Latest Articles about Africa
A Close-Up Look at Darfur’s Paramount Rebel Leader: Dr. Khalil Ibrahim
Dr. Khalil Ibrahim Muhammad Achar Foudeil Taha is the chairman of Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM – Harakat al-Adl wa’l-Muswaa), the most powerful and determined of the many-armed movements in Darfur challenging the authority of the military/Islamist regime in Khartoum. As a former Darfur... MORE
January 2010 Briefs
TOP RANKING MILITANT SURRENDERS TO ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT: A PROFILE OF LICHO BUKHURA Licho Bukhura (a.k.a. Lucho Burbura), a senior militant leader of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), has surrendered to central government authorities in Addis Ababa along with some 100 other OLF fighters. Bukhura spoke... MORE
AQIM Funds Terrorist Operations with Thriving Sahel-Based Kidnapping Industry
Three Spanish aid workers of the Catalan NGO Barcelona Acció Solidària, Albert Vilalta, Alicia Gámez and Roque Pascual, were kidnapped somewhere between Nouadibou and Nouakchott in Mauritania on November 29 (El Paìs, November 30, 2009). Four days earlier, a French citizen, Pierre Camatte, was kidnapped... MORE
Mujahid Dokubo-Asari: The Niger Delta’s Ijaw Leader
Among the restive Ijaw population in Nigeria's troubled, energy-rich delta region, one man stands alone as the most recognizable face of resistance: Mujahid Dokubo-Asari. Asari has been a central figure in the Ijaw cause, forming in late 2003 one of the delta's most notorious Ijaw... MORE
East African Terrorism Comes to Scandinavia
In a scene right out of the cinema, a young Somali man armed with an axe and a knife came crashing through the door of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard’s Aarhus house late on January 1. Hitting a panic button specially installed in the house, Mr... MORE
Opposition Group Promises Attacks Following Sanctions on Eritrea for Support of Terrorism
Tensions continue to rise in the volatile Horn of Africa as Eritrean insurgent groups promise a new wave of political violence following the imposition of UN sanctions against Eritrea for its alleged support of terrorism in the region. Eritrea is strategically located on the Red... MORE
Algeria Introduces New Military Strategy to Combat Terrorism in the Sahara
As al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorists grow more active in the Saharan region, Algeria has introduced a new military strategy designed to restrict movement through the volatile border regions that Algeria shares with Niger, Mali and Mauritania. Algeria has deployed an additional 3,000... MORE
China’s Inroads into North Africa: An Assessment of Sino-Algerian Relations
The geopolitics of African countries such as Algeria, a country in North Africa that has traditionally enjoyed strong relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and whose strategic importance and regional profile have increased markedly of late, is key to grasping the dynamics that... MORE
Is the Chinese Navy Reluctant to Use Force Against Somali Pirates?
The Somali pirates have once again warned that they could kill the crew of the Chinese flagged merchant vessel De Xin Hai if a military action is launched to rescue them. Speaking from the ship by phone, a pirate cautioned, “We know [the Chinese] have... MORE
American Jihad: New Details Emerge About al-Shabaab Recruitment in North America
On November 23, federal prosecutors in the United States unsealed indictments against members of a group of Minneapolis natives accused of being at the heart of a cell sending men and boys to fight with al-Shabaab, a radical Islamist movement in Somalia with close ties... MORE