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Nigerian state-run TV says a bloc of West African nations has agreed to send 3,000 troops to stabilize Mali.
The decision came late Sunday at the end of an emergency ECOWAS bloc summit in Nigeria’s capital.
Military experts from the U.N., ECOWAS, Europe and the African Union have drafted a plan to recapture northern Mali from militants, but it would need final approval from the African Union and the U.N. Security Council before it could be carried out.
Sudanese rebels said Thursday that they ambushed a military patrol, killing 10 soldiers, and shot down a government warplane after its bombs killed two civilians in an embattled southern region.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North said in a statement that the Antonov bomber was downed Wednesday by rebels in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state.
Fierce clashes broke out on Monday between Somaliland troops and separatist rebels in Sool’s Hudun district, about 60 kilometres north of the main Las Anod town. It is believed several hundred rebels have been stationed in Hudun since June 2010.
Reports in the area said troops repelled an attack by the rebel Khaatumo early Monday, inflicting “heavy” casualties. They added the clash lasted less than an hour and the troops, who were in full control, conducting searches in the area.
Residents say al-Shabaab fighters launched Sunday night a mortar attack against ships docked the port of Kismayo city, where is largely controlled by Somali and Kenya forces along with the pro-government Raskamboni fighters.
The attack happened late last night as ships reportedly carrying weapons for the Kenyan AMISOM army in Kismayo trying to dock at the harbor, with some reports the attack caused uncounted loss of life and property in the port.
The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army North said on Friday that it repulsed an advance by government troops on a village in South Kordofan state, killing “70 enemy combatants” in a lengthy battle.
Fighting in South Kordofan between the SPLM/A-N and the government has intensified since Sudan and South Sudan signed a security deal on 27 September dictating cessation of support to rebel groups in each other’s territories.
The European Union is considering sending about 200 troops to train Mali’s army to retake the Islamist-held north, but is not willing to deploy them in battle, EU officials said on Tuesday.
Fears are growing in Europe that the African country could turn into a platform for terrorist attacks, after Islamist fighters seized two-thirds of its territory earlier this year.
“There is a willingness among member states to put boots on the ground - but only on the parade ground,” one of the EU officials said. “I haven’t heard from member states a willingness to put people in the field.”
Two park rangers and a soldier were killed in a firefight with armed militia in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where rebels have transformed Africa’s oldest national park into a war zone, officials said on Friday.
Congo’s rugged eastern borderlands are among the world’s most bio-diverse areas and are home to one of the last remaining populations of mountain gorillas. But they have also been at the center of nearly two decades of armed conflict, which have left millions dead.