Wars in the World

Myanmar’s leaders on Monday vowed to “crush” an insurgency in western Rakhine state by the Arakan Army (AA), demanding that ethnic Rakhines end support for the armed group that killed 13 policeman in coordinated attacks during the country’s Independence Day last week.

Zaw Htay, director general of President Win Myint’s office, said Myanmar’s de facto leader State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi discussed the AA’s attacks during a meeting on national security held with the president, military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and other cabinet members.

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The chief military rebel who led a thwarted coup in Gabon on Monday has been arrested and two of his commandos killed after they stormed into a public radio station, the presidency said.

The “situation is under control”, government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told FRANCE 24, describing the botched coup as “a flash in the pan”.

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Soldiers from Gabon’s Republican Guard have appeared on state television saying they have launched a coup “to restore democracy” in the West African country.

Early Monday a soldier who identified himself as Lt. Obiang Ondo Kelly, commander of the Republican Guard, read out a statement saying the military has seized control of the government.

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About 46 people were killed in ethnic clashes in central Burkina Faso this week, the government said on Friday.

After nightfall on Dec. 31, armed men on motorbikes descended on the village of Yirgou, made up largely of people of Mossi ethnicity, and killed seven people, the government said.

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At least two Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush by Boko Haram jihadists targeting a civilian convoy close to the border with Cameroon, military and militia sources told AFP on Friday.

The jihadists opened fire on a convoy of traders under military escort outside a village near the northeastern town of Banki on Thursday, killing two military escorts and injuring seven traders, according to the sources.

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