MALI
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Mali: Less than two months after his release by Jihadists, opposition leader Soumaila Cisse has died of Covid-19
Malian opposition leader Soumaila Cisse has died of coronavirus aged 71, his family and party said Friday, after being held hostage for six months by jihadists earlier this year. Cisse "died in France, where he had been taken for Covid-19 care," a member of his family...
Sahel: Being a Malian migrant
The age of 43, Aboubacar Traore is trying once again to kickstart his life after three failed attempts at migration. Poor and adrift, the stonemason and former imam is back in his native Mali -- a tale painfully common in a region where dreams of a better life abroad...
Sahel: France signals willingness to allow talks with Jihadists in the Sahel
France could back talks with some jihadist elements in Africa's restive Sahel region, a source in President Emmanuel Macron's office said on Monday. A dialogue with some elements of the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) would be "possible", the source said,...
Sahel: Mali is now a military dictatorship
Hopes that soldiers behind Mali's coup would swiftly restore civilian rule and tackle jihadism and ethnic violence are fading fast as the army expands its role. Many in the large Sahel country hailed the August 18 putsch as the precursor of a "new Mali" -- a nation...
Sahel: Funding the insurgency with illegally acquired gold
Several "suspected terrorists" were arrested and more than 40,000 sticks of dynamite and detonator cords for illegal gold mining -- a new source of funding for armed groups in the Sahel -- were seized in a joint operation with the UN, Interpol said on Monday. Jointly...
Sahel: Why the G5 Sahel force remains completely ineffective
Three years ago West African nations launched a joint force touted as a giant's stride in the fight against Islamist militants sweeping across the Sahel. But lack of equipment, funds and training, together with problems in deployment and coordination on the ground,...
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 president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August, as its president. The 121-seat body known as the National Transition Council was meeting for its inaugural...
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 country's transition to civilian rule, with the military retaining a strong role. Young army officers in the conflict-ridden Sahel state toppled president...
Sahel: UK deploys hundreds of troops to war-torn Mali
Britain is deploying 300 troops to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali to help strengthen security and human rights there, its defence ministry said Thursday. The British troops will provide the UN mission with "a highly specialised reconnaissance capability,...
Sahel: Fragile calm in northern Mali town of Menaka
After years of violence and lawlessness during which the Malian town of Menaka changed hands between rebels and Islamists, a fragile calm has finally returned due to joint patrols by federal troops, militiamen and UN peacekeepers. Situated in the desert northeast of...
Sahel: Military posts in northern Mali attacked
Suspected militants attacked several Malian and foreign military bases with mortars and rockets in the north of the country on Monday, military sources said. No casualties were immediately reported in the attacks on Menaka, Gao and Kidal in what appeared to be a rare...
Sahel: French forces intensify their operations in the Sahel, report killing Al Qaeda’s Ba Ag Moussa
France announced Friday that its anti-jihadist force in Mali had killed the military commander of an Al-Qaeda-aligned group linked to attacks in the region. The killing of Ba Ag Moussa is a major boost for the thousands-strong French Barkhane force stationed in the...
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 for "resistance.... to save democracy" in the Sahel state. The statement from the opposition June 5 Movement, or M5, follows a decree published on...
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 before being ousted in a coup, has died in Turkey aged 72, a family member and a doctor said on Tuesday. Toure "died during the night of Monday to Tuesday...
Sahel: Gunmen ambush bus in Mali, kill eight people
Gunmen have killed eight people in central Mali, a local official and security ministry staffer said Wednesday, in the latest violence to hit the war-torn Sahel state. Militants attacked a minibus Tuesday, the officials said, which was travelling between the towns of...
Sahel: France drags European troops into a conflict they cannot win
Inside a military base in northern Mali, a concrete bollard emblazoned with French, Estonian and Swedish flags marks a zone reserved for a new anti-jihadist unit of elite European troops. Dubbed Task Force Takuba, the new joint deployment marks a coup for France,...
Sahel: As expected, France opposes dialogue in the Sahel
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, on a trip to Mali on Monday, ruled out dialogue with jihadists driving an eight-year-old insurgency in the Sahel state. (See our opinion on this last week). "Let's say things very clearly. There are peace accords (with...
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 regional powers, as well as to the Malians themselves to recognize a number of key facts. That starts with the idea that a central government in...
Sahel: Another massacre in Mali, 12 civilian killed in Mopti
Twelve civilians were killed in volatile central Mali on Tuesday morning in addition to 12 soldiers who died in a twin attack that began overnight, police and humanitarian officials said. The group was travelling in a minibus following a military convoy sent to...
Mali: Attack on base in Mopti leaves dozen troops dead
Twelve Malian soldiers were killed in attacks on their base in the volatile centre of the country, the army said Tuesday, in the latest violence to hit the West African state. In a statement, Mali's military said an army outpost in the central Mopti region was...
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