Tuaregs flee MaliSeveral hundred civilians fleeing fighting between the army and Tuareg rebels in northern Mali have crossed the border into Burkina Faso since April. Over 300, mostly women and children, have been registered by the Burkina Faso National Commission for Refugees (CONAREF) in Ouagadougou, where they are being sheltered in locker rooms at the football stadium. A further 600 are setting up makeshift shelters in Djibo, some 50 kilometers from the Mali border. "The number of refugees arriving and claiming asylum is increasing," CONAREF official Kogda Der told the UN news agency IRIN.

Mali is sending army reinforcements to the desert North after attacks by Tuareg guerillas on several army posts left one dead May 6. A military base in Diabaly was attacked by rebels who made off with army supplies. (AFP, May 6) The new attacks began May 3 when Mali's army said it killed four Tuareg rebels after they attacked a military convoy. Authorities called it the first clash since an April 3 ceasefire brokered in Libya. (Reuters, May 3) In late April, Niger's parliament passed a tough new anti-terrorism law in response to the insurgency. (Reuters Africa, April 20)

A Feb. 1 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Mauritania and two other high-profile attacks since December have thrown into question the African republic's democratic opening. In the latest attack, the façade of the Israeli Embassy in Nouakchott, that capital, was sprayed with machine-gun fire in the early hours of the morning. Guards returned fire and three people leaving a nearby nightclub were wounded. In December, four French tourists and three Mauritanian soldiers were shot dead by men accused of belonging to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Many in Mauritania say the attacks indicate a radicalization of society since a reformist coup in a 2005 ended harsh military rule. "Religious sentiment in Mauritania has become much stronger [since the coup], similar now to many Arab countries," said Professor Yahya Ould Al-Bara, an anthropologist at the University of Nouakchott. (IRIN, Feb. 1)

United Nations "peacekeepers" in the disputed African territory of Western Sahara have vandalized ancient rock paintings, a UN official told the London Times. The paper published photos of the paintings at the archaeological site of Lajuad, some 6,000 years old—defaced with spray paint. Julian Harston, the UN official responsible for Western Sahara, said he was shocked by the vandalism, and that funds would be sought from UNESCO to remove the graffiti. UN peacekeepers were deployed in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire between Moroccan occupation forces and the Polisario Front independence movement.

In a statement on its website, the Nigérien Justice Movement (MNJ) claimed a Jan. 22 attack on Tanout in the Zinder district of Niger, in which at least three soldiers were killed, six wounded and nine others, including the town's prefect, were taken captive. (IRIN, Afriquenligne, Jan. 22) The French nuclear company Areva has signed a deal with Niger to open a second uranium mine in the west of the country, in return for increasing payments to the government by 50%. Protested MNJ commander Aghaly ag-Alambo: "The company has already worked here for 30 years but the local population hasn't even benefited from 1 percent of this wealth." (Financial Times, Jan. 15)

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the Jan. 2 suicide bombing in Algeria that killed five and injured 20. At 6:45 AM, a small truck laden with explosives drove at high speed towards a police station in Naciria, east of Algiers in the wilaya of Boumerdès. The driver reportedly detonated the Toyota Hilux after he was ordered to stop by police. In a statement aired by Al Arabiya TV, al-Qaeda franchise spokesman Salah Abou Mohammad said the truck carried at least 500 kilogrmas of explosives. A 10-year-old girl on her way to buy milk was among those killed by the blast. Algerian army forces immediately sealed off Naciria and began conducting "military operations" in nearby Sid Ali Bounab, a reported al-Qaeda stronghold. (Magharebia, Jan. 3)

Niger's army reports soldiers shot dead seven Tuareg civilians "by accident" in a fire-fight with rebels from the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) in the Tiguidit region, some 80 kilometers northeast of the provincial capital Agadez. Officials say the civilians were shot when their four Toyota pickups strayed onto the battlefield. Two of those killed were well-known Tuareg traders, Sidi Amar and Ousmane Sidi. "This accident has deeply affected the army which has in its ranks a member of the family of one of those killed," read the Defense Ministry's Dec. 10 statement, claiming residents had been warned of military operations in the area.

Two car bombs detonated on the morning of Dec. 11 at an Algiers court building and a UN facility, leaving over 60 dead, scores injured and more still missing in the rubble of collapsed buildings. When the first bomb exploded at 9:40 AM outside the Constitutional Council in the downtown district of Ben Aknoun, it was heard up to 15 kilometers away. A bus carrying law students to class along the major thoroughfare was crushed in the blast. Just as first responders were arriving the site of the bombing, a second car bomb destroyed the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the neighboring residential district of Hydra. (Magharebia, Dec. 11)