MALI
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Mali: New Mali leaders looking to ease tensions with Ecowas
Mali's ruling junta said Wednesday that it was in talks with the West African bloc ECOWAS, as well as other organisations, to find a "compromise" on restoring civilian rule. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed a trade embargo and closed...
Mali: The demise of the historic Timbuktu and the man who helped destroy it
The fabled shrine city of Timbuktu was reduced to a "shadow of its former self" by Islamist jihadists, and residents are still living in fear today, the International Criminal Court heard Tuesday. Lawyers representing 1,946 victims of the year-long jihadist occupation...
Mali accuses France of seeking to divide the country
Mali's prime minister on Monday accused France of having sought the partition of the west African country during its military mission there, the latest flare-up in relations between Paris and Bamako. In a 45-minute speech to diplomats gathered at his request, Choguel...
US-Russia competition expands to Mali and the Sahel
The top US military commander for Africa on Thursday suggested that impoverished and jihadist-hit Mali was paying Russian private military company Wagner $10 million a month. France, Mali's former colonial ruler, has accused Wagner's mercenaries of "supporting" Mali's...
Sahel: Europe struggles to respond to changing geopolitics in Mali
By Daphné Benoit and Stuart Williams France said Tuesday it would decide with its EU partners by mid-February on the future of the French-led anti-jihadist force in Mali after the ruling junta expelled Paris' ambassador. French ambassador Joel Meyer was told on Monday...
Sahel: Regime in Mali initiates talks with former rebels without France’s blessing
Former Malian rebels have signed a pact designed to "facilitate ties" with the Sahel state's ruling junta, a spokesman for the armed groups said on Thursday. The ex-rebels, who range from former Tuareg separatists to Arab nationalists, had already signed a peace...
Sahel: Mali leaders want more power
Mali's military-dominated authorities on Saturday published a bill designed to further shore up the powers of junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita. The text, adopted by a cabinet meeting late Friday, provides for the "abolishment of the post of vice-president (of the...
International: Europe getting angry at Mali leaders
The European Union on Friday imposed targeted sanctions on five members of Mali's ruling junta, including Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga. In a statement from EU member states the targets are accused of "actions that obstruct and undermine the successful...
Security: Germany calls for reevaluating Europe’s operations in Mali
European nations must re-evaluate their anti-jihadist duties in Mali in light of growing tensions with the ruling junta, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Wednesday. As several European countries raised doubts about the future of the mission, Baerbock...
Sahel: Political impasse in Mali as opposition groups and junta disagree on transition details
A major coalition of Malian political parties on Sunday rejected the military-dominated government's plan for a transition lasting up to five years before the country returns to democratic rule. The army has dominated landlocked and conflict-wracked Mali since August...
Sahel: Gunmen kill seven former rebels in northern Mali
Seven former rebels were killed in northern Mali overnight, a spokesman of the group, the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA), said Monday. The alliance made up mainly of separatist Tuaregs and nationalist Arabs signed an accord with the national government in...
Sahel: Attack on bus in Mopti, Mali claims dozens of civilian lives
Suspected jihadists in Mali killed at least 30 civilians in an attack on a passenger vehicle in the volatile central town of Mopti, local officials said Saturday. "The passengers were sprayed with bullets and the vehicle was torched," during an attack by "terrorists"...
Mali: How insurgents are in total control in the north of the country
By Amaury Hauchard Security forces in the Menaka region of northeastern Mali are struggling with a kaleidoscope of militia groups as they strive to bring order to the violence-torn area. Almost every important armed group in Mali has a foothold in Menaka, from the...
Mali: West African block seeks to isolate Mali’s junta
West African bloc ECOWAS issued sanctions against members of Mali's transitional government, including its prime minister, but not the colonel who led last year's coup, according to a document from the bloc obtained by AFP. The sanctions issued by the Economic...
Security: As Russia’s influence in Africa grows, EU wants to impose sanctions on Russian mercenaries Wagner
EU foreign ministers agreed Monday to draw up more sanctions on shadowy Russian mercenary group Wagner over its involvement in a string of hotspots, the bloc's foreign policy chief said. The private military outfit, which Western capitals see as closely linked to the...
Sahel: New Jihadist attacks in Mali and Burkina Faso
Four Malian soldiers were killed by suspected jihadists Sunday and several others wounded in an attack northeast of the capital Bamako, near the border with Mauritania, the army said on social media. The soldiers, on post at Guire, in the Nara region, fought off an...
Mali: Despite supporting Mali’s strongman Goita, VP gets arrested for “subversive remarks”
Malian authorities have arrested a vice president of the country's interim parliament for making "subversive remarks" on social media, two legal sources said. Issa Kaou N'Djim, an influential figure in the conflict-ridden Sahel state, was arrested in the capital...
Sahel: Mali’s environmental crisis
Extreme weather events in central Mali are complicating even further the lives of residents of the conflict-ridden region, the head of the ICRC warned this week. Robert Mardini, the director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ended a three-day...
Sahel: Mali expels ECOWAS representative
Mali's interim government has expelled the representative of West African bloc ECOWAS from the conflict-ridden and coup-prone country, the government said, over actions incompatible with his status. "The government of the Republic of Mali has decided to declare the...
Sahel: UN and NATO mulling over support to Sahelian armies in combating militant groups
NATO is studying options to bolster support for the multinational G5 Sahel force in the troubled three-borders region of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where a surge in jihadist violence has cost thousands of lives, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a...
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