KORHOGO, Ivory Coast: Troops from Ivory Coast and neighboring Burkina Faso have launched an operation in northern Ivory Coast to flush out extremists from their border, military officials said Saturday.
The offensive, named Comoe after a river that flows through the two West African countries, is underway and has “produced results,” an Ivorian source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“At the initiative of the Ivorian army, an anti-terrorist operation has been on for several days at the border and led to the seizure of weapons,” a Burkinabe security source said.
The sources did not give any figures.
“Burkina Faso is taking part with 30 men, most of whom have been posted along the border,” to prevent insurgents from fleeing Ivory Coast, where the operation is being conducted, the source said.
“There is no way of avoiding the two armies,” said Burkina Faso’s chief of army staff General Moise Miningou during a meeting with his Ivorian counterpart in Ivory Coast on Friday.
“It’s this which has produced tangible results. This is just a first step and I assure you it won’t be the last,” he added.
The operation was launched at the start of May in the northeastern region of Ferkessedougou, sources said.
A Burkinabe soldier was injured during the operation and has been hospitalized in the northern Ivorian town of Korhogo, a Burkinabe military source said.
Extremist hideouts have been detected north of the Comoe National Park in northern Ivory Coast for over a year.
Security sources say they are extremists operating in Burkina Faso who shelter in Ivory Coast when chased.
Burkina Faso has faced repeated extremist attacks since 2015, which have claimed some 900 lives.
An attack in March 13, 2016 attack near Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan killed 19 people.
Ivory Coast, Burkina offensive to flush out extremists
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Ivory Coast, Burkina offensive to flush out extremists
- Extremist hideouts have been detected north of the Comoe National Park in northern Ivory Coast for over a year
- Burkina Faso has faced repeated extremist attacks since 2015, which have claimed some 900 lives
Treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended VP is further eroding peace deal, UN experts say
- The experts said forces from both sides are continuing to confront each other across much of the country
- “Years of neglect have fragmented government and opposition forces alike,” the experts said
UNITED NATIONS: The treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended vice president is further eroding a 2018 peace agreement he signed with President Salva Kiir, UN experts warned in a new report.
As Riek Machar’s trial is taking place in the capital, Juba, the experts said forces from both sides are continuing to confront each other across much of the country and there is a threat of renewed major conflict.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the UN Security Council last month that the crisis in South Sudan is escalating, “a breaking point” has become visible, and time is running “dangerously short” to bring the peace process back on track.
There were high hopes when oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict, but the country slid into a civil war in December 2013 largely based on ethnic divisions, when forces loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battled those loyal to Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
More than 400,000 people were killed in the war, which ended with the 2018 peace agreement that brought Kiir and Machar together in a government of national unity. But implementation has been slow, and a long-delayed presidential election is now scheduled for December 2026.
The panel of UN experts stressed in a report this week that the political and security landscape in South Sudan looks very different today than it did in 2018 and that “the conflict that now threatens looks much different to those that came before.”
“Years of neglect have fragmented government and opposition forces alike,” the experts said, “resulting in a patchwork of uniformed soldiers, defectors and armed community defense groups that are increasingly preoccupied by local struggles and often unenthused by the prospect of a national confrontation. ”
With limited supplies and low morale, South Sudan’s military has relied increasingly on aerial bombings that are “relatively indiscriminate” to disrupt the opposition, the experts said.
In a major escalation of tensions in March, a Nuer militia seized an army garrison. Kiir’s government responded, charging Machar and seven other opposition figures with treason, murder, terrorism and other crimes.
The UN experts said Kiir and his allies insist that, despite having dismissed Machar, implementation of the peace agreement is unaffected, pointing to a faction of the opposition led by Stephen Par Kuol that is still engaged in the peace process.
Those who refused to join Kuol and sided with Machar’s former deputy, Natheniel Oyet, “have largely been removed from their positions, forcing many to flee the country,” the experts said in the report.
The African Union, regional countries and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, have all called for Machar’s release and stressed their strong support for implementation of the 2018 agreement, the panel said.
According to the latest international assessment, 7.7 million people — 57 percent of the population — face “crisis” levels of food insecurity, with pockets of famine in some communities most affected by renewed fighting, the panel said.
