One side belonged to Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), al-Qaeda’s Sahel affiliate. The other belonged to the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), known until 2022 as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. The two have been fighting along that frontier since August. Three days later, ISSP claimed to have killed more than 400 JNIM fighters, several commanders among them. AFP, for one, could not verify the figure. Specialist sources quoted by Radio France Internationale described heavy losses on both sides, including ISSP commanders killed by JNIM. JNIM made no statement.
On October 13, Chinese President Xi Jinping received Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe in Beijing. Much of the meeting dealt with trade, from zero-tariff access for Togolese goods to Togo’s wider use of the renminbi. Xi also set out four principles for how outside parties should help settle Africa’s “hotspot issues”, and Gnassingbe endorsed them in full.