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The military chiefs of 15 West African nations have begun deliberations in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to “finalize a road map” for an armed intervention in Mali, whose northern half is occupied by Islamists linked to al-Qaeda.
Mali’s interim president, Dioncounda Traore, left, asked the Economic Community of West African States, or Ecowas, on Sept. 1 for air support to destroy rebel bases and for five battalions to help reconquer northern towns.
Somali government forces backed by AMISOM troops have captured Harbole town in southern Somalia.
The brief afternoon operation also recovered an assortment of weapons and ammunition from the al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group, al-Shabaab.Harbole is 6km from Miido which also fell to AMISOM troops just 10 days ago.
President Obama denounced the wave of violence that swept through the Middle East and claimed the lives of four Americans in Libya including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens.
The envoy was killed after gun-toting protesters stormed the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city.
Howitzer artillery shelling is being used on civilian territory surrounding the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) headquarters of Laiza, claim rebel sources.
Government army artillery battalions 364 and 370 under Artillery Operational Command have reportedly been firing 105 mm howitzers against KIA bases in northern Burma since last week.
Ethiopia’s government is in peace talks with the Ogaden National Liberation Front, an outlawed ethnic-Somali rebel group, Communications Minister Bereket Simon said.
“It’s a very positive step and we will pursue negotiations up to the last and try to bring all concerned in that area to the constitutional framework,” Bereket said in a phone interview from the capital, Addis Ababa, today.
Principles to end the 28-year conflict in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali regional state were agreed during initial talks on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7 in Nairobi, the rebel group said in an e-mailed statement today.
Said al-Shihri, described as the second-in-command of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has been killed in an operation in southern Yemen, government officials say.
Al-Shihri was reportedly killed with six others in the Hadramawt area.
Some reports say Yemeni troops were involved, others that it was an air strike, possibly a US drone attack.
Al-Shihri, a Saudi national, was released by the US from detention in Guantanamo Bay in 2007.
Syrian troops bombarded a central neighbourhood of Aleppo on Sunday after a day of fierce clashes with rebels who tried to take the regime-controlled district, a watchdog said.
“The bombardment of Bustan al-Basha has stopped but could start up again any time,” a resident told AFP.