Investigations and intelligence updates

Mali’s security realignment shows strain

In April, Mali was hit by a series of coordinated terrorist attacks across multiple regions, demonstrating the growing concentration of Islamist insurgencies across the Sahel. The attacks, targeting military installations, administrative centres, and transport routes, demonstrate an increasingly sophisticated combat environment in which militant groups put intense pressure on already struggling state security apparatus and test the boundaries of recently established security pacts.

Boko Haram Resurgence signals escalating threat across West Africa

In early February, Islamist militants stormed the villages of Woro and Nuku in Nigeria’s Kwara State, killing more than 160 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in Nigeria this year, enacting widespread killings, the sacking of property and the abduction of dozens of residents.

Nigeria’s banks under pressure as AML rules bite

In March, the Central Bank of Nigeria introduced new baseline standards requiring banks and financial institutions to adopt automated anti-money laundering systems. By April, the reality of that shift was starting to land, as institutions began grappling with what it actually means to monitor transactions in real time and tighten oversight across complex financial networks.