You can read some more key takeaways on my blog piece for @BBCMonitoring – link below – and the whole report by signing up for a free trial. Thanks for data collection and reporting contributions from Collins Nabiswa

monitoring.bbc.co.uk/inside-bbcm/...

ACLED data also shows that there were unusually high numbers of foreign kidnapping incidents in #Niger and #Mali last year

Despite representing a very small number of foreign kidnappings, international media focused on five high-profile cases in which the victims were US or European nationals - or where the reported ransom pay-out was considerable. The majority of these occurred in the #Sahel

Overall, the mining sector was worst impacted by kidnapping of foreigners (around 30%), followed by transport (13%), humanitarian/NGOs (8%), cement (7%), and energy (7%)

And ISEAP (Philippines/Indonesia) has not previously been known as a regional hub for operations abroad. A UNSC report from earlier this year estimated a 150-200 strong, highly factionalised, force

JNIM have remained silent so far about these clashes, possibly because the group is so focused on attacks in south-western Mali, amidst a major blockade of #Bamako

The latest bout of clashes have mostly been in north-eastern #BurkinaFaso (Oudalan and Yagha provinces), near the border with Niger, with over 100 casualties claimed since mid September

The cancellation affects one of #Mali's most important annual religious gatherings that has been taking place since 1966.

UAE's overall imports of gold are down around 18%, meaning that the overall share of questionable/conflict-linked gold is even higher

A few days later the 2024 UAE import data was mysteriously removed from the UN Comtrade platform... I am still waiting on UAE's MoFA for comment

- Burkina Faso: 162%
- Uganda (hub for gold from DRC): 120%
- Armenia (hub for Russian gold): 92%
- Sudan: 70%
- Egypt (transit point for Sudanese gold): 69%
- Russia: 63%
- Rwanda (hub for gold from DRC): 38%
- Mali: 9.7%