Nigeria: Army Redeploys Senior Officers in Major Command Shake-Up
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, has approved the strategic redeployment of senior officers to key command, operational and staff positions across the Nigerian Army as part of efforts to enhance operational effectiveness and strengthen leadership. … Major General Ibikunle Ademola Ajose replaces Operation Hadin Kai chief less than two years into his tenure to oversee military operations against Boko Haram and its splinter group in the country’s northeast, replacing the operation’s chief less than two years after he assumed the role, the army said on Wednesday. Major General Ibikunle Ademola Ajose, who previously served at Army Headquarters in Abuja, takes over as commander of Operation Hadin Kai from Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar, who became the operation’s 15th commander in April 2025. The change comes ahead of presidential elections scheduled for January, with insecurity remaining a major concern after years of insurgency, banditry and kidnappings across parts of the country. Guardian Nigeria
Somali Al Shabab Fighters Found Dead among Houthi Casualties, Yemeni Forces Say
Yemen’s anti-Houthi National Resistance Forces (NRF) have announced the discovery of bodies of Somali Al Shabab fighters among Houthi casualties on the west coast. The announcement comes after reports of increasing co-ordination between the Iran-backed group and armed factions in the Horn of Africa. The NRF’s military media said the fighters’ identities were verified through documents and belongings found on their bodies, confirming their affiliation with Al Shabab, whose presence within Houthi ranks indicates coordination between the Iran-backed militia and armed groups across the region, the NRF added. … Al Shabab opened communications with the Houthis in 2024, seeking help in acquiring anti-aircraft weapons, drones and shoulder-fired rockets to counter aerial attacks, including from the US, the report found. There are no signs yet that the Somali group has obtained or used any of the advanced weaponry, but the two recent discoveries of Al Shabab operatives fighting alongside the Houthis in Yemen suggest their relationship is deepening. The National
Seychelles Concerned by Renewed Somali Piracy and Emerging Threats along Key Shipping Routes
New forms of maritime security threats are emerging across key shipping routes, including vessels being struck by projectiles in the Red Sea and around the Strait of Hormuz, as Seychelles closely monitors growing insecurity across the wider Indian Ocean region. The Chief of Defence Forces, Major General Michael Rosette, told SNA that such incidents represent an evolving maritime security concern alongside more established threats such as piracy and narcotics trafficking. … Beyond the emerging threats, Rosette said Seychelles is also concerned about signs of renewed piracy activity in the region. … Rosette said Seychelles chairs the Contact Group on Illicit Maritime Activities (CGIMA) and has been closely following recent piracy incidents. The CGIMA is the successor to the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), which was established as an international coordination mechanism in response to Somali piracy. Its mandate has since broadened to address a wider range of illicit maritime activities while piracy remains an important part of its work. Under Seychelles’ chairmanship, the group has sought to strengthen regional cooperation, information-sharing, capacity-building and coordination among countries and maritime security partners. … Somali piracy became a major security and economic threat to Seychelles from around 2009, as pirate operations spread farther into the western Indian Ocean and towards Seychelles’ waters. Seychellois fishermen were among those taken hostage, while the country worked closely with EU NAVFOR’s Operation Atalanta, NATO, the Combined Maritime Forces and other international partners on surveillance, interception and prosecution. Garowe Online
Displacement Tops 175,000 in Sudan’s Blue Nile as Famine Threatens, Civil Group Says
More than 175,000 people have fled escalating combat in southeastern Sudan’s Blue Nile region, where severe hunger and malnutrition are spreading rapidly, a local civil society coalition said on Wednesday as it appealed for urgent foreign aid. The Blue Nile Civil Society Initiative said in a field assessment that more than 35,000 families had been uprooted by months of heavy clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and an alliance of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). Spokespeople for the army and the paramilitary alliance were not immediately available for comment. The warring factions have intensified fighting across the state, with the rebel-paramilitary coalition declaring last Friday that the state capital, Ed Damazin, was vulnerable to capture. Most displaced households have sought shelter in Ed Damazin, which hosts over 20,000 newly arrived families, while 7,000 have fled to Roseires, 5,000 to Wad al-Mahi, and 3,000 to Baw. Thousands more are sheltering with impoverished host families, the group said. Sudan Tribune
Sudan: UN Ramps up Cholera Response in North Darfur as Violence Triggers New Displacement
Aid agencies have launched an emergency vaccination campaign to reach tens of thousands of people in Sudan’s North Darfur state as the country battles a worsening cholera outbreak alongside fresh displacement, the United Nations said on Wednesday. The 10-day campaign, supported by the World Health Organization and local authorities, aims to immunise at least 95,000 people in the Tawila area, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters. Sudan’s latest cholera surge, declared in June, has sickened nearly 2,900 people and killed at least 247 across six states, according to WHO figures cited by the U.N. The public health emergency comes as persistent insecurity continues to uproot communities in remote border regions. About 1,300 people fled their homes last week in North Darfur’s Um Baru locality near the border with Chad following an escalation in violence, according to the International Organization for Migration. Along Sudan’s southeastern frontier with Ethiopia, more than 3,300 people were forced to abandon several villages in the Geisan locality of Blue Nile State due to deteriorating security, the migration agency reported. Humanitarian officials also warned of mounting intercommunal friction in South and Central Darfur, where several deadly incidents have occurred in recent days. The spokesperson was referring to the resumption of the clashes between the Salamat and Beni Halba, two tribes allied to the Rapid Support Forces. Sudan Tribune
Algeria Cuts Diplomatic Ties with the UAE
Algeria decided to sever diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates after what it described as the “exhaustion of all means to preserve bilateral ties”, Algerian state media said on Thursday, without giving details of the reason for the move. … Algerian media outlets have in the past sharply criticised the UAE, accusing it of seeking to sow regional discord. Last year, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said his country’s relations with all Gulf states were warm except for one, in a thinly veiled reference to the UAE. He described ties with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar as “brotherly”, while accusing the unnamed country of meddling in Algeria’s internal affairs and seeking to destabilise it. Tensions escalated further in February, when Algeria began the process of cancelling an air services agreement with the UAE that was signed in Abu Dhabi in May 2013. Reuters
UN Rights Body Warns South Sudan Elections Could Fuel Violence
The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has warned that the country’s planned December elections could trigger further political confrontation and armed violence unless adequate security, political and human rights safeguards are put in place. The Commission also called for all political adversaries, including supporters of detained First Vice President Riek Machar, to be brought into genuine and inclusive dialogue. Speaking at a press conference in Juba on Thursday after the Commission’s 14th visit to South Sudan, Commissioner Barney Afako said the country is approaching the elections amid renewed violence, deep political mistrust, shrinking civic space and weakened institutions. The Commission supports South Sudanese citizens’ right to elect their leaders, Afako said, noting that they had waited 15 years to exercise that right since independence. But he stressed that the Commission’s concern is not with elections themselves, but with the conditions under which they would be held. “Our concern is with the conditions for elections,” Afako said. He warned that elections without adequate safeguards and genuine political dialogue could become an “arena for political confrontation and armed violence”, with the risk of atrocity crimes. Radio Tamazuj
South Sudan: Kiir Appoints Son as Presidential Guard Commander
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has appointed his son, Major General Atem Salva Kiir, as commander of the presidential guard, known as the Tiger Division. The appointment has attracted attention in a country where there has been speculation that members of President Kiir’s family could eventually play a role in the country’s political leadership. It has also raised questions over whether Kiir is following a path similar to that of his ally, Uganda’s long-serving President Yoweri Museveni, whose son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has risen to become the country’s top military commander. The Tiger Division is an elite unit of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) responsible for protecting the president and other top government officials. It has also been deployed in security operations in and around the capital, Juba. Radio Tamazuj
UN Hails Libya Election Deal as Security Council Urges Libyans to Seize the Moment
The UN Security Council has welcomed a breakthrough agreement between Libya’s rival political blocs, calling it “an important step” towards the country’s first national elections in over a decade – while pressing all sides to move quickly from paper to practice. In a statement issued Tuesday, council members praised the 30 August agreement reached by Libyan parties in what has become known as the “Smaller Convening”, a negotiating track brokered by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). The deal reconstitutes the board of Libya’s High National Elections Commission and amends the legal framework for parliamentary and presidential elections, to be held within two years under a single, unified government. The council urged Libyan political leaders to back the agreement and move towards implementing it, while reaffirming its “full support” for UNSMIL and its head, Special Representative of the Secretary-General Hanna Tetteh. … The deal resolves two of the thorniest disputes blocking elections: how to properly compose the elections commission board so that all three of Libya’s regions are represented, and a rule linking the success of legislative elections to presidential ones. Rather than negotiate separately with Libya’s two rival legislative bodies, Ms. Tetteh said UNSMIL brought together representatives of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, the eastern-based Libyan National Army command, and both parliamentary chambers to thrash out the issues jointly. UN News
Fifty Chinese Nationals Convicted in Madagascar for Crimes Deported
Chinese nationals convicted in Madagascar for their involvement in online fraud networks have been transferred to their country of origin to continue serving their sentences. The detainees transited through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where they made a brief stopover before continuing their journey to China. Their escort and security were ensured throughout the operation. The transfer does not mean they have been released. The convicted individuals will continue serving their sentences in Chinese prisons. Sentences vary according to each person’s level of involvement in the “scamming” networks, ranging from two to five years for lower-level operatives and five to ten years for those in charge or their employers. The operation is part of cooperation mechanisms established under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also known as the Palermo Convention, to which Madagascar acceded in 2005. Africanews
South Africa: Ramaphosa to Attend BRICS Summit in India amid Global Tensions
President Cyril Ramaphosa will join fellow BRICS leaders in New Delhi on September 12–13 for the 18th summit of the bloc, hosted under India’s chairmanship. The meeting will focus on strengthening cooperation among the expanded membership, with discussions on trade, investment, financial collaboration and reform of global governance institutions. The summit takes place under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Security” and comes amid conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East as well as intensifying competition among major powers. … BRICS – comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and partner countries from Africa, Asia and South America – was established in 2009 as a platform for emerging economies to coordinate on trade, investment, and political reform. The grouping has since expanded its agenda to include financial cooperation, institutional reform and advocacy for the interests of the Global South. Ramaphosa is expected to push for stronger intra‑BRICS trade and investment, industrialisation and greater support for African infrastructure projects aligned with the African Continental Free Trade Area. APA