by Giorgio Cafiero On July 2, France along with five African states – Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Mali, and Mauritania – launched a multinational force to confront al-Qaeda offshoots and other militant extremists in the volatile Sahel. President Emmanuel Macron… Continue Reading
by Nick Turse The tabs on their shoulders read “Special Forces,” “Ranger,” “Airborne.” And soon their guidon — the “colors” of Company B, 3rd Battalion of the U.S. Army’s 7th Special Forces Group — would be adorned with the “Bandera… Continue Reading
by James M. Dorsey Saudi Arabia, in a first move to pressure mostly Muslim states to join its campaign against Qatar, has persuaded six sub-Saharan African nations with threats of reduced financial aid and restricted quotas for the haj, the… Continue Reading
by Nick Turse General Thomas Waldhauser sounded a little uneasy. “I would just say, they are on the ground. They are trying to influence the action,” commented the chief of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) at a Pentagon press briefing in… Continue Reading
by Diana Ohlbaum “We’ve been fighting al-Shabaab for a decade, why haven’t we won?” the Trump transition team asked the State Department. To foreign policy professionals, such questions may sound naïve and uninformed. They may reflect “an overwhelmingly negative and… Continue Reading