MALI: ISLAMIC STATE CONSIDERS ITS ALTERNATIVES Islamic State (IS) has acknowledged a pledge of allegiance from a fledgling group of Islamist fighters in Mali following several recent cross-border attacks by the group, and as IS itself comes under pressure in Iraq and Syria. On October... MORE

MYANMAR: GROWING FEARS OVER ROHINGYA FIGHTERS Gunmen killed nine police officers in a series of raids on border posts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on October 9, an area where tensions run high between Myanmar’s Buddhists and its Muslim Rohingya population. The raids have prompted violent... MORE

Over the past two years, the most significant political development in the Middle East has been Russia’s increasing political and military presence. Aside from its deepening military and political footprint in Syria, Russia is improving its relations with Egypt, where, beginning on October 15, the... MORE

The Nigerian government announced in August that it had resumed amnesty payments to former militants in the Niger Delta, many of them members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) (Naija Headlines, August 4). It had significantly reduced the amount of... MORE

In the mountains of northern Somalia, Shaykh Abdulqadir Mumin, a former al-Shabaab ideologue, is an up-and-coming leader of the emerging Islamic State (IS) cell in East Africa. Reports indicate that Mumin, who is believed to be in his late 50s, was born in Puntland, a... MORE

South Sudan achieved independence in July 2011, but the era of peace most citizens had hoped the event would initiate remains elusive, thanks in large part to the ravages imposed by both a tribally oriented government and a slew of warlords with outsized personal ambitions.... MORE

KENYA: SEEKING PARTNERS FOR A NEW TERROR STRATEGY Jordan’s King Abdullah has promised greater counter terrorism support to Kenya during a meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi. The visit has received a good deal of publicity in Kenya, where the two leaders were... MORE

During the past six years, Boko Haram has been principally operational in Nigeria and, to a lesser extent, in neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Now, beyond Nigeria and its border regions, Senegal has unexpectedly become a country where the group is attempting to expand its... MORE

Kenya has launched a new strategy aimed at preventing violent extremism, unveiling it against a background of increased threats from Somalia’s al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab, home-grown militants and, more recently, suspected Islamic State (IS) sympathizers (The Star, September 16). President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the strategy on... MORE