French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday promised €8 million this year, along with equipment and technical support, as he joined the presidents of the G5 Sahel countries in Bamako Sunday to formally launch the Sahel joint force (FC-G5S). It is expected to be operational in the fall, and based in the…
The G5 Sahel summit next Sunday in Bamako is likely to serve as a turning point in the years-long struggle for security, in a region where the threat of terrorism has only appeared to deepen and armed ethnic and jihadist groups remain firmly entrenched. The G5 nations – Burkina Faso,…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution that gives the go-ahead for the Group of Five Sahel joint force (FC-G5S), a counterterrorism effort of up to 5,000 military and law enforcement personnel drawn from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Issa Konfourou, Mali’s ambassador to the United…
The nation of Chad has recalled its ambassador from Qatar, the latest African nation to distance itself from the small Arabian Gulf state following Bahrain’s severing of ties with Qatar over terrorism. Chad’s foreign ministry confirmed its decision in a statement Thursday, according to Reuters. Bahrain, immediately followed by Saudi…
The decision to uphold the 2016 life-sentence conviction of Hissène Habré, the former president of Chad, for crimes against humanity committed during the 1980s was welcomed by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization on Thursday. The ruling by the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal “vindicates the persistence of the victims’ struggle…
As part of the global effort to combat climate change, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has issued its first annual Airborne Dust Bulletin to better understand how dust and sand storms impact humans – and how humans contribute too. “Every year, an estimated 2,000 million tons of dust is emitted into…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
New African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat officially begins his role Tuesday, as outgoing chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma comes to the end of her tenure in Addis Ababa. Moussa Faki, the foreign minister of Chad who previously served as the nation’s prime minister, has said he will make the…
For the first time, the United Nations Security Council has visited Niger as part of its tour of the Lake Chad region to focus on humanitarian needs driven by the fight against Boko Haram. In Niamey, Ambassador Matthew Rycroft of the United Kingdom and current UNSC president, promised solidarity with…
The nations of Chad and Rwanda – along with Oman and Jordan – have ratified the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement, pushing the agreement past its necessary two-thirds threshold among WTO members to enter into force. “I am very happy to announce that the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement…
Morocco’s readmission to the African Union (AU) was a welcome development to many – including Western Sahara itself — but it’s already become a controversial point among some member states, including South Africa and Kenya. “Morocco is not returning to the African Union through the back door, but by the…
Algeria says it has completed the removal of border landmines, destroying nearly 9 million mines that date to the colonial era. “The completion of the mine clearance operation crowns over 50 years of constant work on the ground, for the final eradication of mines in our country,” said General Boualem…
Morocco’s decision to ban the burqa, at least in part, has again touched off a controversy over women’s right to choose to wear the full-body Islamic covering, or whether the burqa represents an unacceptable security risk to society. The Moroccan Ministry of Interior has announced it will prohibit the manufacture…
Citing the threat of terrorism, Chad on Thursday closed its 2,000 kilometer border with Libya and will keep troops deployed to guard against armed militants moving from its chaotic neighboring state. “For some days now, the government has noted with regret a worrying deterioration of the security situation in Libyan…
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) stated on Tuesday that “a staggering” one million children have been forced out of school due to conflict caused by Boko Haram. The “violence and attacks against civilian populations in northeastern Nigeria and its neighboring countries have forced more than 1 million children out…
Suicide bombers have killed at least 27 and injuring 90 on the Island of Koulfoua in Chad yesterday. However the exact numbers are not clear some news agencies have put the death toll at 19 with 130 people injured. “Three suicide bombers blew themselves up in three different places at…