The Nigerian Air Force on Sunday blamed a “misfire” for an airstrike that struck a market in northeastern Nigeria. Local media and human rights groups said over 100 civilians were killed in the attack, including women and children.
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JOHANNESBURG: A strategically important air base and port have been offered to the U.S. as a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz begins and Iran-backed threats target the key Red Sea choke point of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Top U.S. military officials, including the commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), Gen. Dagvin Anderson, recently visited facilities being offered in Somaliland. Somaliland is a pro-U.S. outpost, having broken away from war-torn Somalia in 1991.
Bab-el-Mandeb, which is Arabic for "gate of tears," has become the main route for oil to ship out of the Middle East to Asia since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed. Bloomberg News reported that Saudi Arabia has switched to shipping potentially up to 7 million barrels of oil a day from its port at Yanbu on the Red Sea through the strait. It’s reported that up to 14% of the world’s shipping passes through the 16-mile-wide strait.
IS TRUMP CONSIDERING BOLD AFRICA PLAY TO PUSH BACK ON CHINA, RUSSIA AND ISLAMIC TERRORISTS?
Enter the controversial offer to the U.S. of an air and naval base at Berbera in Somaliland. The official Republic of Somaliland site on X extolled Berbera’s virtues last month, boasting that it has "a deep water port along the artery connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean", and "one of Africa’s longest runways, originally developed as a NASA emergency landing site."
"Berbera obviously has huge strategic potential," for sea and air operations, Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former U.K. ambassador to Yemen and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital.
The U.S. does have another Red Sea base in Djibouti, but Fitton-Brown told Fox News Digital the government there is increasingly uncomfortable with some administration’s policies: "Djibouti becomes an increasingly reluctant, unwilling ally to the U.S. in helping enforce sanctions on the Houthis. Somaliland, which is almost equally well-placed to address issues on the western and southwestern coasts of Yemen, can help the U.S., Israel and the UAE combat the Houthis."
The controversy comes over the question of U.S. recognition of Somaliland.
President Donald Trump, in the Oval Office last August, told reporters, "We’re looking into that right now," when asked about the recognition of Somaliland and the possible resettlement of Gazans there, adding, "We’re working on that right now, Somaliland."
But this past week, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "The United States continues to recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia, which includes the territory of Somaliland."
Last year Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland.
TRUMP SEEKS WARSHIPS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES TO HELP SECURE STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Iran is pushing the Houthis to take action in the Red Sea. "Insecurity in other straits, including the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea, is one of the options of the Resistance Front, and the situation will become much more complicated than it is today for the Americans," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-linked Tasmin news agency warned on March 21.
Baraa Shaiban, an expert on the Houthis at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), says the recognition of Somaliland is problematic, as it "will upset the U.S. relationship with the Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, many of which are U.S. allies. It would be unwise for the United States to upset its allies in the region just to gain access to Somaliland ports."
A spokesperson for AFRICOM told Fox News Digital, "The U.S. is not seeking to establish new basing, as such actions do not align with the America First security framework articulated by the President and Secretary of War."
While publicly both the use of bases and recognition of Somaliland are no-go areas, analysts say that with Somaliland offering the use of its bases without immediate recognition by the administration, the issue is perhaps privately not off the table.
And that could be why a recent video shared with Fox News Digital shows AFRICOM's Gen. Anderson and a large group of senior military officials in Somaliland. Anderson met with Somaliland's president, and appeared to inspect the port in Berbera in November, just five months ago.
That’s not the only reported visit. Somaliland’s top diplomatic representative in Washington, Bashir Goth, said at a recent Foreign Policy Research Institute debate, "The war in the Middle East has elevated Somaliland’s strategic importance. U.S. military interest has been very strong. Every month, there has been a delegation from AFRICOM to Hargeisa," the capital of Somaliland.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Republic of Somaliland, but they declined to comment.
Pope Leo XIV starts a four-nation visit to Africa Monday, visiting the fastest-growing continent for the Catholic Church as he embarks on his fourth foreign trip since becoming pontiff in 2025.
While the trip does not include the continent’s most populous nation of Nigeria — where thousands of the faithful have been killed for their religious beliefs — it begins in the Muslim-majority country of Algeria.
The Vatican has called the trip "A pilgrim in Africa." The main themes Leo is expected to address include peace, migration, the environment, young people and the family, according to the Holy See. He will make 25 speeches in four of Africa’s main languages — French, English, Portuguese and Spanish.
POPE LEO XIV CALLS OUT CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION AMID LATEST MASSACRE OF CIVILIANS IN AFRICAN NATION
Analysts and clerics are keen to stress the overall importance of this visit to the continent. "I believe the Holy Father is walking with the African church in the context of the global church," Rev. Daniel Male, secretary of the Union of Augustinian Friars of Africa, told the Religion News Service. He added, "He is affirming the African churches’ growth and vibrancy and is also making a statement that the church has a preferential option for the poor and those at the margins."
The Catholic OSV News added the visit "highlights peace efforts, the works of mercy, and the Catholic Church’s vibrant presence on the continent."
The National Catholic Register stated that in 1910 Africa was home to less than 1 million Catholics. The latest figures available for 2024 estimate there are now 288 million.
Commenting on his absence from Nigeria, Frans Cronje, African-based analyst at the Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, told Fox News Digital, "Given Nigeria's role as the epicenter of the terror threat faced by Africa's Christians, it will be disappointing to many of them to learn that the pope has left that country off his Africa agenda. The country has become ground zero for the global Islamist terror threat."
POPE LEO XIV CONDEMNS BRUTAL MACHETE ATTACK THAT KILLED 49 CHRISTIANS DURING PRAYER IN CONGO
The pontiff must be invited to a country by the host government. Analysts say the government of Nigeria may feel a papal visit may be too sensitive at this time. But the Nigerian government did not respond to requests for comment on this issue by Fox News Digital.
Details of the trip include:
The Vatican’s yearbook for 2025, the Annuario Pontificio, states Catholics number 8,740 out of a population of 46–48 million. The pope is believed to be coming to Algeria to visit the ancient city of Hippo, now called Annaba. The city was home to St. Augustine, the "doctor of the church." Pope Leo is the first pontiff to belong to the Augustinian Order.
He is also expected to emphasize interfaith dialogue with Islam when he visits the Great Mosque of Algiers. This is one of the biggest in the world, capable of accommodating up to 120,000 people.
The 2026 Open Doors World Watch List placed Algeria in the 20th position for Christian persecution. It said 47 churches of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) have been closed by the authorities.
The Associated Press reported that Algerian authorities rejected a Vatican request for Leo to visit Médéa to pray at the Tibhirine monastery, the place where seven French Trappist monks were kidnapped and killed May 21, 1996, by Islamic extremists during the country’s civil war.
The Catholic EWTN organization reports that Catholics make up between 30% and 35% of the population of some 30 million.
The pope will preside over five public Masses and addresses in three cities. He will also meet with vulnerable children at the Ngul Zamba Orphanage in the capital city of Yaoundé.
In the latest government census, some 56% of Angola’s population identified as being Catholic.
The most significant part of the pope’s visit to Angola is expected to be when he goes to the town of Muxima, where he will pray at a shrine to the Virgin Mary, known locally as "Mama Muxima," or "mother of the heart." This is said to be the spiritual home for many Angolans, drawing over 2 million pilgrims every year.
The Vatican has stated that approximately 80% of the population of Equatorial Guinea are Catholic. Leo will hold several Masses and addresses, and will visit a new psychiatric hospital and a prison. The Jean Pierre Olie Psychiatric Hospital in Sampaka, Malabo, was only inaugurated in December and is the country’s first modern specialized mental health facility. It collaborates with France’s Hospital Saint-Anne in Paris.
In a potentially controversial move, the pope will also visit a prison in Bata notorious for reports of inmate torture and abuse.
The Vatican did not respond to Fox News Digital questions by press time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
South Africa's second-largest party, the Democratic Alliance, elected Cape Town's mayor Sunday to lead it into the 2029 national polls, stepping up its drive to take votes away from the faltering ANC.
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Leo XIV will become the first pope to visit Algeria on Monday, taking a message of dialogue with Islam on a trip that also represents a personal pilgrimage for the American pontiff.
The post Leo XIV to Become First Pope to Visit Muslim Algeria appeared first on Breitbart.
Six-time convicted felon Hunter Biden is $17 million in debt and has self-deported overseas, according to his former attorneys suing him for unpaid legal bills.
The post Nolte: Hunter Biden Self-Deports to South Africa Fleeing $17 Million in Debts appeared first on Breitbart.
Das Internet wird zur Frontlinie. Sabotage, Kriege und Engpässe bedrohen die unsichtbaren Leitungen der digitalen Welt. Der Irankrieg zeigt die Verwundbarkeit auf.
Dieser Beitrag Unterseekabel 2Africa Wie der Irankrieg die Internet-Infrastruktur gefährdet wurde veröffentlich auf JUNGE FREIHEIT.
JOHANNESBURG — A Holy Week attack in a predominantly Christian town in Nigeria that left a reported 28 dead has led to widespread fears that more of Christ’s followers could be targeted over the coming Easter weekend.
On Palm Sunday last weekend, multiple gunmen reportedly shouted a Muslim declaration as they randomly opened fire in the predominantly Christian town of Angwan Rukuba in the Jos District of Nigeria’s Plateau State.
"The terrorists stormed the area in a commando style and started shooting, sporadically chanting, 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great in Arabic)," a field worker told the aid agency Voice of the Martyrs from the scene. "The area is (a majority) Christian community."
AFTER TRUMP STRIKES ISLAMIST TERRORISTS, US GENERAL TRAVELS TO NIGERIA WITH MILITANTS 'ON THE RUN'
Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors UK & Ireland, told Fox News Digital this Easter there are fears of more attacks against Christians in Nigeria.
"Tragic events like this are all too common in Plateau State and large areas of northern Nigeria," Blyth said.
"And too often they can occur on Christian holy days like this. Indeed, people in the region will remember the devastating 2023 Christmas Eve attacks in Benue state that killed over 140 people."
U.S. Principal Adviser for Global Religious Freedom Mark Walker called on Nigerian authorities to increase security to protect Christians. He posted on X, "We call on the Nigerian government to significantly ramp up security for Christians ahead of and during Easter. We recognize and appreciate the steps the government of Nigeria has taken to improve security, however, the targeted killing of Christians, especially on Christian holidays, is unacceptable. We urge the Nigerian leadership to engage and to do so now."
Nigeria is ranked the seventh-worst country in the world for Christian persecution by Open Doors. The organization claims it accounts for 72% of the total number of Christian killings worldwide in 2025.
A local human rights lawyer who asked to conceal his name due to security fears, was nearby when the Palm Sunday attack happened. He told Fox News Digital, "A group of people came, around 20, some on motorcycles, and started shooting."
He added the area is essentially a Christian one "and for anybody to go and openly shoot at people, then it must be that that person had Christians in mind."
CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN SYSTEMATIC KIDNAPPING CAMPAIGN IN NIGERIA BY JIHADI HERDSMEN, EXPERTS SAY
Another local Christian resident, who also asked to withhold his name, told Fox News Digital, "I can assure you that the majority position among Christians in Nigeria is that what we are experiencing in Nigeria is Islamic expansionism, and it must be stopped, using whatever means is necessary."
The human rights lawyer said there are reports of videos circulating that are threatening more attacks against Christians, adding, "Here in Jos in Nigeria, we say that there is no Christian holiday or event left on the Christian calendar that has escaped an attack by radical Islamists or terrorists in Nigeria, whether it is Christmas, Easter or Good Friday, Palm Sunday or Sunday services or whatever. We are trapped."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Todd Nettleton of the Voice of the Martyrs’ group said that, in countries like Nigeria, "Easter is often a season of peril. Holy days on the Christian calendar, including Christmas and Easter, are often times when those who hate the Gospel target our brothers and sisters in violent attacks."
Open Doors’ Blythe said, "The fear of being brutally attacked will hang over millions of Christians across Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa, as they prepare for Easter, a festival that should be the most joyful moment in the Christian calendar. We will be praying that Christians around the world will be safe and free to celebrate and worship jubilantly this Eastertide."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Nigerian government for comment but received no response.
At least 33 bodies — including children and dismembered remains stuffed in sacks — were unearthed from a mass grave in western Kenya on Thursday, raising questions about whether the corpses were secretly moved from a hospital morgue.
Detectives exhumed the remains of 25 children and eight adults, as well as dismembered body parts packed in gunny sacks, from a mass grave at a church-owned cemetery in Kericho, authorities said.
"We were able to establish that these were bodies transferred from Nyamira District Hospital to a private cemetery in Kericho," Mohamed Amin, who leads the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, told reporters.
He said detectives are seeking to determine whether the bodies were legally disposed of after being removed from a morgue.
The Associated Press reported that Kenyan law allows hospitals and morgues to dispose of unclaimed bodies after 14 days with court authorization.
Government pathologists conducted autopsies Thursday to determine the cause of death, though the identities of the victims have not been released.
Authorities have arrested two people in connection with the case.
HUNDREDS OF MUTILATED BODIES FOUND IN SUSPECTED NIGERIAN ORGAN-HARVESTING RING
Local media reported the bodies were transported in a government vehicle by unidentified individuals and buried hastily, with some gravediggers later alerting police.
"We need authorities to conduct a thorough investigation," resident Brian Kibunja said.
Another resident, Samuel Moso, said authorities should "reveal if the government was involved or if a different group of people was behind the mass burial."
There have been three major mass-grave incidents in Kenya over the past three years.
Police in 2023 uncovered hundreds of bodies buried in a forest in Kenya’s coastal Kilifi region, exhuming mass graves tied to a religious leader accused of starving his followers to death.
In 2024, authorities recovered nine bodies from a dumpsite in Nairobi, the Eastern African nation's capital.
The latest discovery comes as concerns grow among some Kenyans over alleged abuses by police.
Missing Voices, a human rights group, said it documented 125 extrajudicial killings and six enforced disappearances in Kenya over the past year, compared to 104 reported killings the year before.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Uganda’s military chief has warned the African country’s armed forces could enter the Iran war on Israel’s side after issuing a series of statements on social media that went viral this week.
Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba — son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni — who is considered to be his likely successor, has spent this week making a barrage of posts on X in support of Israel.
"We stand with Israel because we are Christians," he wrote, adding in another post, "Uganda is the David that was forgotten and neglected by the world. We will defeat the giant, Goliath."
INSIDE THE ISRAELI DRONE UNIT TAKING ON IRAN AND HEZBOLLAH
Kainerugaba began his social media blitz with, "We want the war in the Middle East to end now. The world is tired of it. But any talk of destroying or defeating Israel will bring us into the war. On the side of Israel!"
Uganda has 45,000 active military personnel in the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF), with around 35,000 reserves, according to its ministry of defense. It’s estimated to have approximately 240 tanks and over 1,000 armored fighting vehicles.
The nation is also heavily involved militarily in conflict-affected countries. Its soldiers fight as part of an African Union force against Islamist al-Shabab terrorists in Somalia. Their army is also still operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against the Islamic State-linked ADF terrorist group.
While Iran is not known to have any interests in Uganda, it has been accused of covert operations in neighboring Kenya and Tanzania, including the running of smuggling networks and making controversial diplomatic and economic outreach with questionable motives throughout the region. Although landlocked, Uganda is said to be wary of Iran’s strategic interest in gaining a presence in the regional waters of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
NEXT MOVE ON IRAN: SEIZE KHARG ISLAND, SECURE URANIUM OR RISK GROUND WAR ESCALATION
In another post he stated, "Israel stood with us when we were nobodies in the 1980s and 1990s. Why wouldn't we defend her now that our GDP is $100 billion? One of the largest in Africa."
Israel has historically trained Ugandan forces, including the general. It is understood that Uganda maintains a strong strategic partnership with Israel, with close security and intelligence ties.
It wasn’t always like this. In 1976, with dictator Idi Amin aggressively opposing Israel, four terrorists hijacked Air France Flight 139 on its way from Tel Aviv to France. The plane was diverted to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. During the night of July 3, 1976, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) mounted a long-range rescue mission, originally codenamed Operation Thunderbolt, to rescue 106 mostly Israeli hostages being held.
The mission was retroactively renamed Operation Yonatan after the mission’s leader, Lt. Col. Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu, the elder brother of the current Israeli Prime Minister, was killed by a Ugandan sniper during the raid. The Israeli soldiers pulled off a successful rescue, but four hostages, seven hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed.
Kainerugaba announced that in a further gesture of goodwill toward Israel, he intends to have a statue of Yonatan Netanyahu erected at the exact spot in Entebbe’s airport where he fell. This week, Kainerugaba posted a photo of the statue on X, dubbing it "a sneak peek."
The U.S. military has sent MQ-9 Reaper drones to Nigeria, a U.S. defense official reportedly told The Associated Press, as fears are growing of a renewed insurgency by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
The drones were deployed after 200 U.S. troops arrived in Nigeria last month to provide training and intelligence. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is battling a complex security crisis, especially in the north of the country.
A spokesperson for AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command, told the AP that U.S. troops "are working alongside their Nigerian counterparts to provide intelligence support, advisory assistance, and targeted training in support of the Nigerian Armed Forces."
Among the most prominent Islamic militant groups active in Nigeria are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, which is affiliated with the Islamic State and is known as Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP.
NIGERIA SUICIDE BOMBINGS KILL AT LEAST 23 PEOPLE, WOUND MORE THAN 100
There is also the ISIS-linked Lakurawa, as well as other "bandit" groups that specialize in kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining.
The U.S. troops and the MQ-9 drones are based at Bauchi Airfield, a newly built airport in the northeast of the country, the spokesperson said to the AP. The number of drones deployed remains unclear.
The deployment is part of a new security partnership agreed on after President Donald Trump sounded the alarm about Christians being slaughtered in Nigeria’s security crisis.
The U.S. launched strikes against IS forces on Dec. 26 — the day after Christmas.
Earlier this month, three suspected suicide bombings killed at least 23 people and wounded 108 others in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in northeastern Nigeria. No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion quickly fell on Boko Haram, which in 2009 launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria to enforce Sharia law.
100 US TROOPS LAND IN NIGERIA AS ISLAMIC MILITANTS THREATEN WEST AFRICA REGIONAL SECURITY
MQ-9 drones cost around $30 million apiece and have separate models for land and sea. They can also be used to carry out airstrikes, but AFRICOM says they will only be used in Nigeria for intelligence-gathering and training.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says Boko Haram aims to "overthrow the current Nigerian Government and replace it with a regime based on Islamic law."
"The U.S. State Department designated Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization in November 2013," it added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Nigeria suicide bombings killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 100 others in Maiduguri, officials said Tuesday, as a Christian nonprofit leader warned the violence highlights ongoing religious persecution.
The Associated Press reported that one of the deadliest attacks on Maiduguri in recent history involved explosions in crowded areas on Monday night, including a major market in the capital of Borno state and the entrance to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso said in a statement that the wounded "sustained varying degrees of injuries," blaming the attacks on suspected suicide bombers.
President Bola Tinubu, who departed Nigeria on Tuesday for a two-day state visit to the United Kingdom, offered condolences to the victims and instructed security chiefs to "take charge of the situation" in Maiduguri.
"The Monday attacks were desperate acts of the evil-minded terrorist groups," Tinubu said. "Our gallant military and civilian task forces will curtail and put them down."
While no group has claimed responsibility, the AP reported suspicion has fallen on the Boko Haram jihadi group, which launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 to enforce its radical interpretation of Shariah law.
Since launching its insurgency, Boko Haram has grown stronger, with thousands of fighters and multiple factions, some aligned with the Islamic State group.
NIGERIA’S FIRST LADY SAYS US STRIKES WERE A ‘BLESSING,' WELCOMES COLLABORATION WITH TRUMP
The explosions on Monday night began at about 7:30 p.m. at the entrance of the teaching hospital. A few minutes later, a second and third blast followed at the Monday Market and a nearby post office hub, both about 2.5 miles from the hospital.
Caleb Jonah, who survived the explosion at the hospital entrance, told the AP he suffered injuries to his legs and hands.
"I was coming to the hospital to check (in on) a patient when I saw two men struggling with the security men at the gate," Jonah said. "Before I could process what was going on I heard the deafening blast and I passed out."
CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN SYSTEMATIC KIDNAPPING CAMPAIGN IN NIGERIA BY JIHADI HERDSMEN, EXPERTS SAY
Brad Brandon, CEO and founder of Across Nigeria, said the attack was personal. His organization is committed to transforming Nigeria and the surrounding regions by sharing the love of God through Jesus Christ, according to the group’s website.
"As the CEO and founder of Across Nigeria, these recent attacks in Maiduguri are personal and a stark reminder that the devastating violence continues in northern Nigeria," he said in a statement. "This is the result of radical Islamic groups that are allowed to operate unchecked. The only question is, how many more must be killed, before the world wakes up to the genocide that slaughters thousands of Christians every year."
"We condemn these violent acts and the perpetrators who commit them," he added. "We also call on the U.S. Government to intervene and the media to embrace their role in bringing light to the hidden things of darkness."
While Maiduguri has been at the center of deadly violence in Nigeria, it has experienced relative peace in recent years, even as extremists batter the countryside.
Monday’s attack took place less than 24 hours after the Nigerian military repelled attacks by militants outside Maiduguri.
By Tuesday morning, heavy security had been deployed to the affected locations and along major roads.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
JOHANNESBURG: The Trump administration, citing Iran, is taking more action against the Muslim Brotherhood—this time in one of the world’s worst conflicts: the civil war in Sudan.
On Monday, the State Department declared the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood (SMB) to be a "Designated Global Terrorist and intends to designate the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, effective March 16, 2026." The statement also contained a warning to Iran regarding its meddling in the conflict.
"The SMB has contributed upwards of 20,000 fighters to the war in Sudan, many receiving training and other support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," the statement noted.
It added, "As the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranian regime has financed and directed malign activities globally through its IRGC. The United States will use all available tools to deprive the Iranian regime and Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism."
TRUMP ADMIN RAMPS UP SUDAN PEACE EFFORT AS CIVIL WAR LEAVES TENS OF THOUSANDS DEAD
In November, the State Department sanctioned the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, declaring it to be a terrorist organization in those countries.
The organization, the State Department noted, is "composed of the Sudanese Islamic Movement and its armed wing – the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade (BBMB), (and) uses unrestrained violence against civilians to undermine efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan and advance its violent Islamist ideology."
The statement added that the group’s "fighters have conducted mass executions of civilians in areas they captured, and repeatedly and summarily executed civilians based on race, ethnicity or perceived affiliation with opposition groups."
Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital that the Muslim Brotherhood’s links within the Sudanese government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are deep and contribute aggressively in the war against the Rapid Support Forces.
Fitton-Brown, a former U.K. ambassador to Yemen, added that the Brotherhood has a "strong component" in the Sudanese regular army.
Adding that the Brotherhood in Sudan has historical links with Osama Bin Laden, responsible with al Qaeda for the 9/11 terrorist attack, Fitton-Brown stated that the State Department’s move is significant. "It is the first concrete indication that the November executive order was only the start of a process."
ANOTHER CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AT RISK IN AFRICA AS EXTREMISTS AND WAR TAKE THEIR TOLL
On the sanctioning of the Brotherhood in several countries in the region, he said, "I expect there will be many more, possibly starting with al-Islah in Yemen." He said the move "puts Sudan under political pressure because it is effectively associating its government with a terrorist entity."
The effects of the nearly three-year-long civil war on the people of Sudan are dire. Last month, the Council on Foreign Relations’ global conflict tracker stated the "death toll estimates vary widely, with the former U.S. envoy for Sudan suggesting as many as 400,000 have been killed since the conflict began on April 15, 2023. More than 11 million have been displaced, giving rise to the worst displacement crisis in the world.
On Monday, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho., posted on X, "This is a vital step to curb the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in the region, especially as hardline Islamists seek to reassert themselves. Now, we must also seriously consider the same FTO designation for the genocidal Rapid Support Forces and their terror campaign in Sudan."
Fitton-Brown said the State Department’s designation against the Brotherhood in Sudan "is good because it objectively targets a group of people who have brought untold misery to Sudan over decades. It is not a statement of support for the RSF. It is potentially empowering of democratic forces inside Sudan, although it will not be sufficient to change the way Sudan is governed or end the civil war, without much more proactive external involvement in the country."
Nicholas Coghlan, a former Canadian diplomat in Khartoum, was not as hopeful, telling Toronto’s Globe and Mail that hardline factions within leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s government alliance "will push him now to ignore the U.S. and other potential mediators and go all out," adding "they have nothing further to lose by holding back."
