Latest Articles about Africa
The Global Repercussions of Nigeria’s Niger Delta Insurgency
The “oilfield” wars in Nigeria’s Delta region have been in the international spotlight from the emergence of the Ken Saro-Wiwa-led Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in 1990 to the current insurgency led by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger... MORE
Moroccan Crackdown on Salafiya Jihadiya Recruitment of Fighters for Iraq
For the third time this year, Morocco has announced the dismantling of a terrorist group. The latest operation occurred only a few months after the complex Belliraj affair in February and the arrest of a cell in May suspected of plotting attacks in Morocco and... MORE
Local Islamist Movement Massacred in Chad after Threatening Holy War
An alleged rising led by an Islamic preacher in the oil-rich southern region of Chad was repressed with great loss of life by government forces in the first days of July. The incident in the town of Kouno came in response to calls for an... MORE
Nigeria’s Navy Struggles with Attacks on Offshore Oil Facilities
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militants reportedly attacked Royal Dutch Shell’s Bonga platform and its attendant Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel 75 miles off the Nigerian coast in the Gulf of Guinea on June 19. The assault shut down... MORE
Emerging Cracks in Somalia’s Islamist Insurgency
Serious cracks have emerged in the alliance of Somali Islamists who have been waging a holy war against Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) since 2006. In Djibouti, some Islamists regarded as moderates and led by Shaykh Sherif Shaykh Ahmad, chairman of the Alliance for the... MORE
Nigeria and the Threat of al-Qaeda Terrorism
Not long ago, Mike Mbama Okiro, Nigeria’s inspector general of police, raised an alarm over threats by al-Qaeda to launch an attack using time-bombs on Nigerian soil. Okiro’s warning generated much attention in local and international media. Islamic groups in Nigeria, including the Supreme Council... MORE
Darfur’s JEM Rebels Bring the War to Khartoum
Last weekend’s daring raid on greater Khartoum by Darfur’s rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has shaken the regime and effectively disrupted the already morbid peace process in West Sudan. Though often referred to as a Darfur rebel group, JEM in fact has a national... MORE
Al-Qaeda Operations in Kabylie Mountains Alienating Algeria’s Berbers
An estimated 30 individuals, presumed to be members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), raided a bar near the city of Tizi Ouzou in the mountainous Kabylie region of Algeria on April 6 (Liberté, April 9). The men reportedly robbed the bar’s owner and... MORE
Leadership Bloodbath Marks Failure of Uganda’s LRA to Sign Peace Treaty
For two decades Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has plunged northern Uganda into a nightmare of atrocities, sadistic mutilations, child-kidnappings and sexual slavery, all in the name of establishing a Ugandan government based on the Bible and the Ten Commandments. After years of fighting... MORE
Oil Industry at the Heart of the Zaghawa Power Struggle in Chad
It was only a few years ago when the African nation of Chad was being promoted as a groundbreaking example of a new model of transparent oil revenue distribution that would relieve poverty and initiate development. Tribalism and kleptocratic rule would no longer be part... MORE