France Completes Withdrawal From Chad, Ending Its Military Presence in the Sahel
The French military withdrew its soldiers from N’Djamena and turned over the Kossei base to the Chadian military; last December, Chadian authorities announced January 31 as a firm deadline for French withdrawal (France24)
Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger Formally Withdraw From ECOWAS
The three governments, which created the Alliance of Sahel States in 2023, announced their official exit from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (Reuters)
They exited after ECOWAS members lodged diplomatic objections—and some financial sanctions—against their military rule (BBC)
The bloc is not immediately pulling permission for visa-free travel from the three departed countries, however, and some ECOWAS members, such as Nigeria, have cautioned against severing ties completely (The Guardian Nigeria)
Ghana Appoints Former National Security Chief as Envoy to Junta-led Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger
It was a sign of rapprochement after Ghana’s bilateral relations with Burkina Faso collapsed in 2022 over accusations of allowing Wagner Group paramilitary fighters to operate in the border area (Reuters)
Chadian Ruling Military Said It Stamped Out “Destabilization Attempt” on Presidential Complex
The incident occurred just hours after officials had hosted China’s foreign minister and two weeks after the country held a disputed parliamentary election; one guard and eighteen assailants died, the government said (Bloomberg)
Burkina Faso Army Foils Coup Plot
Burkina Faso’s military government announced it thwarted a significant coup attempt aimed at overthrowing junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré; authorities alleged the plot involved current and former soldiers collaborating with terrorist leaders and working from neighboring Côte d’Ivoire (BBC)
Ivory Coast Becomes Latest African Country to Kick Out French Troops
The troop withdrawal from the country, a former French colony, will occur this month, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said; France confirmed the pullout, leaving its troop presence in Africa soon limited to Djibouti and Gabon (NYT)
Ouattara has long been a close French ally in Africa but said that Ivory Coast’s military had completed its modernization (Al Jazeera)
Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger Rebuff Buffer For ECOWAS Exit
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) granted the three countries a six-month grace period to persuade them to reconsider their planned January 29 departure from the bloc; Mali’s military leader called their decision to withdraw “immediate and irreversible” in a joint statement (Bloomberg)
Burkina Faso Releases Four French Nationals Following Mediation
Morocco mediated the release of four French nationals detained in Burkina Faso, who France’s intelligence agency previously said were spies; France recently reconciled tensions with Morocco through steps that included recognizing its sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region (Reuters)
West African Bloc Gives Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger Six-Month Grace Period Before Exit
Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed on the extension of the three junta-led governments’ impending departure as an effort to try to convince them to reverse course; the exit had been previously set for January 29 (Reuters)
France Flies Planes Out of Chad in Start of Military Withdrawal
France flew two fighter jets out of Chad as it continues to negotiate the timeline for a broader withdrawal of its military forces from the former French colony; Chad pulled out of their bilateral military cooperation agreement last month, but it is still unclear when and to what extent the remaining one thousand French troops in the country will leave (AP)
Al-Qaeda-Linked Militant Group JNIM Kill at Least Six Wagner Group Fighters in Mali
Russia’s paramilitary Wagner Group has been in Mali since 2021 in the wake of the country’s military coup (AP)
Mali Appoints Junta Spokesperson as New Prime Minister
The junta sacked the previous prime minister, a civilian who had served since 2021, earlier this week after he made a rare public criticism over delays to previously scheduled elections; his replacement is a military colonel who had been an international spokesperson for the junta, Abdoulaye Maïga (NYT)
Mali’s Junta Fires Prime Minister, Other Top Officials For Criticizing Its Rule
A decree read on state television said that Choguel Kokalla Maïga and his government had been “terminated;” last week, Maïga called out the delay in Mali’s return to civilian rule following a pledge from the junta to hold elections in 2024 (BBC)
The junta has presided over a deterioration in security, according to a new evaluation from consultancy Verisk Maplecroft (Bloomberg)
Boko Haram Attack on Chad Military Post Leaves Ninety-Six Assailants and Seventeen Chadian Soldiers Dead
Chad’s president launched an operation against Boko Haram in Lake Chad last month following an attack that killed forty soldiers (AP)
Chad Threatens to Withdraw From Regional Security Force
Interim leader Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno said the joint security force in the Lake Chad region “seems to be in a slump” due to recent divisions in the group; fellow members Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria did not immediately comment (Reuters)
Late last month, suspected Boko Haram militants killed around forty Chadian soldiers (VoA)
Ghanian Government “Strongly” Rejects Reuters Report
The report alleged that Islamist militants in Burkina Faso were secretly using northern Ghana as a logistical base, saying Ghana’s security forces combat terrorism and have no tacit agreements with militant groups (Reuters)
Twenty-Eight Casualties in Mali Drone Attack
Tuareg rebels in the Northern Timbuktu region of Mali claimed that the attack was carried out in a civilian area by the Malian army using Turkish-made drones; the strike killed at least eight and injured twenty (Reuters)
Governance Index Warns Democracy, Security Deteriorating Across Africa
Seventy-eight percent of Africa’s citizens live in a country where security and democracy deteriorated in the past decade, according to a governance index released today by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation (The Guardian,Mo Ibrahim Foundation)
Niger, Turkey Sign Provisional Deal to Boost Cooperation in Mining
Niger is one of the world’s biggest uranium producers, and after a junta took over its government last year it revoked mining permits from French and Canadian companies; Turkey has been eyeing Niger’s uranium for some time to help build out its nascent nuclear power sector, but the details of Turkey’s access to existing or undeveloped mines remain unclear (Bloomberg)
Ukraine Denies Supplying Drones to Mali Rebel Groups
The statement by Ukraine’s foreign ministry comes after international media reports over the weekend claimed that Tuareg fighters in Mali were using Ukrainian drones to fight against the Malian army and Russia’s paramilitary Wagner Group; Mali cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine in August over comments from a Ukrainian military spokesperson that implied Kyiv’s support for rebel groups (Reuters,Le Monde)
Mali Authorizes Sale and Import of Starlink
Mali’s authorization of the satellite technology is set to last for six months; Starlink was originally banned by the junta to prevent rebel groups from fomenting insurgency against the national army and hinder rights groups from exposing human rights violations (Bloomberg)
Tens of Notable Nigerian Militia Leaders Killed Over Past Three Months
Major General Edward Buba said in a statement that nearly two thousand terrorists, including sixty-five key leaders, commanders, and combatants, have been killed in the past three months; his statement follows intensified airstrikes and ground campaigns by the Nigerian military against Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province, and various bandit groups across the country (Reuters)
Wagner’s Prigozhin Secretly Invoked Western Banks to Fund Activities
Companies controlled by the sanctioned and now deceased Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin used Western banks JPMorgan and HSBC unwittingly to pay for military activities in West Africa, according to documents obtained by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies; neither bank claimed knowing that the transactions were for Wagner Group fronts, and there was no evidence to indicate they were aware (FT)
Meanwhile, the junta-led trio Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, which defected from the regional economic body known as ECOWAS earlier this year, announced a deal with Russia to buy telecoms and satellites that Mali’s finance minister said would boost border surveillance and national security (BBC)
Reuters: Al Qaeda Attack in Mali This Week Killed Dozens
Mali’s junta-run government has provided little information about Tuesday’s attack in its capital, Bamako, but unnamed diplomatic and security sources told Reuters it killed some seventy people; the scale of the attack runs counter to the junta’s claims that security has improved after expelling U.S. and French forces (Reuters)
U.S. Finalizes Withdrawal of Niger
U.S. troops have officially left the country, the Pentagon said yesterday, though a small number of personnel guarding the U.S. Embassy will stay; Niger had previously been one of the last footholds in the Sahel hosting U.S. counterinsurgency forces, but its stance on hosting U.S. troops sharply changed following its military coup last July (AP)
Meanwhile, Mali’s military reported that “some sensitive points of the capital” including a school for security forces came under attack today, but that authorities had since regained control; the identity of the attacker was not immediately clear (Reuters)