The Sahel, the vast semi-desert region that stretches halfway across West Africa, is now home to numerous al-Qaeda (AQ) and ISIS aligned groups. He has survived many attempts on his life and often been declared killed in action, several times by French military intelligence. The French Air Force remains the most active, operating its fighter jets out of its headquarters at N’Djamena in Chad. There are 14 such hostile armed groups still active in the CAR, though some have accepted amnesty from the government. Air strikes involving French Air Force Mirage and Rafale jets against rebels are an almost daily event out of Paris’s main air base in N’Djamena in Chad.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 17, 2020 00:45 UTC