Latest Articles about Africa
Rebellion Without Reason: The Strange Survival of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army
This article was originally published in the November 2011 Issue of Militant Leadership Monitor (mlm.jamestown.org). Subscribe to MLM today to receive leading analysis of militant figures like this without delay! After decades of carrying out unspeakable atrocities and thousands of kidnappings in Central Africa, the... MORE
BRIEFS
AL-QAEDA EXPANDS TO PUNTLAND IN ANTICIPATION OF OIL BOOM Under military pressure from Kenyan forces, the African Union Mission in Somalia and various Somali militias and government forces campaigning in its traditional area of operations in southern Somalia, al-Shabaab has announced an expansion into Puntland,... MORE
Bringing Militant Salafism to the Tuareg: A Profile of Veteran Rebel Iyad ag Ghali
Operating alongside the long-time Tuareg rebels and heavily armed veterans of the Libyan military that fill the ranks of Mali’s Mouvement National de Libération de l'Azawad (MNLA) is a smaller Salafist group led by Iyad ag Ghali, once the most prominent of Mali’s Tuareg rebels.... MORE
February 2012 Briefs
ABU SAYYAF AND JEMAAH ISLAMIYA MEMBERS KILLED IN AIRSTRIKE An airstrike on an Abu Sayyaf camp on the island of Jolo in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Philippines on February 3, 2012 killed 15 terrorists, including Zulkifli bin Hir (alias Marwan), Gumbahali Jumdail (alias... MORE
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DESPERATE MEASURES: SOMALIA’S AL-SHABAAB JOINS AL-QAEDA In what he described as “good news” that would “annoy the Crusaders,” al-Qaeda leader Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the incorporation of Somalia’s al-Shabaab militants as an official new chapter of al-Qaeda on February 9. [1] Al-Shabaab leader Shaykh Ahmad... MORE
Have the Niger Delta’s MEND Militants Resumed Operations in Southern Nigeria?
Even as Nigeria struggles with a wave of religiously-inspired violence in its northern states, there are now indications that a relatively dormant insurgency in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern states may be restarting in an attempt to take advantage of Nigeria’s precarious security situation. Jomo Gbomo, a... MORE
The Strange Death of Dr. Khalil Ibrahim and the Future of the Darfur Insurgency
Khartoum scored a major victory in its nearly nine-year-old conflict with Darfur rebels with the December 24 killing of Dr. Khalil Ibrahim, leader of Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the best armed and most organized of the Darfur rebel groups. Khalil rose to the... MORE
Somalia’s Transitional Government Seeks to Finish Off al-Shabaab This Year
The popularity of Somalia’s al-Shabaab militants is slowly declining for many reasons, including a growing financial crisis and infighting in the movement’s leadership. Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is taking advantage of the group’s current weakness by opening different fronts against the militants. The 2012... MORE
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CAPTURED BOKO HARAM SPOKESMAN UNDERGOES “INTENSE INTERROGATION” After enduring strong criticism over the last two years for repeated intelligence failures in its struggle against Boko Haram militants, Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS) appears to have scored a major intelligence coup with its capture of the... MORE
Hot Issue — Revolutionary Roadshow: Libyan Arms and Fighters Bring Instability to North and West Africa: Part Two
Executive Summary: A year after the eruption of Libya’s spontaneous revolution, there are few signs of progress towards establishing internal security or a democratic government. Real power lies in the hands of well-armed militias with little inclination to disarm or demobilize and the ruling Transitional... MORE