Sahel – Page 20 – The Defense Post

May- 2020 -

21 May

Togo is on the front line after its northern neighbour, Burkina Faso, fell prey to the jihadist chaos that had begun in neighbouring Mali

Worried Togo Finds Itself on Front Line of Sahel’s Jihadist War

In a makeshift bunker of sacks of rice beneath a tree, heavily-armed Togolese soldiers keep watch over villagers coming and going on foot or bike across the border with Burkina Faso. Just a dried-out river bed separates the two West African countries. In surrounding fields, peasant farmers are bent silhouettes, watering the sorghum and maize seeds sown before the arrival of the first rains. Soon, clouds will chase away the fine dust of the harmattan, the desert wind that each year sweeps off the Sahara southwards to the coast and chokes the air. Nothing dramatic, or so it would seem, ever happens at Yemboate, in Togo’s far north. Yet less than 30 kilometers (19 miles) away, over the border in eastern Burkina Faso, jihadists and militia groups have imposed their own brutal law. Those policemen, doctors, and teachers who have not fled are being hunted down and butchered. “When I was small, we spent our time swimming in the river,” says farmer Abdoulaye Mossi, leaning on his bike with a hoe, speaking to AFP before the coronavirus pandemic. The arid channel separates his peaceful village of cob huts from a Burkinabe village on the other side. “Fear rules today,” the farmer says. But fear does …

Apr- 2020 -

20 April

Africa

Staff Writer With AFP

Burkina Faso security forces accused of executing 31 detainees in Djibo

Burkina Faso's security forces allegedly executed 31 unarmed detainees in the northern town of Djibo, Human Rights Watch said

Mar- 2020 -

16 March

Africa

Fergus Kelly

Sweden’s government proposes to send 150 troops and helicopters to Mali for Task Force Takuba

The Swedish government plans to send 150 special forces personnel and helicopters to join the new France-led Task Force Takuba in Mali

14 March

Africa

Staff Writer With AFP

UN Mali peacekeepers find Canadian and Italian kidnapped in Burkina Faso in 2018

A Canadian woman and her Italian partner kidnapped in Burkina Faso in 2018 were found alive in the northwest of Mali by UN Minusma peacekeepers

10 March

Blog

Fergus Kelly

A French A400M airdropped 40 tonnes of supplies to troops in the Sahel

A French Airbus A400M transport aircraft airdropped almost 40 tonnes of supplies to troops operating in the troubled Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa

Feb- 2020 -

27 February

Africa