Tag: Sahel
Russia Opens New Mali Supply Route
The reported journey of the sanctioned Russian cargo ship Mikhail Britnev from Arkhangelsk via Baltiysk to Lomé, followed by an overland military-equipment convoy through Togo and Burkina Faso to Bamako in July 2026. The previous Conakry–Bamako corridor is shown for comparison; routes are schematic where exact tracking was unavailable. Illustration:…
Niger Accuses France of Planning Third Attack
Niger's transitional leader, Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, said in a July 26 RTN interview marking the third anniversary of the 2023 coup that the Sahel alliance plans to grow its joint force from 5,000 to 18,000 troops, and claimed French intelligence had equipped the militants behind a June 18 assault on Niamey's…
France Rebuilds Influence After Sahel Retreat
Nothing about France's presence in Africa was ever going to vanish. Some twenty African states use French as an official language, fourteen share a currency pegged to the euro, and the commercial and family networks running between Paris and the continent outlast every government now in office. What collapsed in…
U.S. Weighs Military Action in Mali
The Trump administration is considering direct military action in Mali against al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM, The Washington Post reported on July 22, citing current and former U.S. officials. Officials are reportedly divided; no strike order has been announced. A former official said one administration objective last year was securing overflight rights…
How Turkey Builds Power Through Africa
Turkey's growing presence in Africa is often described as another foreign power crowding onto a busy continent. That understates what Ankara is doing. Africa has become the proving ground for Turkey's emergence as a consequential middle power – a state without the global resources of the United States or China,…
Beyond Piracy: Nigeria Seeks Maritime Allies
On June 1, six navies answered to a single command for the first time. In Lagos, Nigeria inaugurated the Combined Maritime Task Force (CMTF), a joint force to confront piracy, armed robbery, kidnapping, oil theft, illegal fishing and trafficking across waters from Senegal to Angola. Eleven governments had endorsed the…
Drone Warfare Is Becoming One Global Battlefield
Drones are no longer supporting weapons used alongside artillery, aircraft and missiles. Across several of the world's most active conflicts, they now shape how forces find targets, hold territory at risk, protect infrastructure and impose costs on opponents.Ukraine remains the most important testing ground. Its armed forces and defense-technology sector…
Moscow Blames Ukraine as Mali Allies Falter
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko has accused Ukrainian military personnel of creating a “second front” against Russia in Africa, naming Mali and Libya.Borisenko told TASS that Ukrainians were training Islamist fighters in Mali to use drones and alleged that Ukrainian instructors helped attack the Russian tanker Arktik Metagaz off…
The Sahel in Mid-2026: One Conflict Across Many Fronts
The Sahel's security crisis is no longer defined by separate insurgencies in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Militant groups now operate across a single interconnected theater, exploiting weak state control, a fractured regional bloc and a Russian security partnership too limited to fill the vacuum left by departing international forces.…
Nigeria Faces Fresh Massacres as U.S. Steps Back
At least 27 people were reported killed in weekend attacks across Nigeria's Benue and Plateau states, in the country's Middle Belt, where farmer-herder conflict and banditry drive much of the violence. Vanguard reported that 18 died in two attacks in Benue's Otukpo area, 16 of them in Otukpo-Nobi early Sunday.…
