Sad news, their guide was found shot dead, vehicle burnt out and the French believed to being held!

Will update as I get more ...

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http://www.west-african-views.blogspot.com

https://www.lemonde.fr/international...0497_3210.html


An operation by French special forces has succeeded to free the 4 hostages (the 2 above-mentionned French toutists from Pendjari plus one American and one South Korean) that were being held hostages in BF. Unfortunately, 2 soldiers have been killed in combat.


The bad news is that the unrest that has spread from Libya to Mali to BF now impacts Benin as well.


The good news (sort of) is, the French have stopped paying for the liberation of hostages, so hopefully the trend will not spread (wishful thinking). That is not good news for the families of the special ops men of course.


Laurent

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2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

And today, an attack on a Catholic church in north central Burkina kills 6... one month after a similar church attack in a nearby town also killed 6.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48246715

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Further details here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-48228353

https://www.france24.com/en/20191305...ks-g5-hostages

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Hi

Can anyone advise on the situation in Cameroon at the moment. Is it possible to go around it heading south (shipping a motorbike as well) if things go downhill

Thanks

Hi,
I‘m planing to go down the west coast starting this Autumn.
Recently I heard about serious safety concerns from Cameroon.
Anyone having any recent experiences?

Regards,
David

Worth checking in also at Facebook group Overlanding Africa


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If you plan to do the full way down, you should probably should not only inform yourself about Cameroon.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Good question as I've only just caught up with this but see nothing here.

Risks in the north of Cameroon (Boko Haram) are well known and still there afaik, but the Anglophone portion of Cameroon (formerly Southern Cameroons Brit colony) has risen against the dominant Francophone government and is seeking independence. Oddly enough it's right next to Biafra which people my age will remember well.
Wiki call it the Anglophone Crisis
Elsewhere it's the Ambazonia War.

This has affected overlanders as the once notoriously muddy but lately sealed Ikom–Ekok crossing leads into the heart of the conflict zone and has become closed to foreigners. Cameroonian consulates (in Nigeria: Lagos, Abuja, Calabar) may make you sign an affidavit promising you won't use this crossing.

In Calabar they may also insist you've bought a ferry ticket to Limbe or Tiko before they issue a visa.
The boat takes ~15 hours and will cost about $450 with a bike. It's 55km from Toko to Douala.
Leaves when full or twice week?

The only alternative is the overland crossing 700km to the north (but not too far north) between Gembu and Banyo. Same distance from Abuja.
It's unsealed and so presumably dry season only (if there is such a thing there).

From Banyo it's about 500km to Douala or Yaounde for more visas.

Happy to be corrected.

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Interesting and easily digested report from ACLED
https://www.acleddata.com/2020/01/23...about-in-2020/

Sahel looks bad and escalated in 2019, but compare it to Mexico.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Attached Images

 

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Rumble on the Burkina- Ivory Coast boarder

https://sahelblog.wordpress.com/2020...eration-comoe/

North of CIV appear to be a hot spot now

https://twitter.com/MENASTREAM

A report form the BBC on the changing focus of IS towards Africa:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-55147863

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

Very good article about the Dogon militia groups in Mali trying to combat the extremists:

https://www.lepoint.fr/afrique/voyag...7325_3826.php#

https://www.longwarjournal.org/archi...ent-months.php

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail