Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The activities of armed terrorist groups are further complicating humanitarian access in the Ménaka region in the north-east of the country, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Wednesday. Humanitarian access is difficult outside the town of Ménaka beyond about 10 [...] Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South Africa this weekend marked the one-year anniversary of the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma which sparked massive riots in the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces. Zuma’s arrest followed a Constitutional Court for defying the Zondo Commission of Inquiry which investigated massive graft during his [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, (Mali) - Two humanitarian workers of the Malian Red Cross were killed on Wednesday in an attack on their vehicle in the locality of Kayes, the NGO announced Thursday in a statement. The Malian Red Cross said one of its teams in a vehicle was attacked at around 6 pm. [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Three assailants were killed, and one wounded on Tuesday night on two Ivorian army bases in Abidjan, the Ivorian army announced in a statement. According to a press release, on the night of April 20 to 21, 2021, at around 1 a.m., unidentified individuals opened fire [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Friday said it was alarmed by the upsurge in violence in the Greater Kasai region of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has already displaced thousands of civilians. According to local Congolese authorities, nearly 21,000 people - mainly women and [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The Burkinabe army conducted 113 air operations, 38 security operations and 305 patrols from 1-7 February, 2021, a statement by the General Staff of the Armed Forces said here Tuesday. The statement said the National Armed Forces were continuing the operations to secure the national territory [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Three Malian soldiers were killed in an ambush on Tuesday by an armed terrorist group in the central Mopti region, the army said in a statement. According to the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA), on October 6, 2020 at around 9 p.m Birga village was attacked and [...] Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - Some 43,829 refugees and asylum seekers were repatriated during the past three months of the new Burundian regime, the spokesperson for the ministry of the Interior, Pierre Nkurikiye, said here Thursday on state radio. He said a new group of 1,500 returnees was expected Thursday at the [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Two people were killed Friday in the explosion of an artisanal mine in Titao commune, Loroum province (North), PANA learned from a security source. "We were informed that two people died in a mine explosion. It was a woman carrying her children on a cart that [...] Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - At least five people were killed in a road crash involving a car and a lorry on the highway connecting Kigali to North Western Rwanda, a police source told PANA here Thursday. The police said they suspected poor visibility and over-speeding on the part of the two [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The National Union of Police (UNAPOL) in Burkina Faso has expressed its discontent after the death on Saturday of ten police officers in an attack on their station in the Sahel.  "Once again the national police, the national army and the people of Burkina Faso have [...] Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - Faced with the many security crises that are shaking the country, the Nigerien authorities have decided to mobilize the populations to get them to become more involved in the fight against terrorism through an information and awareness campaign of social strata of the country.   On Thursday while [...] Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - The President of the Congolese National Assembly, Isidore Mvouba, on Tuesday urged the Congolese government to "vigorously" tackle the scourge that has disrupted the tranquility of citizens in large cities. ''Lately, in all his interventions, the President of the Republic has constantly stigmatized this situation. Let's not [...] Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA)  -  The European Union (EU) Friday handed over to the Malian gendarmerie here a mobile security camp estimated to cost more than 600 million CFA francs, official sources told PANA here Saturday. The equipment forms part of the implementation of a project support for strengthening security in the [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - At least one Burkinabe gendarme was killed and a dozen terrorists were shot dead on New Year's eve in an attack on the gendarmerie in Djibo, Soum province in the Sahel, a security source told PANA. It said the attack lasted more than an hour before [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Burkina Faso's committee for working out the national security policy and strategy which had a hundred days to propose a document has finished its work, PANA learnt on Friday from the ministry in charge of security.   A ceremony will be held later the same day for [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA)  - The security situation in the Sahel is very worrying, said Gilles Yabi, director and founder of Wati, a citizen think thank on West Africa, based in Dakar, in an interview with PANA. According to Yabi, the situation has been worrying for several years, but above all, [...] Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) - Togo's former coach of the Under-17 Sparrowhawks (2005-2007), Abraw Samer, was shown among the 18 people arrested in connection with the so-called "attempted insurrection" case in Lome in Sokode, PANA learnt from police sources. Samer is linked to the case of attempted insurrection on November 23 in [...] Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) -  Togo's security and defence forces have foiled an insurgency attempt in Lomé and Sokodé following attacks on gendarmes and police officers, and the destruction of public property, according to Minister of Security, General Yark Damehame.   The minister said on Tuesday that acts of vandalism and aggression were [...] Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – There was chaos in Cape Town on Friday after a delegation of religious leaders and representatives of the Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) were attacked inside the Central Methodist Church by refugees who are demanding a safe exit from South Africa. As previously reported by PANA, [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Burkina Faso's Minister of Communication and government spokesman Rémis Dandjinou on Thursday denied the presence of a French military base in Djibo, a Burkinabe town of Soum province in the Sahel. "There is no French base established in Djibo but it is the Barkane force that [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Burkina Faso is developing a national strategy to counter radicalization and violent extremism, PANA on Wednesday from the Office of the Prime Minister of this West African country which is in the grip of terrorism since 2015. Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Social Cohesion minister Simeon Sawadogo [...] Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - Niger's Minister of National Defense, Kalla Moutari, on Thursday  confirmed the withdrawal of French troops from the Madama military base (far north of the country), near the Libyan border.   According to Mr. Moutari, "Our 84th battalion occupied the base for many years, but with the situation in [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA)  -  The High Council for National Defense (CSDN), chaired by Burkinabé President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, met on Wednesday to take stock of the country's security situation, said the presidency in a statement copied to PANA here. "During this session, I gave new directions in the perspective [...] Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) - Lieutenant-Colonel Yaovi Okpaoul has been appointed Director General of the Togolese national police,  official sources told PANA on Friday in Lomé. He replaces divisional Superintendent Têko Mawuli Koudouovoh, who is now new chief of the directorate of the national commission to combat the proliferation, circulation and illicit [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The Burkinabe Ministry of Security Monday declared 247 people wanted in connection with terrorist activities. "These individuals are wanted for participation in a terrorist enterprise," said the Ministry of Security. Faced since 2015 with a resurgence of terrorist attacks, the Burkinabe army has increased operations in recent [...] Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - At least two soldiers were injured on Tuesday in Gassel Garaf, in the northern Burkina Faso, when their vehicle jumped on a mine, security and local sources said. "We saw wounded soldiers being transported to the hospital. Their vehicle is completely destroyed," a local radio journalist [...] Full text...