In an interview with Burkinabé state television, junta leader Ibrahim Traoré told his country’s civilians to “forget” about transition to democratic rule as he railed against Western influence in favor of economic and security self-reliance (BBC)
Report: Sahelian Junta Forces Massacre Civilians
Reporting from human rights observers indicates that Burkinabé and Malian government forces have killed up to four times more civilians than jihadist groups have, a striking indictment of the Sahel’s military juntas’ securitization approaches (Reuters)
Survivors of such government attacks have described indiscriminate violence, attacks on humanitarian aid, and summary executions of civilians, including children (HRW)
Bandits Ambush Nigerian Forces
A band of militants ambushed and killed nine Nigerian soldiers in northeastern Kebbi state, located along the porous border with Niger, after the forces were dispatched to respond to murmurs of an impending attack in a nearby village (AP)
Azawad Rebels Strike Russian, Malian Camp
Weeks after a similar JNIM attack in central Mali, rebels linked to the separatist Azawad Liberation Front movement used small unmanned drones to strike against Russian mercenaries and Malian government forces at a camp in the country’s remote east (United24)
Dozens Dead in Palm Sunday Shooting
Suspected jihadists killed upwards of thirty civilians at a bar in Jos, a predominantly Christian city in Nigeria’s northern Plateau state (Reuters)
Republican lawmakers in Washington quickly called on the Nigerian government to protect the country’s Christians amid claims of a religious genocide (NYT)
ECOWAS Dispatches Top Negotiator
Amid continued tension between Sahelian states and West Africa’s top regional body, ECOWAS said it would send former Guinean Prime Minister Lansana Kouyaté to reopen dialogue with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—a task previously assigned to both Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, neither of whom broke through in their mediation efforts (Africa News)
Separately, after a series of bombings targeted civilians in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state, human rights observers called on the Nigerian government to step up its anti-terror efforts to protect civilians from rising violence at the hands of groups like Boko Haram (HRW)
France, Nigeria Strengthen Partnership
Largely spurned in the Alliance of Sahel States, French diplomats have turned to Nigeria for collaboration—including training and intelligence sharing—in their bid to curb instability in the Sahel (DW)
The news comes days after Washington said it deployed MQ-9 Reaper drones to northwestern Nigeria to be used solely for training and intelligence (RFI)
French Outreach Falls Flat
Describing France’s efforts at rekindling bonds with its former colonies in the Sahel as unpopular and unnecessary, a Nigerien political leader called for mass protests in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to demonstrate support for the Alliance of Sahel States (Al Jazeera)
Despite Drop, Terror Groups Embed Further
As overall terror-related attacks and fatalities have fallen in some parts of the Sahel, observers caution against optimistic assessments and warn that the trend is linked not to improved security conditions but increased entrenchment by terror groups into local political, social, and economic systems (Africa Report)
Malian Junta, JNIM Reach Temporary Détente
Mali’s government struck a hostage release deal with JNIM, the jihadist group responsible for the months-long fuel blockade on Bamako, that should see a pause in attacks on fuel convoys until at least the end of May (Africa News)
Nigeria Responds to Deadly Bombings
After a slate of suicide bombings killed dozens in Borno state’s capital earlier this week, Nigeria’s army said it killed eight jihadist militants in an “offensive-defensive response” that involved an air-based assault near a government army base in the region (DW)
Report: Sub-Saharan Africa “Global Epicenter of Terrorism”
The annual Global Terrorism Index reported sharp upticks in terror-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, where four of the world’s five most terror-ridden countries—Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, and Nigeria—accounted for some of the world’s largest increases this year (Institute for Economics & Peace)
Jihadist Militants Kill Dozens of Civilians in Central Burkina Faso
Jihadist militants stormed, looted, and set a village ablaze (Africa News)
The assault comes as Nigerian President Bola Tinubu faced questions about rising instability in his country during a historic state visit to the United Kingdom (BBC)
Twenty-Three Dead in Iftar Bombings
Nigeria’s military said Boko Haram militants killed dozens of worshippers breaking their Ramadan fast in an attack Monday night in the country’s northeastern Borno state (NYT)
Analysts say the assault is further evidence that jihadist groups plan to ramp up their response against joint military cooperation between the United States and Nigeria (Africa Report)
Nigeria has ramped up security operations against extremist groups in recent months with assistance from the Trump administration (CFR)
Meanwhile, in Washington’s latest outreach to military juntas in the Sahel, a senior State Department official, Nick Checker, met with Nigerien leaders last week to convey U.S. interest in resuming security and economic cooperation with members of the Alliance of Sahel States (BI Africa)
Jihadists Target Burkinabé Civilians
Human rights reporting revealed JNIM militants have wrought havoc in Burkina Faso over the past month, killing nearly forty civilians, abducting nine others, and burning property and infrastructure in a series of attacks on Burkinabé villages (HRW)
Jihadist Groups Target Nigeria’s Troops
Amid an onslaught of attacks across Nigeria’s beleaguered northern provinces, reporting indicates jihadist militants have killed at least sixty-five members of the country’s armed forces over the past two weeks (Guardian)
U.S. State Department Issues Threat Warning
The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria warned that American schools and affiliated institutions in the country could come under attack; in the wake of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s assassination last week, throngs of pro-Iran protesters have taken to the streets in Nigeria’s largest cities (CNBC)
Meanwhile, humanitarian observers said the January execution of a dozen truck drivers in western Mali at the hands of JNIM militants enforcing the group’s fuel blockade amounted to violations of international human rights law (HRW)
Dozens Dead in Jihadist Assault in Northeast Nigeria
Militants from jihadist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province killed over a dozen civilians in the latest series of attacks on villages in northeast Nigeria, a region that has been a continued theater for insurgent violence (Reuters)
Separately, in an effort to strike a deal that would allow the United States to surveil and combat jihadist groups in the Sahel—including JNIM, which officials believe is holding an abducted American citizen—Washington said it would lift sanctions on top Malian officials (CNBC Africa)
Civilians Killed, Abducted in Suspected Jihadist Retaliation
Jihadist militants murdered scores of civilians in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state, some of whom had been displaced by previous extremist violence (BBC)
Local officials speculated that the attack—which also saw armed bandits kidnap hundreds of civilians before fleeing into dense brush—came in response to a recent Nigerian military assault that killed three Boko Haram commanders (WaPo)
Jihadists Slaughter Troops, Abduct Civilians
Rebels killed over a dozen members of Nigeria’s armed forces in a siege on a military base in the country’s northeastern Borno state before looting weapons and kidnapping women (Reuters)
Shedding Rivalries, Jihadist Groups Join Forces
Recent reporting has revealed disparate terror groups—among them Boko Haram, ISWAP, and JNIM—have cast aside previous division in favor of coordinated ambushes and massacres (Africa Defense Forum)
In Massacre After Massacre, Nigeria’s Military Absent
Despite the Nigerian military’s “fearsome” reputation, observers in the country’s embattled northern regions say the armed forces have repeatedly failed to protect civilians from insurgent jihadist violence—in some cases, even when provided with direct threat intelligence (NYT)
Report: Jihadists Expand Terror Map
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project said it identified a sharp increase in Islamic extremism across a once-remote tri-border region that encompasses northwestern Nigeria, northern Benin, and southeastern Niger (ACLED)
The report describes an increase in terror groups’ public relations campaigns, which ACLED said could signal heightened tensions among extremist coalitions (Reuters)
U.S. Lawmakers Target Nigeria’s Sharia Law
Citing the Islamic code’s legal influence in Nigeria’s northern regions, a group of Republican legislators heading a religious freedom inquiry said their report will demand the repeal of Sharia and blasphemy laws (BI Africa)
United States, Nigeria Talk Anti-Terror Finance
Jonathan Burke, the U.S. Treasury’s top anti-terrorist financing officer, will meet with Nigerian authorities and business leaders to discuss safeguards and vulnerabilities in the country’s financial system—a move the U.S. embassy in Abuja said is linked to the Trump administration’s efforts to curb perceived Christian persecution in Nigeria (BI Africa)