Ouagadougou, Feb 1, 2019 – Authorities in Burkina Faso told mining companies on Friday to toughen up “anti-jihadist” security measures in the wake of the kidnapping and killing of a Canadian geologist last month. “Faced with a security constraint that has hardened, the authorities of our country have advocated a series of security measures,” the security ministry said in a statement. The mining sector has recorded nine attacks resulting in death, injury or property damage since September 2017. After chaos engulfed Libya in 2011, an Islamist insurgency gained ground in northern Mali, while Boko Haram rose in northern Nigeria. Jihadist raids began in northern Burkina Faso in 2015 before spreading to the east, near the border with Togo and Benin.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 04, 2019 16:52 UTC