Iran—Suicide Attack in Chabahar Underscores Local Turmoil Brian M. Perkins A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden vehicle at a police headquarters in the Iranian port city of Chabahar on December 6. The bombing left at least two individuals dead and injured more than a dozen... MORE

When Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Abd al-Aziz identified political Islamists as extremists and national enemies last August, his bluntness surprised some observers: “Proponents of political Islam are all extremists… Islamists, who practice politics and wear ties, can take up arms if they cannot achieve their... MORE

Introduction In recent years, the role of Libya’s local militias—which emerged immediately after the eruption of the revolution in 2011—grew exponentially. Created in many cases as revolutionary or neighborhood defense groups, their economic power and territorial presence have increased sharply over the years, particularly after... MORE

Cameroon: Biya’s Reelection and Worsening Separatist Violence The reelection of Cameroonian President Paul Biya in October likely forebodes the further destabilization of the Central African nation. Cameroon has been a relatively reliable counterterrorism partner against Boko Haram since 2013, with Cameroonian forces helping reduce the... MORE

Moscow is deepening its military involvement in Libya while denying to its own people and the world that it is doing so, thus repeating the pattern that the Kremlin has followed in Syria and the Central African Republic. Indeed, the Russian government appears to have... MORE

President Vladimir Putin’s neo-colonial enterprise in the Central African Republic (CAR), one driven by a desire to weaken the West, counter Chinese expansion there, and gain access to gold and uranium in one of the poorest countries on earth (see EDM, May 15, September 4,... MORE

Low-intensity conflicts can be among the most resistant to resolution. A case in point is the 36-year separatist struggle in Casamance, the southern region of Senegal. While the conflict has veered between ceasefires and flare-ups, one man, Salif Sadio, has dedicated himself to keeping the... MORE

On October 21, angry locals filled the streets of the Congo’s Nord Kivu province town of Beni. The crowd torched the post office, destroyed parts of the town hall and threw stones at vehicles belonging to health workers fighting a deadly outbreak of the Ebola... MORE

On October 10, Russian diplomat and a key middleman between Russia and post-2011 Libya, Lev Dengov, officially dismissed accusations by several Western information outlets that Moscow was militarily involved in the most recent outbreak of violence in this war-torn North African country. Specifically, reports pointed... MORE

Lines Between al-Qaeda and JNIM Blur in Burkina Faso Brian M. Perkins Militant violence continues to increase in Burkina Faso as both local and regional militant organizations have spread within the country. Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has long been the primary al-Qaeda-linked group in... MORE