Sudan ordered the closure of its borders with Libya and Central African Republic over security concerns, the country’s ruling body announced, the first such decision since the fall of autocrat Omar al-Bashir, like reported by news24.com.

The decision was taken by the civilian-military sovereign council at a meeting in Niyala, the capital of South Darfur state, a statement by the ruling body said.

“The sovereign council, in a meeting with the government of South Darfur, ordered the closure of the border with Libya and Central African Republic as it threatened the security and economy of the country,” the statement said.

In recent years, media reports have claimed that many rebels from Sudan’s war-torn region of Darfur had crossed into Libya to build up their military capabilities, with some joining Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar’s forces.

Darfur fell into widespread conflict in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government of Bashir, who was toppled in April this year.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the years-long conflict in Darfur and more than two million displaced, according to the United Nations.

The overall violence has eased in recent years in Darfur, but there are reports that African migrants regularly cross into Libya through the vast and arid region.

Sudan lies at the heart of migratory routes that connect East and West Africa to the Mediterranean and Europe.

Thousands of African nationals attempt to reach the Mediterranean through Sudan every year with a plan to ultimately reach European shores.

Sudanese paramilitaries said they captured 138 Africans last week, including dozens of Sudanese, trying to enter Libya illegally.

During Bashir’s ongoing corruption trial, a witness told the court earlier this month that his army-owned firm had supplied military equipment to neighbouring countries using funds allegedly received illegally by the ousted Sudanese leader.

The witness did not specify which countries received the equipment, or whether the supplies included weapons.

But there have been allegations that Bashir’s regime had supplied weapons to rebel groups in Central African Republic.

The poor and largely lawless CAR has been struggling to recover from the bloodshed that broke out when then president Francois Bozize, a Christian, was overthrown in 2013 by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.

Earlier this year, the CAR government and 14 armed groups signed a peace agreement negotiated in Khartoum.

Bashir was ousted by the army on April 11 after months of protests against his three-decade rule.

Many soldiers have been killed while others are missing following an
attack by Boko Haram insurgents on a Nigerian Army’s convoy in Gubio
Local Government Area of Borno State, local sources said according to saharareporters.com.

The incident happened Wednesday on the highway between Gubio and
Magumeri at 4:15 pm.

“The attackers laid ambush with an anti-aircraft gun and other
weapons. More than a dozen soldiers were killed in the attack while
several others sustained injuries,” Daily Trust quoted one of the
sources as saying.

A source added that the insurgents seized caches of weapons and
ammunition along with a utility vehicle belonging to the troops.

Following the commencement of “Operation Positive Identification” by the Theatre Command Operation LAFIYA DOLE (OPLD) across the North Eastern part of Nigeria in search of fleeing terrorists, the troops have arrested five key terrorists logistics suppliers and fighters, like reported by leadership.ng.

Recall that Theater Command Operation Lafiya Dole had launched operation positive Identification to track fleeing terrorists.

In just few hours of the operation, the deputy director, Army Public Relations, Col Ado Isa, announced that five key Boko Haram logistics suppliers and fighters have been arrested.

He however, did not state the names of the arrested terrorists.

He, in an earlier statement, said some of the fleeing criminals are found to be hibernating in some towns and villages of Borno and Yobe States in particular and the North-east region in general.

Theatre Command OPLD therefore enjoined members of the public to always carry valid means of identification such as National Identification Card when moving or passing through  Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.

He  charged troops to strictly check legitimate means of identification such as National Identification Card, Voters Registration Card, Drivers’ License and International Passports or other valid official identification before allowing such persons passage.

He also charged members of the public to cooperate with the troops by moving along with valid identification cards and present same to the troops in the efforts to rid the  North-east zone of criminals fleeing for safety.

The Nigerian Army announced that people who will be travelling through the northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe must carry identification cards in an effort to weed out members of Boko Haram and Islamic State, like reported by newsaf.cgtn.com.

The Army said that “Operation Positive Identification” was necessitated by credible information that some criminals were taking refuge in some towns and villages of Borno and Yobe States in particular and the North East zone in general.

“Our troops have been instructed to strictly check valid means of identification such as National Identification Card, Voters Registration Card, Drivers’ License and International Passports, or other valid official identification, before allowing such person passage. We, therefore, once again enjoin all to fully cooperate with troops and security agencies in carrying out this exercise,” a statement by the Army read in part.

The Army further cautioned persons who will not be positively identified that they will be subject to further investigation to determine the question of their possible involvement in activities with the insurgents or otherwise.

“The general public is please requested to bear with this measure as it is in their best interest and our national security, as well as efforts to end the madness called insurgency as perpetrated by the erstwhile Boko Haram/ISWAP fighters,” the statement concluded.

The Army had previously warned residents against aiding and abetting the escape and sheltering of militants whom they had flushed out from hideouts in the Lake Chad and region and northern Borno.

Additionally, the Army shut down the operations of Action Against Hunger, a non-governmental organisation, for allegedly aiding Boko Haram Terrorists and Islamic State West Africa by supplying them food and drugs despite warnings not to do so.

Nigeria’s army has previously been embroiled in disputes with NGOs working in the country’s troubled northeast, where terrorist networks continue to stage deadly attacks, accusing them of undermining efforts to fight terrorism.

The northeast region has been destabilized for over a decade by Boko Haram, which most notoriously kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in 2014.

As West African leaders try to find ways to stop jihadist violence in the Sahel region, attention is turning to a rebel-held town in Mali’s north accused of being a base for militants to launch attacks, like reported by dailymail.co.uk.

Kidal, a desert outpost where summer temperatures regularly soar above 40 degrees (104 Fahrenheit), has been mainly ruled by Tuareg separatists since a 2012 rebellion.

The state’s weak presence in northern Mali has allowed jihadist groups, including a local branch of the Islamic State group, to establish a foothold in this vast, arid domain.

With Niger to the east and Algeria in the north, the area has also become a hub for people and weapons smuggling, with border clashes regularly claiming lives.

In a sign of his frustration, Nigerian President Mahamadou Issoufou publically criticised the situation earlier this month.

Standing beside his Malian counterpart Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, at the Koulouba presidential palace, he pointedly said “the status of Kidal is a threat”.

Stability in the Sahel, he warned, is in danger.

For the Mali government, whose overtures to bring Kidal back into the fold have not gone well, it is a major security and diplomacy issue.

The country has been in turmoil since Tuareg-led rebels and radical Islamist militants seized control of the north in 2012.

The rebels signed a peace treaty in 2015 but have remained resistant to handing back full control to the government.

Despite the presence of a nearby French military base and UN forces, the Tuareg and other groups have clung to their autonomy.

Plans for a monitoring committee, which oversees the 2015 peace treaty, to hold a symbolic meeting in Kidal this week were postponed — a sign of anxiety over the town.

Kidal has become an “obvious rear base and launching pad for several terrorist operations,” Maman Sidikou, the Permanent Secretary of the G5 Sahel group, said this month.

The G5 Sahel is a five-nation joint taskforce created in 2014 to try to tackle jihadist violence in the region, backed by former colonial power France.

It has pooled troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger in a bid to drive back the jihadist groups.

But a lack of finance, training and equipment has limited the group’s effectiveness.

– ‘No country is safe’ –

Concerns have heightened since an attack by suspected Islamist extremists on a military base in western Niger in July, which left 18 soldiers dead.

“Many in the Nigerian government think the attackers are from a Co-ordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) base,” Ibrahim Yahya Ibrahim from the think-tank International Crisis Group said.

The CMA contains members who rose up against the state in 2012, but ultimately signed the 2015 peace treaty with the aim of reintegrating into the army, or civilian life, and accepting control from Bamako.

But the CMA and other groups have resisted handing back full control to the government, and clashes with pro-government armed groups have flared despite the ceasefire.

After meeting in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou on Saturday, West African leaders announced a billion-dollar plan to fight the rising problem of jihadist violence in the region.

Burkina Faso’s president Roch Marc Christian Kabore said that “threats transcend borders. No country is safe”.

“The escalation of violence has led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in the Sahel, he said.

The meeting, of the Economic Community Summit of West African States (ECOWAS), also called on states “not to accept that terrorists use their territory as a sanctuary or base to fall back on”.

Some interpreted that statement as a dig at Mali and the insecurity in Kidal.

The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) said Wednesday that it had conducted an airstrike against the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab group in southern Somalia, killing two militants, like reported by yenisafak.com.

The airstrike took place north of the port city of Kismayo, the capital of Lower Jubba, and they were targeted after the group attacked a Somali patrol, according to AFRICOM.

“In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted an airstrike on Al-Shabaab insurgents after they attacked a Somali patrol northwest of Kismayo, Lower Juba Province, Somalia on Sept. 17. At this time, it is assessed the airstrike killed two (2) terrorists,” AFRICOM said in a statement posted on Twitter.

No civilians were injured or killed as a result of this airstrike, the statement added.

Separately, on Tuesday, Somali National Army Commander Gen. Odawa Yusuf Rage said that the army had killed the al-Shabaab “governor” of the central region of Hiran alongside another senior militant.

Meanwhile, the Jubaland State of Somalia forces said that it had killed more than 15 al-Shabaab fighters in the Lower Jubba region in an operation on Tuesday.

Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda wing in Somalia, carried out a wave of attacks over the weekend using heavy weapons to kill at least 17 people in the East African country.

On Sunday, Voice of America (VOA) reported:

Lower Shabelle region officials told VOA Somali that the militants attacked the town of Qoryoley late Saturday using rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, killing nine people.

The town’s Mayor Sayid Ali Ibrajim told VOA that an RPG fired by the militants caused most of the casualties.

Somali government forces with support from African Union [AU] forces, who are based outside the town, repelled the attack, according to officials.

Some of the residents in Qoryoley alleged that heavy weapons fired by AU troops caused some of the civilian casualties.

Gov. Ibrahim Adan Najah from the region that houses Qoryoley told Voice of America that authorities are probing the claims of troops targeting civilians.

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) did not immediately respond to the allegations.

On Saturday, mortars fired by al-Shabaab (or al-Shabab) on the ancient port town of Marka during a visit by Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ai Khaire also killed two civilians.

VOA noted:

Al-Shabab claimed they were targeting the prime minister but … Governor Najah told VOA Somali that the incident took place outside the town. Residents and security sources said one of the mortars landed in a residential area killing two women. The prime minister was unharmed and has returned to Mogadishu safely.

On Sunday, al-Shabaab also targeted Gov. Najah’s convoy with a remote-controlled bomb, killing two bodyguards and injuring four others near the town of Shalanbod.

Moreover, the al-Qaeda branch also killed four high-level regional officials, including the deputy governor for finances, and injured six others on Saturday in the nearby Middle Shabelle region.

A report released on September 10 by the New York-based International Peace Institute revealed that al-Shabaab has killed “between 1,483 and 1,884” AMISOM troops between March 2007 and December 2018.

Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, and Uganda also participate in the AMISOM peacekeeping mission in Somalia. The new report does not breakdown the fatalities by country of origin.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has increased airstrikes against al-Shabaab to unprecedented levels, a move that has led to a slight decline of attacks by the terrorist group.

Somali-born Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), however, complained in May that Trump has dramatically intensified American airstrikes on her native country.

Under pressure by the U.S. air campaign, the terrorist group has even resorted to executing some of its members and other civilians accused of espionage.

The U.S. military also lends assistance to AMISOM.

Barely 24 hours after Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum presented four patrol vehicle to the Civilian Joint Task Force also known as CJTF and hunters when he visited Gajiganna to strengthen resilience among the residents and to ensure the security of lives and properties, the insurgents attacked the area, thereby forcing hundreds to flee their homes to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, like reported by dailypost.ng.

According to residents, who fled on Thursday to Maiduguri, at about 5:30 PM, Boko Haram of the ISWAP faction attacked Gajiram, Gajiganna, Gubio and Magumeri in a swift and simultaneous operation chasing away security forces, vigilantes and CJTF in the areas.

Some of the residents who are currently accessing refuge in camps and host communities within Maiduguri the state capital said, the insurgents took everybody by surprise.

According to them, the security forces regrouped, reenforced and came back to fight thereby repelling the insurgents who retreated but informed residents that they were coming back, an information, which forced many residents to move out to Maiduguri.

Abubakar Ahmed, a resident of Gubio told DAILY POST Friday morning when he arrived Shuwari to stay within the host community that, as far as he knows the insurgents did not kill anyone.

“They were telling people that, they were not attacking civilians, however, they burnt some properties in Gubio. Some people said they took away vehicles belonging to security forces and killed some but I did not see that as everybody I believe was looking to escape the madness. Many people who are arriving Maiduguri have different stories to tell and I believe so many may arrive later in the day if the security forces did not return them because they are station at the entrance trying to convince fleeing families to return as according to Tue the situation now is calm,” Abubakar said.

During his visit to the areas earlier, Professor Zulum had commended the Nigerian Military and other security agencies for protecting the lives and properties of Gajiganna community.

He also, ordered the enrollment of 112 hunters and the CJTF to a monthly payment roll for their role in providing security to the areas and as well as called on the insurgents to lay down their arms and embrace peace, stressing on the federal government’s operation save corridor window for those willing to return.

Attempt to get response from Col. Ado Isa spokesman of the 7 division Nigeria Army did not get through as his phone was switched off, however, a source within the division informed that, at about 8:00pm; situation at locations were under firm control of the Nigerian military.

Islamist militants killed nine Nigerian soldiers in an attack on a military base in the northeast of the country, three soldiers and an official from a security agency said according to reuters.com.

A decade-long insurgency in the northeast, started by Islamist group Boko Haram in 2009, has claimed more than 30,000 lives. A breakaway faction that pledges allegiance to Islamic State has become the dominant group in the insurgency, carrying out attacks on military bases over the past year.

The soldiers and security officer, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, said Islamist militants attacked troops on Tuesday at a military base in Gudumbali – a town in Borno, the state worst hit by the insurgency.

They said nine soldiers were killed in the attack and 27 were missing.

“We repelled the attack,” said Nigerian Army spokesman Sagir Musa. He said he was not aware of any soldiers being killed or having gone missing.

Several Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush on a military convoy near Gudumbali in the Lake Chad area of Borno state, sources said, after Islamic State claimed its fighters carried out two attacks in the area, like reported by thedefensepost.com.

Islamic State West Africa Province fighters opened fire with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades on the convoy as it traveled to Gudumbali on Monday, September 9, the security sources told AFP.

One told AFP that “the terrorists surprised troops with an ambush as they were heading to Gudumbali.”

“We lost several soldiers, vehicles and weapons to the terrorists in the attack,” said the source, who asked not to be identified.

The convoy was travelling to Gudumbali to reinforce troops from Nigeria and Chad attached to the regional Multinational Joint Task Force for a major offensive to recapture the town from ISWAP, a second security source said.

He added that the losses had been great and that from reports coming in, the number of casualties was “huge.”

A third security source told AFP, “It is not precisely clear the number of casualties recorded in the attack but a number paid the supreme price.”

The MNJTF, which comprises personnel from Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria, launched Operation Yancin Tafki in late February to battle insurgents in the Lake Chad area. It has said the cross-border operation is aimed at “making islands and other settlements in Lake Chad untenable for Boko Haram Terrorists.” MNJTF troops have engaged militants in Nigeria, Niger and Chad.

Islamic State earlier on Tuesday claimed fighters from its West Africa Province affiliate carried out two attacks in the area on Monday.

ISIS said ISWAP fighters ambushed a Nigerian army convoy between Damasak and Gudumbali, and struck another military position near the village of Garunda.

Gudumbali in Guzamala district is around 120 km (75 miles) north of Borno state capital Maiduguri, and around 20 km east of Garunda.

ISIS claimed “tens” were killed and wounded, three “trucks and armored vehicles” were destroyed and that nine vehicles, weapons and ammunition were captured.

“Super camp” strategy increases ambush risk
ISWAP began to intensify attacks on Nigerian military targets in July 2018, killing dozens of soldiers, overrunning bases and capturing towns. The Lake Chad area of Nigeria, Chad and Niger, where it is the dominant insurgent group, has seen particularly fierce fighting, but it has also claimed or been blamed for attacks in the Maduguri area and further west.

ISWAP fighters have continued to attack troops in the area, and ambushes have become more frequently employed tactic, perhaps as roadside vegetation has grown during the rainy season, offering cover for attacks on vehicles.

The Nigerian Army has also adopted a “super camp” strategy that seemingly extends on its previous “garrison town” system. The strategy entails military personnel withdrawing from smaller bases in towns and villages, concentrating forces in “super camps” which are more-easily defended from ISWAP attacks.

The strategy reduces the risk of both military casualties and materiel losses, it also reduces the Nigerian Army’s ability to combat ISWAP in rural areas and gives the militants more freedom of movement, Jacob Zenn, adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University and senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation recently noted. The concentration of forces enables mobile counter-insurgency raids, but those military movements themselves present ambush opportunities for ISWAP.

Allowing ISWAP greater freedom of movement also enables it to develop its political ambitions, expand its ISIS-style proto-state activity, and control economic activity.

The drawbacks of the “super camp” strategy became apparent on August 21, when ISWAP fighters reportedly entered Gubio and Magumeri unopposed, taking control of both towns and burning government buildings.

Borno state governor Babagana Zulum later expressed concern about the strategy, warning that “the absence of the Nigerian military in a particular place will create a vacuum” that insurgents could exploit.

Soldiers withdrew from Gudumbali in December last year, after ISWAP fighters had repeatedly attacked troops in the town.

On December 4, ISWAP fighters attacked a military base in Gudumbali, sparking a fierce firefight in which two soldiers were injured. Ten days later, ISWAP militants again attacked Gudumbali, with ISIS claiming five soldiers were killed and others injured. The Nigerian Army said troops had repelled an attack, but that one soldier was killed and another wounded in the firefight. Other reports said a dozen or more troops died.

Recent attacks in Lake Chad area
On September 4, ISWAP fighters killed at least three Nigerian soldiers and a police officer in attacks in Gajiram, around 50 km south of Gudumbali. ISIS claimed 10 soldiers were killed and others were injured.

That came just days after at least three Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ISWAP ambush between Gajiram and Monguno on August 30. Two military sources told AFP that eight troops were killed, but the Nigerian Army later said that only three were killed and eight others injured. ISIS propaganda agency Amaq later released a video that it said showed the ambush.

In an incident attributed to “Boko Haram,” four people were killed and 21 women were abducted when militants attacked Gajiram on August 25, Daily Trust reported.

On August 24 and 25, ISIS claimed ISWAP fighters had targeted soldiers in Niger in two IED attacks in the Lake Chad area.

Late July saw the deadliest incident in recent months, when 25 Nigerian and Chadian soldiers were killed in clashes with ISWAP fighters near Baga that left at least 40 insurgents dead, AFP reported.

The area around Baga has been contested since late December last year, when ISWAP fighters overran military and naval bases in and around the town, which is on the shores of Lake Chad, around 70 km east of Gudumbali. One base that housed MNJTF troops was recaptured weeks later, but Baga itself and a separate naval base on Lake Chad remained under ISWAP control in August, according to AFP sources.

A decade of Islamist insurgency
The jihadist group known as Boko Haram began its bloody insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, but it has since spread into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military response.

Boko Haram split into two factions in mid-2016. One, led by long-time leader Abubakar Shekau, is notorious for suicide bombings and indiscriminate killings of civilians. Shekau pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in March 2015, but ISIS central only gives formal backing to the other faction, which it calls Islamic State West Africa Province.

The ISWAP faction, which largely focuses on attacking military and government targets, was led by Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi, but in March, audio recordings revealed that ISIS appointed Abu Abdullah Idris bin Umar, also known as Ibn Umar al-Barnawi and Ba Idrisa, as leader. Despite releasing several videos featuring ISWAP since, ISIS has not yet made a public statement confirming the change.

On September 10, the United States added Ba Idrisa to its Specially Designated Global Terrorist list. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctions listing named him as Abu Abdullah Idris bin Umar Al-Barnawi and “Ba Idrisa” and said that he was born in Maiduguri between 1989 and 1994. The listing did not specify which group he belongs to.

The U.S. assesses that Boko Haram and ISWAP have been responsible for more than 35,000 deaths since 2011. More than two million people have been displaced, sparking a dire humanitarian crisis in the region.