MALI
Click here to sign up for free weekly email
Email recaps are sent every Thursdays.
Sign up today
Sahel: Mali-France relations worsen as Bamako accuses Paris of “aggression and espionage”
Mali has requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting to stop what it calls French "acts of aggression", including alleged espionage and violations of sovereignty, and accused France of supporting jihadists. In a letter seen Wednesday by AFP, Foreign Minister...
Sahel: Germany halts military operations in Mali after Bamako denies UN flyover
The German defence ministry said Friday it had suspended most of its operations in Mali after the local military-led government denied flyover rights to a UN peacekeeping mission. "The Malian government has once again refused to give flyover rights to a flight planned...
Sahel: France wraps up military withdrawal from Mali
By Selim Saheb Ettaba and Joris Fioriti The last soldiers belonging to France's Barkhane operation in Mali have now left the African country, the French chiefs of staff said on Monday. French forces have been supporting Mali against insurgents for nearly a decade,...
Sahel security: France’s military presence in Mali
French troops gained an enthusiastic welcome when they entered Mali more than nine years ago to help it fight a jihadist-fuelled insurgency. On Monday, France pulled out of the country in the face of deep hostility after falling out with colonels who seized power...
Sahel: Understanding the Mali crisis
On August 18 2020, crowds in the Malian capital Bamako applauded as young colonels toppled a civilian government struggling to roll back a bloody jihadist insurgency. Today, the looming anniversary of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's ouster sees a country mired in...
Sahel: Militants kill more soldiers and civilians in Mali
Forty-two Malian soldiers died in an attack at the weekend by suspected jihadists, the army said Wednesday in a document naming the fatalities, revising an earlier figure of 21 dead. The toll is one of the bloodiest in Mali's decade-long insurgency, which has spread...
Sahel: Suspected jihadists kill 4 Mali soldiers, 2 civilians in Tessit
At least four soldiers, two civilians and five assailants were killed on Sunday in an attack in a strategic border zone between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Mali's army said. The army blamed the attack on "terrorists" in an announcement late Sunday, using the term it...
Sahel: Bomb attack in Ouakan, central Mali kills civilians
At least 12 civilians have been killed in Mali by suspected jihadists who lured victims into a bomb attack, two elected officials and a police source told AFP on Saturday. "The jihadists first killed two civilians in Ouakan (a town near Bankass in central Mali) before...
Sahel: Eight UN peacekeepers wounded in Mali blast
Eight UN peacekeepers were wounded Thursday in a mine explosion in Mali's jihadist-wracked Timbuktu region, the United Nations said. They were part of the Burkinabe contingent of the MINUSMA peacekeeping force, a UN official told AFP on condition of anonymity....
Mali’s parliament approves draft electoral law to facilitate return to civilian rule
Mali's transitional parliament approved a draft electoral law on Friday, a measure designed to ease the return of the country to civilian rule. The bill must be approved by the head of the military junta, President Assim Goita, before it becomes law. The military...
Sahel: Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group take over base left by French military in Mali
Russian mercenaries arrived in the Malian town of Menaka on Wednesday just days after France's military pullout from the site, sources briefed on the matter told AFP. France handed back the military base in northeastern Mali on Monday, as part of its withdrawal from...
Sahel: French forces withdraw from Menaka base in northern Mali
French troops were on Monday handing back a military base in northeastern Mali ahead of a final withdrawal from the Sahel nation, France's army said, after nine years fighting a jihadist insurgency. The UN emissary there warned that the French withdrawal could leave...
Sahel: Jihadists surround Mali town of Boni
Jihadists have since late May blockaded the central Malian town of Boni and interrupted traffic on a major highway in the region, the UN and several local sources say. "Since May 25, 2022, extremist armed groups have prevented the movement of people and goods in this...
Sahel: Mali launches military offensive to retake town of Anderamboukane from insurgents
Malian forces and local armed groups have launched a bid to recapture a jihadist-held border town in a region where hundreds of civilians have died in the past few months, sources there say. Fighting has been unfolding over the last few days at the strategic town of...
Togo: Al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM claims May attack in Togo
A Mali-based coalition of Al-Qaeda aligned militants has claimed responsibility for an attack in Togo last month, the SITE Intelligence monitoring group said on Friday. The Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) has been expanding geographically, threatening...
Sahel: Chaos and killings accelerate in Mali
UN report highlights the brutality of Mali’s army Civilian deaths and rights abuses by Malian soldiers surged in the first quarter of 2022, a United Nations report said on Monday, but Bamako dismissed it as biased and unverified allegations aimed at tarnishing its...
Sahel: Millions of people face food shortages
The United Nations warned Friday that up to 18 million people in the Sahel face severe food insecurity, with rations being cut due to funding shortages. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said that conflict, the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and rising costs were...
Sahel: Three foreign nationals kidnapped in Mali
Armed men have kidnapped an Italian couple and their child as well as a Togolese national in southeastern Mali, a local official and a Malian security source told AFP Friday. They said the abductions occurred late Thursday about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the...
Mali withdraws from G5 Sahel security force
Mali's junta announced Sunday that it will quit a West African anti-jihadist force after it was blocked from assuming the presidency of the regional group. The country's departure from the G5 Sahel security force deepens its isolation after its neighbours hit it with...
Sahel terror spreads to Togo with new attack in Kpinkankandi
Eight soldiers were killed on Wednesday and 13 wounded in a "terrorist attack" in northern Togo near the border with Burkina Faso, the government said, using a term typically designating jihadists. Togo's troops are deployed in the north of the country to try and...
Connect
You can find us on a few social media platforms. Feel free to connect with us there.