Last week, a UN fact-finding mission for Sudan called for an independent and impartial force to be deployed "without delay" to protect civilians. Its case would not have been harmed by reports this week of a new set of grave human rights violations in the country. In southeastern Sennar state, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were accused of killing 40 people in artillery strikes on local markets and residential areas, while in North Darfur's famine-stricken Zam Zam displacement site, the RSF reportedly tightened a siege and arrested traders trying to supply the camp.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a statement Sept. 6 condemning the treason charges leveled against protestors in Nigeria last month. A total of 124 people were arrested during the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria campaign in August, and 10 of those individuals have been charged with treason. The crime of treason can be punishable by death in the West African country.

At least 81 people were killed in an attack by militants on the village of Mafa, in Nigeria's northeastern Yobe state. A statement listing grievances against the village was left at the scene in the name of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram splinter group. The Sept. 1 attack appears to have been in revenge for villagers alerting the military to the insurgents' presence in the area—which lies on a smuggling route to ISWAP bases in the Lake Chad region. (Al Jazeera, TNH, NYT) 

Tensions are ratcheting up in the Horn of Africa over the deployment of Egyptian troops to Somalia. Ethiopia, Somalia's neighbor, isn’t happy. It has soldiers in Somalia acting as a buffer against al-Shabab insurgents, but now Mogadishu has asked them to withdraw. High-stakes strategic interests are at play. Ethiopia and Egypt have been locked in a long-standing dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Egypt regards as an existential threat. Meanwhile, landlocked Ethiopia has also enraged Somalia over its determination to find a port to lease. It has turned to the breakaway region of Somaliland, dangling the prospect of recognizing its independence—an absolute red line for Mogadishu. The new defense agreement between Egypt and Somalia has underlined just how serious the tensions are. Egypt is planning to send 5,000 soldiers to Somalia to join a new-look African Union force, with a separate 5,000 stationed on the Ethiopian border.

Russia is withdrawing 100 of its paramilitary troops from Burkina Faso to assist in the war with Ukraine, reports indicate. The troops are part of a contingent of some 300 fighters from the Medvedi or Bear Brigade—one of the Russian private military companies operating in West Africa—who arrived in Burkina Faso in May to support the country's ruling military junta. In a statement, the group said its forces would return home to support Russia's defense of Kursk oblast against Ukraine's recent cross-border offensive. There are fears the pull-out could embolden jihadist insurgents in Burkina Faso, who recently killed up to 300 people in one of the biggest attacks in years. (BBC News, Kyiv Post)

US-sponsored talks to halt the 16-month conflict in Sudan kicked off in Geneva Aug. 13, but there was a no-show from the army despite all the fanfare. There had been hope that the new venue and buy-in from regional powers supporting the warring factions—including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates—would give the process a better chance of succeeding than prior, disjointed mediation attempts. But the army's command remains internally divided on the issue of dialogue—especially while it is on the back foot militarily—and is wary of the US, which it sees as a perennial critic. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the army's rival, is meanwhile being accused of attending talks only to launder its image and bolster its international legitimacy. Grassroots civilian groups also remain deeply wary of another potential power-sharing accord that strengthens the military generals at their expense.

Mali announced Aug. 5 that it has cut diplomatic relations with Ukraine, after a Kyiv military official boasted of having aided an insurgent attack in the country's north that left scores of government troops and Russian mercenaries dead a week earlier. Andrii Yusov, spokesman for Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency, said on social media that "the rebels received necessary information, and not just information, which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals." While not saying whether Ukrainian military personnel were involved in the fighting or were present in the country, Yusov cryptically added that the GUR "won't discuss the details at the moment, but there will be more to come." Malian official Col. Abdoulaye Maiga said Yusov's comments "admitted Ukraine's involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups."

A commander of Russia's paramilitary Africa Corps was killed along with some 50 of his fighters in an insurgent ambush amid a sandstorm in northern Mali on July 27. The attack, in Tinzaouatène district along the Algerian border northeast of the desert city of Kidal, is said to be the biggest loss ever for Russian forces in Africa. However, it is unclear who carried it out, as two mutually hostile groups have claimed responsibility. "Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns," said a statement by Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the Permanent Strategic Cadre for Peace, Security & Development (CSP-PSD), an alliance of Tuareg rebel groups fighting for independence in Mali's north, formery known as the Coordinating Body of Azawad Movements (CMA). But a separate statement by Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, also claimed sole responsibility for the attack. The Malian regime and Russian mercenaries have been fighting both groups in the region. (CNN, BBC News, FDD, Al Jazeera)