Two More ‘High’ Risk Detainees Transferred from Gitmo
Secretary of State John Kerry praised the Republic of Senegal today “for offering humanitar...
Senegal
Can Obama Spur a Reform Within Islam?
President Barack Obama’s Oval Office address in the wake of the San B...
Op-eds
The Unbearable Lightness of UN Sanctions on North Korea
As far as President Obama has any discernible policy for dealing with the rising threat from North Korea, a big part of his approach entails pressuring Pyongyang with UN sanctions. So say U.S. ad...
Op-eds
North Korean Ship Tests the Waters Near America’s Shores
It’s not often that North Korean-flagged freighters turn up near America’s shores, but when they do, they deserve attention. North Korea has a prolific record of arms smuggling, narco...
Op-eds
Obama’s New World Order: Power to Our Enemies, Death to Our Friends & a Fish in the President’s Face
The anti-Morsi, anti-Muslim Brotherhood, and therefore anti-Obama demonstrations in Egypt are the biggest in human history. It’s quite something, an historic event. Whatever the...
Op-eds
Emir of Ansar Dine Added to US, UN’s Terrorist Lists
Both the United States and the United Nations have added Iyad ag Ghali, the emir of the Mali-based, al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine, to their lists of global terrorists. Ghali was instrumental in the...
Op-eds
First Suicide Bombing Reported in Mali
It was just a matter of time before jihadists in Mali began employing suicide bombers. Yesterday, a suicide bomber attempted to attack a military checkpoint in the town of Gao. The attacker faile...
Op-eds
The War’s in Mali, But the Danger is International
Since France began aerial bombardment of Islamist rebels in Mali last week, the larger worry has shifted from within the beleaguered country’s borders to the wider world. There are concerns...
Op-eds
US Adds West African Group, 2 Leaders, to Terrorism List
The US government has added the al Qaeda-linked Movement for Tawhid [Unity] and Jihad in West Africa and two of its leaders to the list of global terrorists and entities. The Movement for Tawhid...
Op-eds
China Goes on Safari
By Dr. J. Peter Pham Understandably, the foreign policy focus of United States policymakers and media has been trained lately primarily on the ongoing events in the Greater Midd...
Op-eds
Criminal Networks in West Africa: An Emerging Security Challenge
On April 30, Sidi Ould Sidna, a.k.a. Abou Jendel, an al-Qaeda-linked militant who was escaped earlier in the month from the courthouse in Nouakchott, Mauritania, where he was being tried for the...
Op-eds
Rising Sun and Dark Continent: Japan’s Courtship of Africa
On May 28, forty African heads of state and government trooped into the Pacifico Conference Centre in the Japanese port city of Yokohama to join their host, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukada, in kickin...
Op-eds
Milestone in Partnership to Counter Terrorism in the Sahel
By Dr. J. Peter Pham Last Saturday, military personnel from the Unites States and thirteen African and European countries wrapped up a joint military exercise in the Malian capi...
Op-eds
The War on Terrorism in Africa: Assessment and Prospects
The end of one year and the beginning of another is a good time both to take stock of where we have been and to look ahead at the paths we are likely to take and the battles which we will have to...
Op-eds
Securing Africa
On February 6, 2007, President George W. Bush launched a major evolution in American military posture when he formally announced that he had directed the Pentagon to establish a new unified...
Op-eds
Troubled Paradise: The Mixed Success of the African Union’s Intervention in the Comoros
Located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel off the east coast of the Africa, the Comoros Islands – Ngazidja (Grande Comore), Mwali (Mohéli), Nzwani (Anjouan), and Mahor&ea...
Op-eds
South Sudan: Simmering Below the Surface
Last Friday, seven Nigerian soldiers were laid to rest with full military honors in Abuja. The seven peacekeepers – along with one comrade each from Botswana, Mali, and Senegal – were...
Op-eds
Côte d’Ivoire Crisis: Some Lessons to Be Learned
In my review last week of Africa's likely top flash points for 2011, I expressed my concern that The year that was supposed to be Côte d'Ivoire's "ann...
Op-eds
Dictators: How to Prop Up Your Regime
Last week, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, abruptly fired his foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki. Even by his low standards of etiquette, the event was unprecedented, leaving aghast...
Op-eds
Iran: The War of the Persian Succession (cont.)
So Foreign Minister Mottaki has been fired while on an official trip to Senegal. Meanwhile, executions go on apace within the prisons of the country, and several political prisoners prefer to sta...