf Rigi was reportedly captured in late December 2010 by Pakistani authorities who employed tracking technology to trace his cell phone signal. Rigi’s arrest came shortly after a suicide... MORE

NIGERIAN ELITE FORCE ACCUSED OF MURDERS IN PLATEAU STATEOngoing violence in Nigeria’s mixed Christian-Muslim Plateau State took a new turn when an elite force of Nigerian troops tasked with restoring order were accused of attacks on civilians in two Christian villages that killed eight, creating... MORE

SUDANESE ANSAR LEADER SADIQ AL-MAHDI REJECTS THE VIOLENCE OF THE “AL-QAEDA MENTALITY”Sudan’s leading opposition figure, Umma Party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, has been increasingly vocal in recent weeks as public dissatisfaction grows in North Sudan over the role of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and... MORE

ARABS AND TUAREG CLASH OVER NARCOTICS SMUGGLING IN NORTHERN MALIEmerging reports describe a major gun-battle between Bérabiche Arabs escorting a convoy of Moroccan cannabis through the Malian Sahel and a party of armed Tuareg nobles who appeared, in traditional fashion, to demand a fee for... MORE

UNCLAIMED NEW YEAR’S DAY BOMBING IN ABUJA RATTLES NIGERIA’S POWER STRUCTUREA New Year’s Eve bombing within the confines of a Nigerian military base in the capital city of Abuja has damaged Nigeria’s political stability, as various politicians and civil leaders seek to implicate each other... MORE

NIGERIA’S ONGOING PURSUIT OF DELTA MILITANT LEADERS The Nigerian military is pursuing John Togo, the leader of the Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF) even more doggedly following a multi-assault of three bomb attacks on oil stations in the country’s troubled Delta State (AFP, December 18,... MORE