MALI
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Sahel: Deadly week in Mali
A suicide attack targeted a military base in northern Mali on Friday, the army said, a day after deadly strikes on an army camp and a passenger boat by suspected jihadists killed 64 people. The army said on social media that an airport section of a base in Gao had...
Sahel: Suspected GSIM militants attack boat on the Niger River in Mali
A passenger boat on the Niger River in northern Mali was attacked on Thursday by suspected jihadists, the Malian army said on social media. "At around 11:00 am (1100 GMT), armed terrorist groups... attacked a Comanav boat" in the Gourma-Rharous area, it said,...
Sahel: Mali junta carries out air strikes on ‘terrorists’
Mali's military junta said it carried out air strikes on Wednesday against "terrorist groups" that were planning attacks in the north of the country. "Preventive FAMa (Malian Armed Forces) air strikes followed by an airborne operation targeted armed terrorist groups,...
Mali: Three wounded in attack near capital Bamako
A policeman and two civilians were wounded when Mali's security forces repelled an attack near the capital Bamako on Sunday, the army said. The attackers targeted a post in Dialakoroba, Koulikoro region, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Bamako, at 01:40 GMT,...
Mali, a leading producer of gold, manganese and lithium, shakes up mining sector
Mali has adopted a new mining code allowing the state to take up to 30 percent stakes in new mineral projects and collect more revenues from the vital industry. Junta leader Assimi Goita signed the code into law on Monday, his office announced on social media Tuesday....
Sahel: Mounting tensions in northern Mali, as army strikes positions of ethnic Tuaregs
Former rebels in northern Mali on Tuesday accused the armed forces of carrying out new strikes on their positions, reflecting mounting tensions in the flashpoint region. A spokesman for the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) told an AFP reporter that the armed...
Don’t expect Wagner to abandon Africa after Prigozhin’s announced death
Despite the reported death of the Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, Moscow has every interest in continuing his Wagner paramilitary group's activities in Africa, experts told AFP on Thursday. Russia has been outsourcing activities in Africa to Wagner since...
Sahel: Mali government troops and their Wagner allies are now attacking the ethnic Touaregs
By Arezki Daoud: As I have been saying for a while, the Malian junta is leveraging its honeymoon period with Russia's Wagner group and the withdrawal of the UN peacekeepers to unleash mayhem against the northern Touareg tribes. The army and Wagner mercenaries attacked...
Mali: Mali junta face more disgruntled Ethnic Touaregs
Regional rebels in Mali who signed a peace deal in 2015 have withdrawn their representatives from the capital, a move signalling a widening rift with the country's ruling military, one of their leaders said on Thursday. The Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA)...
Podcast: Sahel: North Mali is bracing for more violence
Mali in the Sahel region is facing unprecedented crises. With the withdrawal of France forces and the upcoming pull out of the #UN peacekeepers, along with the actions of the Russian mercenary outfit the Wagner Group, the Malian population in the north known as the...
Sahel: Germany and Mali agree ‘smooth’ pullout of UN-backed troops
Germany and Mali agreed Thursday to pursue a "smooth withdrawal" of German troops from the troubled African nation after the UN decided to end its decade-old peacekeeping mission there, Berlin said. Mali's defence minister Sadio Camara assured his German counterpart...
Mali: Ethnic Tuaregs brace for attacks from army and Russian mercenaries ($)
The departure of the French forces and the forthcoming exit from Mali of the UN peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMO, are creating a new set of problems for the Sahelian nation of Mali. In particular, the northern political elite representing the Touareg nation are experiencing a major leadership crisis. There is a lack of consensus among Tuareg leaders as to the way forward, but all of them anticipate the central government in Bamako to take advantage of the absence of foreign observers to launch an offensive against the populations of the north.
The militarization of the Sahel: Governments run by soldiers ($)
Military regimes now dominate the governments of the Sahel nations. The countries in the region have experienced a series of coups that enabled soldiers to take over power.
Sahel: Malian journalist Mohamed Youssouf Bathily acquitted over PM ‘assassination’ claim
A prominent Malian TV and radio journalist was acquitted on Tuesday on charges that he falsely claimed a former premier had been murdered while in detention under the ruling junta. Mohamed Youssouf Bathily was placed in custody on March 13 after allegedly saying...
Sahel: Mauritania urges Mali to rejoin W.African anti-jihadist force
Mauritania's president on Monday urged Mali to rejoin a West African anti-jihadist force and regional grouping known as the G5 Sahel, which it quit last year Mali announced its decision in May 2022, slamming a "loss of autonomy" and "instrumentalisation" within the...
Sahel: Niger-French troops arrest two alleged IS fighters
Two leading jihadists from the Islamic State's Sahel affiliate have been arrested in a joint operation by Niger and French forces, a senior security source said Monday. The two members of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) were captured in western Niger on...
Sahel: Russia pledges continued support to Mali as UN ends MINUSMA mandate
Russia has renewed its "unstinting support" for Mali after the end of the UN peacekeeping mission in the desert state, Bamako's foreign ministry said Friday. Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "renewed his country's unstinting support towards Mali in the...
Sahel: UN Mission to leave Mali, but no timetable set yet
By Amélie Bottlier-Depois: With the imminent end of the UN's Mali peacekeeping mission seemingly no longer in doubt, negotiations at the UN are still foundering over the timetable for their departure, which Bamako wants "without delay", according to diplomatic...
Mali: Civilians killed by terrorists in Gabero region
At least 13 civilians have been killed by suspected jihadists in chronically unstable northern Mali, elected officials who requested anonymity said on Wednesday. "The provisional toll is now 13 dead, a dozen wounded and hundreds of people fleeing several villages in...
Sahel: Cocaine trafficking surges in the Sahel, as armed groups seek to profit from illicit trade
Annual cocaine seizures in the Sahel surged from 13 kilograms (28 pounds) in 2020 to 863 kilos just two years later as armed groups sought to profit from the illicit trade, the United Nations' drug agency said in its 2023 report. The largest seizures of the drug in...
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