CWA # 2249
CW Newsmakers
General Ratko Mladic I Kidnapping in Nigeria I Wildfires in North Africa
Conflict Weekly #345-346, 28 August 2026, Vol 7, No. 32-33
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Namrata L Ghanghatkar, Priyanka Makhijani and Urja R Kudalkar
30 August 2026
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General Ratko Mladic
The “Butcher of Bosnia” dies in UN custody
On 27 August 2026, Reuters and other news outlets reported that former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, who was convicted of genocide and other war crimes, died at the age of 83 in a UN detention facility in The Hague. Mladic was convicted in 2017 and sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws of war committed during the 1992–95 Bosnian War. His conviction was mainly linked to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed. He was also held responsible for the siege of Sarajevo, where thousands of civilians died. Mladićs arrested in Serbia in 2011 after years of evading capture. He remained in UN custody after his conviction and had repeatedly sought release on health grounds. His death drew different reactions from the survivors of genocide, who stressed the need to remember the atrocities, while some Serbian nationalists praised Mladić. UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed support for the victims and rejected the denial or glorification of the genocide.
Kidnapping in Nigeria:
Ransom payments triple to NGN7.78 billion as abductions surge across the country
On 26 August, Africanews and other major outlets reported that kidnappers collected nearly NGN 7.78 billion (USD 5.8 million) in ransom payments between July 2025 and June 2026, according to a report by Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence. The report found 7,825 people were kidnapped during the period, a 66 per cent increase from the previous year, with at least 1,142 people killed. While total ransom demanded fell from NGN 48 billion to NGN 22.9 billion, the collection rate rose sharply from 5.35 to 34 per cent, driven largely by two mass abductions. A faction of Boko Haram, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad (JAS), collected around NGN 07 billion from just eight incidents, including the abduction of over 400 people from Ngoshe, Borno State and roughly 300 pupils and staff from a school in Papiri, Niger State. The north accounted for 93.7 per cent of all victims, with Zamfara State the worst affected, while mass abductions accounted for around four in five victims nationwide.
SBM warned that ransom payment did not guarantee survival, noting at least six people were killed after payments were made, and said kidnapping networks were increasingly demanding goods and fuel rather than cash. The findings were released as President Bola Tinubu ordered security forces to rescue up to 600 civilians abducted in Niger State the previous week, an attack presidential candidate Peter Obi called a "serious national emergency." SBM said tackling the crisis required disrupting the financial flows sustaining insurgency while addressing the economic desperation driving recruitment into criminal groups, warning that without a coordinated strategy, kidnapping risked becoming entrenched as a funding mechanism for groups threatening the country's stability.
Wildfires in North Africa:
National mourning declared in Algeria as wildfires kill 12, injure 54
On 26 and 27 August, BBC and other major sources reported that wildfires killed 12 people and injured 54 across northeastern Algeria, as a severe heatwave gripped North Africa. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared three days of national mourning. Interior Minister Said Sayoud said five deaths occurred in Jijel province, four in Bejaia, and three in Tizi Ouzou, with six of the injured in intensive care. Sayoud travelled to Bejaia with Health Minister Mohamed Seddik Ait Messaoudene to assess firefighting and evacuation efforts, as homes across Bejaia and Jijel were evacuated. Footage from local broadcaster Jijel News showed residents sheltering in a post office amid thick smoke. Civil protection recorded 154 fires nationwide on Wednesday alone, 69 of which remained active that evening. Similar fires killed 30 people in Bejaia three years ago, while July saw at least six deaths across more than 2,000 fires nationwide. The World Meteorological Organization said North Africa has warmed faster than any other African subregion since 1991, at 0.43 degrees Celsius per decade, a trend a recent study also linked to rising camel deaths during summer heatwaves.
About the author
Namrata L Ghanghatkar, Priyanka Makhijani, Urja R Kudalkar are postgraduate students at the Department of Public Policy, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences. They are currently Research interns at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS),