The Group of Five Sahel (G5 Sahel) Joint Force is expected to bolster existing efforts to combat terrorism in the region but requires international funding to succeed, said the United Nations head of peacekeeping operations during a UN Security Council briefing on Tuesday. Assistant-Secretary-General El-Ghassim Wane told the council that…
Russia’s TASS news agency reports that Moscow plans to sign a military cooperation deal with Niger, focused on international security and the war on terror. TASS, citing a government resolution published on Russia’s legal information website on Thursday, said the government would approve a draft agreement submitted by its Defense…
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 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…
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
The International Organization for Migration said Friday that 27,850 migrants and refugees entered Europe via the Mediterranean Sea through March of this year, over 80 percent arriving in Italy. The numbers show a dramatic drop from the same period last year, when there were more than 165,000 such crossings, but…
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 Clinton Foundation will continue many of its programs serving African countries, according to the 2016 annual report issued online this week and an accompanying letter from former United States President Bill Clinton. The foundation came under heavy fire during America’s bitter 2016 presidential contest, in which former U.S. Secretary…
For the second time in a week, an earthquake has affected an African nation that’s not usually associated with strong or frequent seismic activity. This time, a 4.7 magnitude quake struck Wednesday night in the remote reaches of Niger, about 230 kilometers from the ancient city of Djado. There were no…
President Mahamadou Issoufou, meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Niamey, said Monday that Niger needs a “Marshall Plan” to promote development. Issoufou said he believed Niger needed a sum of €1 billion just to fight illegal migration alone, reports Deutsche Welle. He added the €1.88 billion euros in the European…
German Chancellor Angela Merkel begins a trip to Africa Sunday, visiting the nations of Mali and Niger to discuss their security and counterterrorism strategies before heading to Ethiopia. She’ll arrive in Addis Ababa amid the nation’s escalating unrest and the international attention to its alleged human rights violations, issues that…
Prime Minister Brigi Rafini in Niger said Friday the death toll following an attack on a soldier’s camp in Niger is likely to rise, al Jazeera reports. Rafini, speaking to state-run media, confirmed 22 deaths in the attack near Tazalit, in the western Niger region of Tahoua. The soldiers were…
U.S. President Barack Obama was in Washington D.C. on Saturday, speaking at the dedication of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with leaders in Vienna to discuss EU borders and migrants. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met with media to wrap up…
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…
It was announced yesterday that nine military officers in Niger have been arrested on suspicion of planning a coup in the country. “Nine officers identified as responsible for the attempted coup have been arrested and will be presented before a military court,” Niger’s interior minister Hassoumi Massaoudou said. On December…