Mali’s military government is facing one of its most serious crises since taking power. On April 25 and 26, fighters from the Front de libération de l’Azawad, known as the FLA, and jihadists from the Groupe de soutien à l’islam et aux musulmans, or JNIM, launched...
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Mali: Russian-linked Forces Under Drone Pressure in Northern Mali
Russian-linked forces in Mali are increasingly coming under attack from armed groups that are adapting to the drone age. Two recent incidents in the Kidal region, a March 30 strike near Anéfis and an April 7 attack on a camp in Aguelhok, are evidence of a clear...
Niger Turns to Local Self-Defense Units to Contain Growing Insecurity
Niamey's decision to formalize local self-defense units called Domol Leydi is the latest sign that Niger's security crisis has worsened, moving beyond a conventional counterterrorism problem and into a broader struggle for territorial control. The government says the...
West Africa: Jihadist Attacks Intensify in Northern Benin Amid Cross-Border Insurgency Pressure
Armed attacks attributed to Sahel-based jihadist groups have intensified in northern Benin in recent weeks, highlighting the continued spread of militant activity along the country’s borders with Burkina Faso and Niger. On March 4, fighters linked to the Group for the...
Desert Locusts Stir Fresh Worries in North-West Africa
Agricultural authorities in several parts of North and West Africa are maintaining surveillance for desert locust activity following recent reports of small swarms detected near Algeria’s southwestern border. The monitoring reflects the importance of the western...
Mali Army, Russian Allies Accused of Executing Civilians Near Mauritania Border
Malian troops and their Russian allies are accused of executing refugees and civilians near the Mauritanian border, according to RFI. The French media outlet said seven people who had just crossed from Mauritania into Mali were killed on Friday, March 6, in the Ahl El...
Mauritania: Ex-President Verdict Puts Mauritania’s Legal System Under Spotlight
Mauritania’s high-profile corruption trial of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has sparked a bigger...
Guinea’s Mining Purge Echoes Mali’s Playbook, With Different Goals
Guinea’s junta has launched a sweeping crackdown on mining permits, abruptly revoking over 100 licenses for bauxite,...
West Africa: ECOWAS in turmoil
West Africa's economic grouping, ECOWAS, faces a new crisis as former chairman and Guinea-Bissau President Umaro...
Burkina Faso: Christian Kabore “wins” presidential election
Burkina Faso's top court on Friday certified that President Roch Marc Christian Kabore had been elected for a second...
Sahel: An army Colonel heads Mali’s legislative body
Mali's interim legislature on Saturday elected Colonel Malick Diaw, a member of the military junta that toppled...
Mali’s in big trouble: A legislative body appointed by a junta-backed government
Mali's interim government on Thursday announced the composition of a new legislative body for the West African...
Security crisis dominates campaigning for Burkina Faso’s presidential election
Burkina Faso will vote in a general election Sunday in the shadow of a growing jihadist insurgency, with President...
Sahel: Mali politics sinking to new low with military’s attempt at power grab
A leading opposition group on Wednesday warned of a military stranglehold on Mali's post-coup government and called...
Sahel: Former president of Mali, Amadou Toumani Toure dies in Bamako
Mali's former president, Amadou Toumani Toure, who steered the Sahel nation to democracy and led it for a decade...
Burkina Faso president launches campaign for second term
Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore launched his re-election campaign on Thursday, promising "peace" in...
Sahel: UN chief signals potential for dialogue with insurgents in the Sahel, but Paris won’t allow it
Editor's commentary by Arezki Daoud: France won’t let it happen Perhaps this is another opportunity for the world and...
Sahel: Ecowas lifts sanctions on Mali, interim government releases detainees
Eleven political and military figures arrested during the coup in Mali in August have been released, including former...
Sahel: French hostage and Mali opposition leader freed
A French aid worker kidnapped in Mali in 2016 and one of the country's leading opposition politicians have been...
Power politics in the Sahel: Profile of a Sufi leader
Cattle herders, traders and heads of state are among the people who have sought the ear of the sharif of Nioro, one of...
Niger frees campaigners detained in protests over military contracts
Niger's judicial system has ordered the release of three campaigners held for more than six months after staging...
Mali: Moctar Ouane appointed Interim Prime Minister
Mali's interim president Bah Ndaw on Sunday named former Malian foreign minister Moctar Ouane as prime minister,...
Mali’s neighbors want a civilian Prime Minister, pledge to keep sanctions otherwise
West African states will uphold sanctions on Mali until it appoints a civilian prime minister, the leader of the...
Mali: Military junta announces transitional leaders, recalls retired colonel as Interim President
Bamako, Sept 21, 2020 - Dubbed "the big one" for his imposing height, Mali's future interim president Bah Ndaw has...
Mali: Impasse in Bamako as opposition rejects junta-backed roadmap
Mali's popular opposition movement has rejected a charter for a transition government backed by the army officers who...
Mali: North and central Mali remain tense while Bamako struggles to recover from coup
Timbuktu, Mali, Sept 14, 2020 - Malian army lieutenant Abdoul Kadri leads a patrol through the bustling streets of the...
Mali: Military junta wants to appoint its own president
Experts appointed by Mali's military junta on Friday proposed a two-year transitional government led by a president...
Sahel: Chad regime targets newspapers with forced closure
Chad's paramount media authority has suspended 12 newspapers for three months for failing to conform with a 2018 law,...
Mali: Ousted president Keita suffers mini-stroke, admitted in hospital
Bamako, Sept 2, 2020 - Former Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has not been seen in public since his...
Mali protest movement proposes 2-year transition to civilian rule
Bamako, Aug 30, 2020 - The protest coalition that campaigned against former Mali president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has...
Mali: Uncertainty looms about Mali’s political future
Bamako, Aug 31, 2020 - Conflict-riven Mali is at a crucial crossroads two weeks after a military junta took power in a...
Mali crisis not getting better: ECOWAS wants return to civilian rule, junta wants to stay
Niamey, Aug 28, 2020 - West African countries on Friday insisted on a return to civilian rule in Mali, where rebel...
Mali: Ousted President returns home after being held by military junta
Bamako, Aug 27, 2020 - Mali's new military rulers said Thursday that former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was...
Mali: Negotiators fail to reach agreement on civilian rule
Bamako - Talks between West African envoys and Mali's new military rulers on Monday failed to yield an agreement on...
Mali: Coup leaders insist on military rule over the coming years
Four Mali soldiers killed in bomb blast: military source Aug 22, 2020 - Four Malian soldiers were killed and one...
Mali: Ousted Malian president “looks tired but relaxed.”
Bamako, Aug 21, 2020 - The United Nations said Friday it had gained access to Mali's ousted president while rebel...
Mali: While Mali people want their President out for incompetence, world leaders run to his rescue
Coup leaders in Mali faced a wave of international pressure on Wednesday, a day after they forced out a president...
Mali: The military is now in charge
Bamako, Aug 19, 2020 - Mali awoke on Wednesday to a new chapter in its troubled history after rebel military leaders...
Mali: President Boubacar Keita resigns and the people are cheering
Bamako, Aug 19, 2020 - Mali's president said he was resigning to avoid "bloodshed" early Wednesday, hours after his...
Breaking: Mutiny leaders announce arrest of president and Prime Minister
Developing story: Mutineering soldiers in Mali on Tuesday detained President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister...
Former Mauritanian president under investigation for alleged embezzlement
Nouakchott, Aug 18, 2020 - Former Mauritanian president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, under suspicion over embezzlement...
Sahel: The unfolding Malian crisis
Aug 18, 2020 - Mali has been gripped for months by a political crisis that has sparked the country's worst unrest in...
Sahel: Fears of a soldiers’ mutiny in Mali as political crisis lingers
Bamako, Aug 18, 2020 - Gunfire broke out at a key army base near Mali's capital Bamako on Tuesday, officials and...
Mali: How Mali security services sabotaged peace
Aug 14, 2020 - United Nations experts have accused senior army and intelligence officials in Mali of deliberately...
Mali security forces used excessive force against protesters
Bamako, Aug 12, 2020 - Security forces in Mali used excessive force in response to violent anti-government protests in...
Sahel: Chad’s dictator Idriss Deby gets a new title: “Maréchal du Tchad”
N'Djamena, Aug 11, 2020 - Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno was named a marshal, the first in his country's history,...
Mali’s new Constitutional Court president
Bamako, Aug 9, 2020 - Newly-appointed judges at Mali's Constitutional Court, which is at the centre of a political...
Mali braces for more political turmoil, as calls for protests build up
Mali's opposition vowed to stage nationwide protests Tuesday seeking embattled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's...
Mali president appoints new constitutional court chief in a bid to save his job
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita appointed nine judges to the Constitutional Court on Friday, by decree, as...