Geopolitical Monitor - Region: Africa

March 9th (BBC News) - A senior insurgent leader from Hizbul Islam has been shot to death in Mogadishu, deepening a leadership crisis inside the Islamist rebel group.  The official, Bare Ali Bare, was an outspoken critic of Hizbul Islam's one-time ally, al-Shabab, raising speculation that the militant group carried out the assassination.

Mar. 9th (BBC News) - The governor of Nigeria's Plateau state has accused military commanders of ignoring warnings of an attack on Sunday near the city of Jos.

Mar. 8th (Al Jazeera) - Nigerian authorities have arrested nearly a hundred people in connection with attacks near the central city of Jos that killed more than 500 people.

Mar. 8th (Globe and Mail) - Ottawa has opened a new front in its global conflict with Islamic extremism by joining the attack on al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group in East Africa that draws young recruits and support from Canada and around the world.

Mar. 7th (BBC News) Scores of people have been reported killed in suspected religious clashes near the central Nigerian city of Jos.

Mar. 4th (Al Jazeera) - The United States has expressed concern over reports that the Sudanese army launched offensives against rebels in Darfur after signing a peace deal with the main rebel group there last week.

Mar. 3rd (CBC News) - At least 10 civilians and four militants were killed Tuesday in a gunfight between government forces and Islamists insurgents in Somalia, witnesses report.

NAIROBI, Mar 2nd (AP) - Last year Somalia's Radio Warsan was a pro-government station that vilified al-Qaida-linked insurgents. Today it is in the hands of the rebels as they battle the U.N.-backed government on the ground with guns and on the nation's airwaves with pro-jihad messages.

LONDON, Mar. 1st (Reuters) -  The British government said Monday it is banning Somali terrorist organization al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked Islamist group fighting the anarchic country's transitional government.

Feb. 28 (Al Jazeera) - Al-Shabab, the Somali Islamist opposition group, has announced it will stop World Food Programme (WFP) operations in Somalia.