Security

Conflict, displacement, peace operations and the security politics that spill across African borders.

A view across the town of Asosa in western Ethiopia, with buildings and trees under a hazy sky — Photo: Emiliano Tomei / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Sudan and Ethiopia shut each other’s border consulates as fears of a wider Horn war grow

Ethiopia ordered six Sudanese consular staff out of Asosa; Sudan answered by closing Ethiopia’s consulate in Gadarif. Both capitals deny backing each other’s enemies.

By Lemlem Bekele · Addis Ababa

Ugandan soldiers in helmets and body armour with rifles behind sandbag and mesh barriers on a Mogadishu street — Photo: AMISOM Public Information / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Uganda starts pulling its troops out of Somalia after 20 years, and AU peacekeepers move to plug the gap around Mogadishu

The first soldiers from Uganda’s bilateral force are home, and all Ugandan troops are due out by the end of 2027. An AU letter says peacekeepers will leave the port of Barawe to hold four bases near the capital.

By Amina Yusuf · Nairobi

The mud-brick walls and tower of Fort Madama rising from orange sand dunes in northern Niger under a pale sky — Photo: DirkBw / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Algeria will send troops into Niger, its first deployment abroad since 1973, to guard Sonatrach’s oil interests at Madama

Parliament approved the mission in a closed emergency session and President Tebboune signed it off a day later. The detachment is expected at Madama, a former French base near the Libyan border. Algiers has not said how many soldiers will go, or when.

By Rania Benali · Cairo

A street in Nyala with small shops, a white car and pedestrians in front of the Sudan Post office building — Photo: Leovdvxxx / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Army drone strike on a Nyala market kills dozens. Rights groups say more than 100 died; the army says it hit RSF recruits

The strike hit a crowded market in the RSF-held capital of South Darfur on Monday evening. Death tolls range from 21 to more than 100. Witnesses say paramilitary fighters had gathered there, alongside women selling tea and food.

By Lemlem Bekele · Addis Ababa

A white Bayraktar TB2 drone with a long, slender wing parked on a concrete apron under a blue sky — Photo: Bayhaluk / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sudan accuses Ethiopia of letting 162 drone attacks be launched from its soil as strikes black out power stations

Khartoum says drones flown from Bahir Dar, Assosa and the border have killed more than 400 civilians and 102 soldiers. It showed wreckage and flight data but the claims have not been independently verified. Addis Ababa has called similar charges baseless.

By Lemlem Bekele · Addis Ababa

A Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-35 in a green and yellow camouflage scheme climbing steeply against a blue sky and white cloud — Photo: Oleg Belyakov / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Ethiopia unveils Russian Su-35 jets and S-400 plans in Moscow as its standoff with Eritrea hardens

Abiy Ahmed says Ethiopia has taken delivery of its first 12 Su-35 fighters, a year early, with four S-400 batteries to follow. Russia’s arms exporter says two jets have been handed over so far. No price or financing has been disclosed.

By Lemlem Bekele · Addis Ababa

Kenya’s Parliament Buildings in Nairobi, framed by palm trees under a blue sky — Photo: Jorge Láscar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Kenya wants the African Union to take up Russia’s recruitment of Africans as the Moscow summit stays silent

Foreign minister Musalia Mudavadi says Nairobi does not know how many Kenyans were drawn into Russia’s army and that the issue belongs with the AU. Official records list 354 Kenyans linked to the war. Families and an intelligence report put the number far higher.

By Wanjiku Kamau · Nairobi

The skyline of central Kigali, Rwanda, with office towers on the hills — Photo: Adrien K / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

US sanctions Rwanda’s defence ministry and the Zigama bank over support for M23 in eastern Congo

Washington’s Treasury says the ministry directed thousands of Rwandan troops to fight alongside M23 and that Zigama, the security services’ savings bank, moved money for weapons and gold. Kigali says Congo has not met its own commitments under the Washington Accords.

By Lemlem Bekele · Addis Ababa

Security

Sudan and Ethiopia shut each other’s border consulates as fears of a wider Horn war grow

Uganda starts pulling its troops out of Somalia after 20 years, and AU peacekeepers move to plug the gap around Mogadishu

Algeria will send troops into Niger, its first deployment abroad since 1973, to guard Sonatrach’s oil interests at Madama

Army drone strike on a Nyala market kills dozens. Rights groups say more than 100 died; the army says it hit RSF recruits

Sudan accuses Ethiopia of letting 162 drone attacks be launched from its soil as strikes black out power stations

Ethiopia unveils Russian Su-35 jets and S-400 plans in Moscow as its standoff with Eritrea hardens

Kenya wants the African Union to take up Russia’s recruitment of Africans as the Moscow summit stays silent

US sanctions Rwanda’s defence ministry and the Zigama bank over support for M23 in eastern Congo

Up to 50,000 cross into Kenya at Moyale as Oromia–Somali clashes spill over the border

UK sanctions 15 Sudanese commanders one year after El Fasher’s fall

Nearly four million uprooted in the Central Sahel as UNHCR warns funding is collapsing

Sahel states push a high-voltage backbone as security and blackouts collide

Coastal West Africa absorbs Sahel flight