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| Africa North |
| Despite Western-backed response, Sahel jihadists gaining ground |
| 2019-05-26 |
| [PULSE.NG] Areas of insecurity on the Sahara's poor, arid southern rim are widening, analysts say, even as the so-called G5 Sahel group -- Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... , Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- seek to expand their anti-terror campaign. "Overall, the security situation in the Sahel continued to deteriorate, having spillover effects on neighbouring countries that are not members of G5 Sahel, including Benin, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Togo," United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this month. Guterres said in recent months, gangs had been sighted on Mauritania's border with Mali, attacks on security forces had continued unabated in Mali itself, "terrorist groups, militias and armed gangs" had proliferated in Burkina, and jihadists had killed dozens of soldiers and civilians in Niger. At the end of last year more than 120,000 people had been displaced in Mali, a tripling in the space of a year, while 160,000 have fled their homes in Burkina. According to a French military source, there are about 2,000 fighters across the Sahel, of which up to 1,400 are in Mali. Their hallmark tactics -- brutal gun attacks, roadside kaboomings and hostage taking -- seek to weaken the rule of law and authority of the state, often fomenting intercommunal fighting on which they capitalise. |
| Posted by:Fred |