Iulian Gherghut, a Romanian national who was employed as a security guard at a foreignowned manganese mining operation in northern Burkina Faso, was kidnapped by five gunmen. Two other employees were injured during the attack, which occurred in Oudalan province, before the assailants drove north towards the border with Mali. Al Mourabitoun, a Sahel-based Islamist militant group, has since claimed responsibility for the attack and has called on the Romanian government to enter into negotiations over an undisclosed ransom to secure the security guard’s release. In light of the political vacuum that has emerged in Burkina Faso following the ousting of long-serving leader Blaise Compaoré, in October 2014, the kidnapping has raised concerns over insecurity in the north of Burkina Faso. At the centre of these security concerns is the still undetermined future of the presidential guard, the Régiment de la Sécurité Présidentielle (RSP), the specialised force tasked with securing Gherghut’s release.

Find the rest of this story and more in XL Catlin Global Kidnap Bulletin for July 2015

On 7 March 2015, five people, including a French and Belgian national, were killed during a terrorist attack against a popular restaurant, La Terrasse, in Mali’s capital, Bamako. The attack was claimed by the Sahel based Islamist militant group, Al Mourabitoun. The Malian government vowed to find those responsible for the incident and take further steps to combat
terrorism in the country. Amid an ongoing conflict in the north and expanding operations of transnational terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), in the wider Sahel, the recent Bamako attack has raised concerns over the threat that Al Mourabitoun, a relatively new actor, may pose to Mali and whether more needs to be done to counter terrorism…

Continue reading this story and more in the March-April 2015 Risk Bulletin