The search for the bodies of a British-South African couple allegedly abducted and murdered by a gang of ISIS supporters is ongoing on the banks of the Tugela River, like reported by northcoastcourier.co.za.

Rodney and Rachel Saunders disappeared in February while searching for rare plants in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains near Vryheid.

In the weeks since their disappearance, the Hawks Crimes Against the State Unit, Durban Serious Organised Crime Unit and Durban Crime Intelligence KZN have arrested four people with alleged links to the ISIS terrorist group in connection with their kidnapping.

Two of the suspects, Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio (38) and his wife Fatima Patel (27), had been living in Umdloti for more than a year before their arrests.

Thembamandla Xulu (19) and Ahmad Jackson Mussa (36) were also arrested in connection with the crime.

Del Vecchio, Xulu and Patel were arrested at the end of February and a search of their rooms led to a five-week manhunt for Mussa, who was eventually found hiding out in Newlands.

Musa appeared in Verulam Magistrates court on Monday.

According to Hawks spokesperson captain Sipho Simphiwe, Musa led investigators to the banks of the Tugela, where the search for the bodies continues.

“At present we cannot charge the suspects with murder as we have not yet found the bodies. It is not easy with all the crocodiles in the water” he said.

“The suspects have been charged with kidnapping and robbery.”

Simphiwe said the Hawks did not suspect any others were involved in the kidnapping. He would not speculate as to the possibility of there being more ISIS linked groups in KZN.

Del Vecchio lived in Umdloti last year when he allegedly torched Tongaat Hulett sugar fields worth about R2 million, after they demolished a tree house that he built in a forest between Umhlanga and Umdloti belonging to Tongaat Hulett.

A few Umdloti residents with knowledge of Del Vecchio’s activities had apparently kept their suspicions about his activities to themselves so as not to create panic.

This was until Del Vecchio apparently painted the ISIS logo on a Tongaat Hulett construction site.

The incident scared a number of residents and was reported to the Hawks.

However they only took notice of him when he later painted the ISIS logo on the King Shaka International Airport boundary.

What’s left of the Nanduadua mosque lies deep within a labyrinth of alleyways in Mocimboa da Praia, a port town in Mozambique’s far north, like reported by alarabiya.net.

A handful of veiled women hurry past the one-time place of worship, which is now reduced to rubble.

“It was the mosque of criminals,” local resident Ussene Amisse told AFP. “The mosque of those with hearts of stone.”

The Mozambique government ordered it to be levelled in October after a bloody attack blamed on radicalized Muslim youth who allegedly worshipped at the mosque.

The apparent jihadist attack — the first of its type in the country — sent a shockwave through Mozambique, which emerged from its long civil war in 1992.

The strike targeted a nearby police and military post, leaving two officers and 14 attackers dead.

A number of subsequent armed incidents and kidnappings followed, fuelled by long-suppressed frustrations in the majority-Muslim northern region.

‘Taken by surprise’

The initial bloodshed happened in the small hours of October 5. “We heard shouting and gunfire,” recalls local man Juma Tuaibo.

“We quickly understood that the youth from the mosque were behind the incidents. We fled to seek refuge in a nearby village.”

Dozens of armed men, known locally as “al-Shabaab” — Arabic for “youth” though with no confirmed link to the Somali jihadist group of the same name — stormed the police station, the fire station and a forestry ranger post.

In a matter of hours, they had taken control of the town. “We were taken by surprise,” a local official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“It took us two days of fighting and the deployment of reinforcements to chase them out of town.”

Authorities were initially hesitant about identifying their new enemy, referring vaguely to a group seeking to “upset the established order”. The attackers had nothing to do with Al-Shabaab, officials insist.

In the following weeks, at least 300 Muslims were arrested and several mosques forced to close.

President Filipe Nyusi also fired the heads of the army and the intelligence agencies, blaming them for having missed the warning signs.

An emerging threat

But in Mocimboa, the emergence of a radical faction in the Muslim community was widely known. “It started three years ago. Fifty or so young people from the town said that we weren’t true Muslims,” said Ussene Amisse, a teacher at a Koranic school.

“Some of them learnt these things in Somalia. It was when they returned that they started to cause problems.”

Radicalized men told their followers not to send their children to school, not to vote and to disobey the authorities.

“They followed the example of fundamentalists in other countries,” sighs Amadi Mboni, one of the town’s religious leaders.

“We knew, we informed our authorities of the danger — but we weren’t able to prevent some of our children and grandchildren from joining them.”

According to official statistics, 17 percent of Mozambicans are Muslim but Islamic leaders say the real figure could be double. In Mocimboa, more than half of the population is Muslim.

The neglected north

Frelimo, the ruling party since national independence, has long trumpeted the peaceful coexistence of different religions in Mozambique. But the country’s north has largely been excluded from the economic growth of the last 20 years.

Many in the north also doubt that they will reap the rewards of the vast gas deposits recently discovered off the shores of Palma near Mocimboa.

In a region which sees itself as a neglected outpost, radical Al-Shabaab-style ideology has found a receptive audience.

“It’s an area of Islamic influence, where state power is weak,” said journalist and commentator Fernando Lima.

Other than a pair of armoured vehicles stationed outside police headquarters, Mocimboa is quiet for now.

Mayor Fernando Neves says everything has gone back to normal since the attacks. “We have started working again,” he said. “These people used Islam to try to divide us… but we didn’t let them.”

Fear spreading

While security checkpoints have been removed, police warnings to travelers visiting the region suggest an ongoing risk.

Police refuse to comment on the number of Islamist sympathizers thought to still be at large, but several witnesses reported that the group has retreated to nearby forests.

Last week, raiders stormed Chitolo village where one man was killed and several homes were burnt down, according to state radio.

“Since the attacks, I don’t want to go to other villages, I’ll only go there armed,” said Amisse Oumar, a traditional chief of Quelimane village, 15 kilometers (10 miles) north of Mocimboa. “People can no longer access their fields, people don’t have any more food.”

Oumar said a female villager was kidnapped in October while another man was captured and his head reportedly cut off.

There are dozens of similar stories of kidnappings blamed on “al-Shabaab”.

Boko Haram tactics?

And while the number of abductions is still far from the scale of kidnappings by Boko Haram in Nigeria, there are striking similarities in their tactics.

“I was in the field on January 1 with my wife when I saw armed men in the forest,” said Momadi Mfaoume.

“We ran, but my wife was captured. Other women who managed to escape told me that my wife had been forced to remarry,” he added, sobbing. Authorities said they were not aware of the disappearances.

“The region is safe,” stressed the local official, but he called for authorities to investigate who is leading the attackers, who arms them and what links they may have with other countries.

Unidentified gunmen killed one person and wounded at least two others late on Wednesday in an attack on a hotel in the central Mali town of Bandiagara regularly frequented by United Nations staff and humanitarian workers, witnesses said according to theglobeandmail.com.

Just two days ago, Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga visited Bandiagara and gave a speech in which he promised to defeat the Islamist insurgents who have plunged Mali’s central and northern regions into chaos.

Five men approached the entrance to Bandiagara’s Hotel la Falaise on foot at around 9.30 p.m. (2130 GMT), removed rifles from beneath their flowing traditional robes and opened fire, several witnesses said.

“They were walking calmly and seemed normal,” said Bocar Karambe, a driver who was across the street from the hotel when the attack began.

“Once they arrived in front of the gate, we heard the gunfire. When I turned around I saw they were shooting point blank at the people in front of the hotel,” he said.

At least three people, a soldier guarding the entrance and two hotel workers, were struck by bullets. The soldier later succumbed to his injuries, Karambe and a second witness said.

One attacker was also killed.

“I saw the body of one of the attackers lying on the ground. He had been shot by that same soldier before he was himself gunned down by the other assailants,” said Barema Kassogue, who sells antiques near the hotel.

The Hotel la Falaise was once popular with tourists visiting the Dogon people, who inhabit the cliffs of Mali’s central plateau.

However, the area’s tourism industry dried up after Islamist groups, some with links to al Qaeda, seized Mali’s desert north in 2012. They were driven back by a French-led military intervention a year later, but attacks remain frequent.

The hotel now mainly caters to humanitarian aid workers responding to the consequences of the violence.

Prime Minister Maiga and eight of his ministers began a nine-stop national tour last week aimed at shoring up support for the government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita ahead of national elections planned for July 29.

The trip included stops in several areas senior government officials rarely visit because of security concerns.

Central Mali’s once peaceful Mopti region, which includes Bandiagara, has become a new flashpoint for violence over the past year as marginalized Fulani herdsmen have joined forces with al Qaeda-allied Islamists based farther north.

The UN says it has allocated 11 million dollars (about N4 billion) to help 60,000 internally displaced people in Borno and other humanitarian operations in North-east Nigeria, like reported by thenationonlineng.net.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said nine billion dollars (about N3.2 billion) would be used to provide life-saving aid for some 60,000 people displaced by ongoing Boko Haram crisis in Borno.

The UN relief agency explained that the money was an allocation from the UN-managed country-based humanitarian assistance fund.

The UN quoted Mr Edward Kallon, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, as saying: “The crisis continues to displace thousands of vulnerable women, children and men every week.

“Many have gone through unspeakable hardship and the UN and its partners remain committed to help alleviate their suffering.’’

Set up through the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF), the assistance includes two million dollars (about N720 million) in support to the UN Humanitarian Air Service for frontline responders in the region.

“This UN fund give us the flexibility to prioritise those who are most in need of aid and act swiftly for the good of the people of north-east Nigeria,” Kallon said.

The UN said the North-east region’s humanitarian crisis, sparked mainly by Boko Haram’s years-long insurgency, remained one of the most severe globally.

“In the worst-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, at least 7.7 million people are in need this year, with about 80 per cent, or 6.1 million, targeted for humanitarian assistance.

“The nine million dollars allocation will help fund 15 projects supporting humanitarian rapid response in areas affected by large-scale conflict-related displacements, particularly in the northern parts of Borno, along the Maiduguri-Monguno axis.

“In just three months, the close to 30,000 people who have fled violence in hard-to-reach areas are in dire need of food, water, shelter, clothes and medical services.

“Additionally, the funds will help scale up the response near the border with Cameroon in eastern Borno – Gwoza, Bama, Dikwa, Kala-Balge, Monguno, Askira/Uba – and northern Adamawa – Madagali – where approximately another 30,000 have arrived following military operations.

“Finally, the funds will also help maintain UN Humanitarian Air Service operations, crucial to reach and deliver aid in remote areas of the North-east, especially where roads are unusable,” the UN said.

It explained that under the leadership of Kallon, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, the NHF is managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

This is to provide flexible and timely funds for basic life-saving support, the UN said, adding to date it has raised 48 million dollars (over N17 billion) in contributions and pledges.

The NHF is one of 18 country-based pooled funds and was launched during the Oslo Humanitarian Conference for Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region in February 2017.
The contributions and pledges were realised through the generous support of Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, the Republic of Korea, Canada, Spain, Luxembourg, the Arab Gulf Program for Development, Malta, Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka.

Of that 48 million dollars, 33 million dollars (about N12 billion), including this latest N3.2 billion allocation – has now been allocated to various organisations in support of the humanitarian response in North-east Nigeria.

Mali’s prime minister promised the creation of specialist anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday on a visit to the country’s restive centre, along with a disarmament campaign for militias operating in the area, like reported by dailymail.co.uk.

Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga is on a tour of Mali’s most dangerous regions after being appointed in December to bolster security ahead of a presidential election in July.

“We will soon set up a special judicial section to investigate and judge terrorist crimes,” Maiga said in Bandiagara, a former tourist destination abandoned by foreign visitors after the rise of a jihadist insurgency.

Mali’s unrest stems from a 2012 Tuareg separatist uprising against the state, which was exploited by jihadists in order to take over key cities in the north.

Although French forces removed the Al-Qaeda-linked groups from places such as Timbuktu, the groups have morphed into more nimble formations operating in rural areas, sometimes winning over local populations by providing basic services and protection from bandits.

That insurgency has also spread to the country’s centre, where local grievances are exploited by the Islamists in a region awash with guns trafficked from Libya.

On Sunday, Maiga tackled another deadly issue facing Mali: clashes between farmers and herders driven south to feed their animals in recent years.

Simmering clashes between the Fulani herders and the agrarian Dogon community have claimed at least 25 lives since the beginning of the month.

At a reconciliation meeting in the town of Koro, the prime minister promised to disarm, “willingly or not”, militias which have carried out ethnic attacks.

The tour is also aimed at boosting confidence in the government, which few believe can keep such areas secure enough to hold a democratic vote.

“One of the essential challenges that we must overcome together this year is without a doubt the organisation of free, credible, transparent and peaceful elections,” Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said on Sunday.

“It is up to us to create the best conditions for the organisation of these elections across the country with the participation of all Malians,” he added, insisting they would be held within the planned timeframe.

At least five civilians were killed and several others wounded in an attack by Islamist Boko Haram militants in southeast Niger, near the border with Nigeria, according to local sources.

“The BH (Boko Haram) came to the market place early Friday evening, they shot the crowd and took food,” said a resident of Toummour, in the southwest Diffa region, which was targeted by the attack.

A local official on Sunday confirmed the toll of “five dead, all civilians”, adding that several were also wounded in the attack.

Diffa governor Mahamadou Laoualy Dan went to Toummour on Saturday to “offer his condolences” to relatives of the dead and “encourage” the army who “routed” the attackers, Niger television reported.

“We ask the people to hold on… 2018 will be a decisive year in the war against Boko Haram,” he said in front of Toummour residents.

In January, seven Niger soldiers were killed and 17 wounded in an attack in Toummour, which is located in the east of Diffa close to the Lake Chad basin, a strategic area where the borders of four countries converge.

Diffa has suffered several Boko Haram attacks since the insurgency spilled over from Nigeria in 2015.

On June 3, 2016, the militants killed 26 soldiers and left an unknown number of civilian casualties in a massive attack in the town of Bosso, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Toummour.

Between 2015 and 2017, UN monitors recorded 582 civilian casualties in 244 raids blamed on Boko Haram in Diffa.

Canada is to deploy peacekeeping troops in Mali by August, Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period aired on Sunday, like reported by xinhuanet.com.

“We’re looking at it right now this summer, we’re aiming for August. The goal is to actually have the rotation in place, around that time,” Sajjan said.

He said Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff Jonathan Vance is currently doing more detailed planning and analysis to know specifically what will be needed.

Last week, the Canadian government announced its intention to send peacekeeping troops and an aviation task force to the UN mission in Mali for a year-long deployment.

According to the United Nations, there have been 162 multinational peacekeeper fatalities since the mission began in 2013.

At least 14 people have been killed in a car bomb blast outside a popular hotel in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, according to a government official.

The explosion on Thursday happened near Weheliye hotel on the busy Maka Al-Mukarrama Road.

A spokesman for the Somali interior ministry confirmed the death toll to Al Jazeera, adding that 10 others were wounded in the blast.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the al-Shabab armed group is frequently carrying out attacks in and around the capital.

A U.N. expert warns Mali’s efforts to implement the Bamako Peace and Reconciliation agreement remain under threat from extremist groups who are destabilizing the country. The Independent expert has presented his report on the situation in Mali to the U.N. Human Rights Council, like reported by voanews.com.

Suliman Baldo recently visited Mali and says progress is being made in implementing the peace and reconciliation agreement. But he says the deteriorating security situation in the country is setting back prospects for peace.

He says his visit to Mopti in the central region was disquieting. He says the security situation there is very precarious. Baldo says he was informed people in various parts of the region are living in fear and are constantly exposed to the risk of targeted assassinations and armed attacks by extremist, radical groups. He speaks through an interpreter.

“They try to impose their own interpretation of Islam, which is very restrictive,” said Baldo. “They terrorize the population and punish those who are suspected of acting as informants for the Malian authorities or International forces.”

Baldo says International forces including the U.N. MINUSMA are the targets of asymmetric attacks on a daily basis, including the use of improvised explosive devices on roads.

The independent expert says Malian security forces reportedly also commit human rights abuses during counter-terrorism operations.

“These violations are serious,” said Baldo. “They include enforced disappearances, summary execution as well as acts of torture and ill treatment. The impact of this insecurity on the local population is really quite dreadful.”

Mali’s Minister of Human Rights, Kadidia Sangare Coulibaly agrees her country is facing increased violent extremism and terrorist attacks and these are leading to grave abuses of human rights. But she says her government is making significant progress in protecting human rights, despite the many security challenges. She says Mali is taking measures to achieve justice and reconciliation and to fight impunity.