标签： Africa

Nigeria is reeling from two back-to-back violent incidents that have underscored the long-running, deep-seated security crisis plaguing the West African nation, with at least 29 villagers confirmed dead following an overnight Islamic State militant attack in the country’s northeast, and eight young pupils still missing after armed gunmen abducted 23 children from a north-central orphanage.

The first assault unfolded late Sunday in Guyaku, a small rural settlement located within Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State, senior state authorities confirmed on Monday. Shortly after the attack, the Islamic State group issued a claim of responsibility via a statement posted to the encrypted messaging platform Telegram.

During an on-site visit to the impacted village Monday, Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri publicly condemned the violence, labeling the attack a tragic event that has no place in civilized society. Two main militant factions aligned with the Islamic State currently operate across Nigerian territory, but officials have not yet confirmed which cell carried out the Guyaku assault. The Islamic State West Africa Province, better known by its acronym ISWAP, maintains an active presence across northeastern states including Adamawa, while a second IS-linked faction, referred to locally as Lakurawa, typically stages attacks further west in the north-central states of Sokoto and Kebbi.

The Guyaku attack coincided with a separate mass abduction in north-central Nigeria, where armed assailants stormed an orphanage operated by an unregistered school on the same Sunday. The raiders abducted 23 young pupils from the facility, located in an isolated district of Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State. Kogi State government spokesperson Kingsley Femi Fanwo confirmed in an official statement that the Dahallukitab Group of Schools, which ran the orphanage, was operating without legal authorization.

Security forces have since launched intensive search and rescue operations, and have successfully rescued 15 of the 23 abducted children. Authorities said operations are ongoing to recover the remaining eight captives and apprehend the perpetrators behind the raid. While no militant or criminal group has stepped forward to claim responsibility for the abduction, the region has seen a sharp surge in kidnapping-for-ransom attacks in recent months. In Nigeria, the term “pupil” generally refers to children enrolled in kindergarten or primary school, meaning the captives are likely aged 12 or younger.

Kidnappings targeting students and educational institutions have become one of the most visible markers of Nigeria’s ongoing insecurity. Regional security analysts note that armed gangs and militant networks deliberately target schools and children as strategic, high-impact targets, as such attacks draw widespread media and government attention and often yield large ransom payments.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has grappled with a persistent, multifaceted insurgency in its northern regions for more than 20 years, with overlapping conflicts involving IS-aligned insurgents, bandit gangs, and separatist militias that have killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. Earlier this year, the United States deployed a contingent of troops to Nigeria to provide advisory support to Nigerian military forces leading counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations across the country.

This report was compiled with additional on-the-ground reporting from Sophie Banchereau, based in Dakar, Senegal.

DAKAR, Senegal — In a dramatic escalation of extremist violence that has already made the Sahel the world’s deadliest region for terror activity, an unprecedented coordinated assault by an alliance of al-Qaida-linked militants and Tuareg separatists has shaken Mali, delivering a direct challenge to the West African nation’s military government and its new security partner Russia.

The weekend offensive, the largest coordinated attack the country has seen in more than a decade, hit targets across the breadth of Mali simultaneously, marking a new level of operational planning and ambition for the combined insurgent forces. While Malian authorities have yet to release an official casualty count, analysts confirmed on Monday that the scope of the operation — both in the number of targeted locations and the high-profile nature of the sites hit — has no recent parallel in the country’s long-running security crisis.

Attackers struck the international airport in the capital Bamako, the adjacent military garrison town of Kati, and multiple population centers in northern and central Mali, including the contested cities of Kidal and Sevare. In a high-profile loss for the Bamako government, a car bomb targeting the defense minister’s residence just outside the capital killed him instantly. For the separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), the weekend operation marked a symbolic and strategic victory: the group confirmed Monday it has retaken full control of Kidal, the northern city whose initial seizure by a similar insurgent alliance back in 2012 launched the decade-long cycle of instability that continues to engulf the Sahel.

The Sahel, a vast arid belt stretching across Africa south of the Sahara Desert, has rapidly emerged as the global epicenter of extremist violence over the past two decades. Data from the 2023 Global Terrorism Index, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, shows the region now accounts for 51% of all deaths from violent extremism worldwide — a staggering jump from just 1% 20 years ago. Since 2019 alone, fatalities from extremist attacks in the Sahel have risen nearly tenfold. For Mali, a landlocked country at the heart of the crisis, overlapping threats have persisted for more than a decade: al-Qaida and Islamic State-affiliated militant networks have expanded their hold across remote areas, while a long-running Tuareg separatist insurgency has fought for an independent state in the country’s north.

This is not the first time separatist and jihadist forces have aligned against the Malian government. In 2012, a similar partnership seized most of northern Mali, collapsing central state authority and triggering a French military intervention to push insurgent forces back. Today, the leading jihadist actor in the alliance is Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaida-linked group that has expanded dramatically across the Sahel in recent years. The group now controls vast swathes of territory, and had already blockaded Mali’s capital for months to cut off fuel supplies before the weekend offensive. JNIM’s operations extend far beyond Mali’s borders: the group is active in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, and its attacks have reached into coastal West African states including Benin, Ivory Coast, and Togo.

The group has built substantial funding to sustain its large-scale operations, analysts note. JNIM generates revenue through a range of illicit activities: it imposes informal taxes on local populations, steals cattle, controls lucrative artisanal gold mining operations, and uses sieges, kidnappings, and bombings to dominate key regional supply routes. Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, told reporters the group entered the weekend offensive with a “full war chest” after reportedly collecting at least $50 million in ransom for the 2023 kidnapping of an Emirati member of the Dubai royal family and two of his business associates, who were abducted near Bamako.

On the separatist side, decades of campaigning for an independent northern state of Azawad led separate Tuareg-led factions to merge in 2024 into the unified Azawad Liberation Front, which partnered with JNIM for the weekend assault. Despite clear ideological divides between the Salafi-jihadist vision of JNIM and the separatist nationalist goals of the FLA, the two groups share a core objective: pushing Malian government forces and their Russian allies out of the territories both movements claim in northern and central Mali. “Despite their different worldviews, their shared enemy unites them,” explained Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Moroccan-based Policy Center for the New South.

The offensive comes amid a dramatic shift in Mali’s foreign and security policy, after the country’s military junta — which seized power in 2020 — cut ties with long-time Western security partners including France and the United Nations, turning instead to Moscow for security support. The shift was driven by widespread popular discontent: after nearly a decade of French counter-terror deployments and UN peacekeeping operations, extremist attacks continued to multiply, government control over territory eroded steadily, and civilians bore the overwhelming brunt of the violence. Mali, along with neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso — all now ruled by military juntas that took power via coups — have formed their own regional bloc, the Alliance of Sahel States, and forced Western and UN forces to withdraw entirely from their territory.

Today, Mali’s primary security partner is Russia’s newly formed Africa Corps, a defense ministry-affiliated military unit that an estimated 2,000 troops deployed across the country. But independent analysts warn the security situation across the Sahel has only deteriorated sharply since the juntas took power and Western forces withdrew. The region is now recording record numbers of attacks, with civilians killed by both insurgent groups and pro-government forces at all-time highs. Laessing argues that French and UN peacekeeping forces effectively filled the governance and security vacuum left by a chronically weak Malian state, particularly in the remote north and central regions. Their departure eliminated livelihood opportunities for many local residents, leaving young people vulnerable to jihadist recruitment, he added.

Russian support has failed to fill that security gap, and the weekend offensive has exposed the weakness of Moscow’s position in Mali. Just two days after FLA spokespersons announced the group had seized full control of Kidal, the Africa Corps confirmed on its official Telegram channel that its forces had withdrawn from the strategic northern city. Kidal has long been symbolic of Mali’s security crisis: it was first seized by the 2012 jihadist-separatist alliance, and its recapture by Malian government forces and Russian Wagner Group mercenaries in 2023 was hailed as a major victory for the Bamako-Moscow partnership. The FLA said in a Saturday statement that it had negotiated a peaceful withdrawal agreement, with a convoy of remaining Russian and Malian troops departing the former UN peacekeeping base in Kidal under rebel escort.

The weekend coordinated attack came well after Bamako was already weakened by months of JNIM pressure. For months before the offensive, the group carried out relentless attacks on fuel tankers traveling into Mali from neighboring Senegal and Ivory Coast, creating a crippling fuel shortage in the capital long before the Iran conflict tightened global energy supplies. Photos from Bamako showed long queues snaking around city gas stations, with the Malian army only able to provide partial relief by escorting small convoys into the capital. A fragile truce reached in late March collapsed shortly before the weekend attacks, with JNIM resuming its assault on supply routes.

Analysts say the blockade and the latest large-scale offensive are aimed at undermining the legitimacy of Mali’s military government, pressuring businesses and ordinary residents to distance themselves from the junta. Unlike some extremist groups, JNIM does not appear to be aiming to seize direct control of the capital or establish formal rule over all of Mali, instead focusing on weakening the central state to expand its own control over rural and remote territories.

A high-profile case linking four Kenyan men to the killing of a Scottish businessman has taken a new turn, as the quartet is now set to appear in court for an unrelated violent robbery charge against an American tourist.

Campbell Scott Alistair, a 58-year-old businessperson hailing from Dunfermline, Fife, traveled to Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, for a professional conference in February 2025. Shortly after checking into his local hotel, Scott vanished without a trace. Days of frantic search efforts ended in tragedy when investigators located his body concealed inside a sack, dumped in a remote forest roughly 60 miles outside Nairobi.

Earlier this month, Kenyan law enforcement announced the arrest of Bernard Mbusu, Isaac Kinoti Kobia, Evans Muthengi Mutaki and Kelvin Mwangi Njoroge, publicly naming the four as prime suspects in Scott’s murder. In an official social media statement shortly after the arrests, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations noted that the operation that took the suspects into custody was intelligence-driven and multi-agency, adding the men were tied not only to Scott’s abduction and killing but also to a string of violent robberies targeting foreign nationals.

What has become a layered legal process now sees the four men facing separate charges for a violent armed robbery that took place on April 11 at a holiday apartment in the Nyali district of Mombasa, a coastal Kenyan tourist hub. Prosecutors allege the group attacked an American man staying at the property, stealing approximately £4,000 in cash alongside personal property including a laptop, smartphone and jewelry with a combined estimated value of £1,100. All four suspects have entered a plea of not guilty to the robbery charges.

Notably, the Mombasa robbery case has no official connection to the ongoing investigation into Scott’s murder, according to court documents. In a recent ruling, the court granted bail to the four men, setting the total bail amount at 1,000,000 Kenyan shillings, equal to roughly £5,700. The robbery case is scheduled to resume in court on May 27.

As of press time, Kenyan law enforcement officials have not responded to requests for comment on the current status of the Scott murder investigation, nor have they confirmed whether the four men still remain official suspects in his killing.

A devastating targeted attack by armed gunmen on an unregistered orphanage in Nigeria’s north-central Kogi State has left 23 people abducted, with eight children still unaccounted for days after the assault, local authorities confirmed this week. The brazen Sunday raid also saw the owner of the unlicensed child care facility taken captive by the attackers, according to Kogi State Information Commissioner Kingsley Fanwo. Following a rapid, coordinated mobilization of local security agencies, 15 of the abducted children have been successfully rescued from captivity, Fanwo stated in an official briefing Monday.

To date, no armed faction has publicly claimed responsibility for the attack. But senior security sources familiar with regional instability note that Kogi State hosts an active operational cell of the jihadist insurgent group Boko Haram, and the area has already seen a string of violent, opportunistic attacks targeting vulnerable communities in recent months.

The orphanage attack is the latest high-profile incident in Nigeria’s growing national kidnap crisis, which has plagued regions across the country for years. Transnational criminal gangs regularly abduct civilians, including children, to demand large ransom payments. While the Nigerian federal government has formally outlawed ransom payments to kidnappers, the ban has done little to curb the frequency of these attacks, as criminal networks continue to profit from the practice despite increased security deployments.

In his Monday statement, Commissioner Fanwo emphasized that the targeted orphanage had been operating illegally in a remote, bushy rural area without the knowledge or official approval of state regulatory authorities. He issued a formal warning to all operators of orphanages, schools, and residential care institutions across the state to complete required regulatory registration and coordinate regularly with relevant government agencies, particularly amid the country’s ongoing volatile security environment.

Mass abductions of children at educational and care facilities have become increasingly common across northern Nigeria, where long-running insurgency and weak security infrastructure have created conditions for rampant kidnapping. This incident marks the first recorded attack specifically targeting an orphanage in the country. The attack echoes a much larger mass abduction in November 2025, when more than 300 students and their teachers were seized from a Catholic secondary school in neighboring Niger State, also in north-central Nigeria. All captives were eventually released in two separate batches, with the final group regaining freedom more than a month after their abduction. The Nigerian government has repeatedly denied widespread reports that it paid a large ransom to secure their release, or that it swapped two detained Boko Haram commanders for the hostages as part of a negotiated deal.

Nigerian authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to locating and rescuing the eight remaining missing children from the Kogi State orphanage attack, saying security operations are ongoing in the area. “The government remains fully committed to ensuring the rescue of all the victims,” Fanwo said.

A devastating aviation disaster has killed every person onboard a small passenger aircraft that crashed in South Sudan early Monday, according to official confirmation from the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (SSCAA). The CityLink Aviation-operated flight, a Cessna 208 Caravan, had departed the city of Yei at 9:15 a.m. local time bound for Juba, a roughly 130-kilometer route southwest of the capital. Roughly 30 minutes into the journey, authorities lost all contact with the aircraft, which ultimately crashed approximately 20 kilometers outside Juba.

Preliminary investigations point to severe weather as the most likely cause of the crash. In an official statement, the SSCAA noted that initial reports link the crash to poor atmospheric conditions, specifically extremely low visibility that hindered the pilot’s navigation. A specialized investigation team has already been deployed to the remote crash site to collect evidence and confirm the root cause of the incident.

Official passenger and crew breakdowns confirm the flight carried 14 people total: one pilot and 13 passengers. Among those killed were 12 citizens of South Sudan and two Kenyan nationals. No survivors have been recovered from the crash site.

The crash renews longstanding concerns about aviation safety in South Sudan, where air travel infrastructure remains chronically underdeveloped, and the country has a well-documented poor aviation safety record. Air accidents are relatively frequent across the nation, with most incidents commonly attributed to two key risk factors: overloaded aircraft and unpredictable, severe weather conditions. This is not the first deadly air disaster to hit the country in recent years: in January 2025, a plane carrying 20 oil workers crashed just three minutes after takeoff near Unity State’s northern oil fields, killing everyone onboard.

A devastating aviation disaster has claimed 14 lives near the capital of South Sudan, after a small Cessna aircraft went down on the outskirts of Juba earlier this week, South Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed. All 13 passengers and one pilot aboard the flight lost their lives in the crash, which occurred roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the center of the capital.

The aircraft was en route to Juba from the southern South Sudanese town of Yei when it experienced an emergency that led to its crash. Preliminary investigations into the incident point to severe weather conditions as the most likely cause. Dense fog and low cloud cover drastically reduced visibility for the pilot, creating dangerous flying conditions that contributed to the accident, the authority said.

Among the casualties, two of the deceased hold Kenyan nationality, while all other 12 victims are South Sudanese citizens, the authority confirmed. No survivors have been found at the crash site.

Shortly after the crash was reported, an official investigative and response team was deployed to the remote hilly location to recover remains and begin piecing together the full circumstances of the disaster. User-generated footage of the accident scene that circulated widely across social media platforms in the hours after the crash shows smoldering wreckage of the plane still engulfed in open flames. The landscape captured in the videos matches the civil aviation authority’s account of poor weather, with heavy mist blanketing the hilly terrain where the aircraft came down.

The crash marks one of the deadliest aviation incidents in South Sudan this year, and it has prompted the national aviation authority to launch a full review to confirm the exact cause of the disaster and identify any safety gaps that may have contributed to the tragedy.

In a groundbreaking move that signals a growing shift toward accountability for colonial-era cultural theft, a British museum institution has announced plans to hand back 45 historical cultural artefacts to their country of origin, Botswana. This transfer, arranged through a formal collaborative partnership between the UK and Botswanan museum sectors, is being hailed as the first large-scale repatriation of indigenous cultural heritage ever carried out by a United Kingdom museum.

The objects set for return were originally pulled from Botswana’s Gammangwato region in the 1890s, collected by Christian missionary Rev William Charles Willoughby during the height of British colonial expansion across southern Africa. The collection spans a broad cross-section of daily and cultural life for local communities, including traditional clothing, personal accessories, hunting tools, and everyday domestic items that carry deep cultural meaning for Batswana people.

The process that led to this transfer grew out of the Making African Connections initiative, a research and partnership project led by the University of Sussex that ran between 2019 and 2021, which built formal connections between Brighton & Hove Museums and Botswana’s Khama III Memorial Museum based in Serowe. Two years after the project concluded, in 2022, the Khama III Museum submitted a formal repatriation claim for the collection, launching the negotiation process that has now resulted in an agreement for return.

Curators on both sides of the partnership have framed the transfer as far more than a simple movement of objects across borders. Portia Tremlett, senior curator at Brighton & Hove Museums, emphasized that the repatriation fills a critical long-standing gap by returning cultural items to the community that created and gave them meaning. “This repatriation represents an important step in reconnecting these artefacts with the communities, histories and knowledge systems that give them meaning,” Tremlett explained.

For the receiving institution and the people of Botswana, the handback carries profound meaning for cultural self-determination. Gase Kediseng, curator at the Khama III Memorial Museum, described the transfer as an act of historical restoration that goes beyond material exchange. “This process affirms dignity, identity, and material culture, empowering [the people of] Batswana to tell their own story on their own terms through objects that represent who we were, and who we continue to be,” Kediseng said.

The 45 artefacts are scheduled to be unveiled to the public as part of a new permanent exhibition opening at the Khama III Memorial Museum on May 27. To mark the milestone occasion, the Botswanan museum will host a two-day international summit alongside the exhibition opening, in partnership with both the University of Sussex and the University of Botswana, to bring together global experts on cultural repatriation and indigenous heritage.