UN: Africa’s Sahel desperately needs help to fight violent extremism and stop its spread
May 16, 2023 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Africa’s Sahel region has become a hot spot for violent extremism, but the joint force set up in 2014 to combat groups linked to the Islamic State, al-Qaida and others has failed to stop their inroads, and a senior U.N.
UN human rights report says at least 500 believed to have died in Mali village massacre last year
May 12, 2023 GMTDAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Malian forces backed by foreign military personnel are believed to have killed at least 500 people over several days in a village last year, the U.N. said Friday, significantly raising the death toll from what already has been called the worst single atrocity in Mali’s decade-long fight against extremist groups.
At least 10 people killed in complex attack in central Mali
April 22, 2023 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured on Saturday in a complex attack near a military base in central Mali, said the army.
A car bomb exploded near the camp in the town of Sevare in the Mopti region destroying houses and killing people, Col.
Senior Malian official among 4 dead in ambush in jihadi area
April 20, 2023 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A senior Malian official and three other people have been killed in an ambush in an area of the country's southwest, the government said Thursday. The attack occurred in an area where Islamic extremists are active.
US to Mali: End restrictions on UN peacekeepers, seek peace
April 13, 2023 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States warned Mali’s military government Wednesday that it would be “irresponsible” for the United Nations to continue deploying its more than 15,000 peacekeepers unless the western African nation ends restrictions including on operating reconnaissance drones and carries out political commitments toward peace and elections in March 2024.
Macron welcomes back to France journalist freed in Mali
March 21, 2023 GMTPARIS (AP) — A French journalist who was held hostage by Islamic extremists for nearly two years in Mali was welcomed home by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, one day after his release.
International Red Cross says 2 kidnapped staff freed in Mali
March 20, 2023 GMTOUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Two aid workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross were freed in Mali on Monday, the organization announced.
The staff members were released unharmed but the organization would not disclose the employees' identities or the circumstances of the abduction.
US Secretary of State Blinken visits Niger on Africa tour
March 16, 2023 GMTNIAMEY, Niger (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $150 million in direct assistance to Africa's Sahel region Thursday as he visited Niger, seeking to strengthen ties with a country that has so far avoided the recent spate of military coups and Russian mercenaries destabilizing its neighbors.
Macron: ‘New era’ in economic, military strategy in Africa
February 27, 2023 GMTPARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to reduce the number of French troops in Africa under a “new security partnership” with the concerned nations and to roll out more ambitious economic policies, in a bid to boost France's waning influence in the continent.
3 UN peacekeepers killed, 5 wounded by roadside bomb in Mali
February 22, 2023 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Three United Nations peacekeepers were killed and five others wounded by a roadside bomb in central Mali on Tuesday, according to the U.N.
The bomb struck a supply convoy near the village of Songobia, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali known as MINUSMA said in a statement.
Deaths from jihadi attack on Burkina Faso army rise to 51
February 20, 2023 GMTOUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — The death toll from a jihadi attack on a Burkina Faso army unit in the north of the country last week has risen to 51, military officials said Monday, after 43 new bodies were found.
Russia pledges military support to Mali during Lavrov visit
February 7, 2023 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pledged military support to Mali during his first visit to the West African nation Tuesday and dismissed criticism of Moscow's growing influence on the continent.
Mali orders UN human rights official to leave the country
February 6, 2023 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's government has ordered the U.N. peacekeeping mission's human rights chief to leave the country by Tuesday, declaring him persona non grata in the latest sign of tensions between Mali's leaders and the international community.
World Health Organization employee released in Mali
February 3, 2023 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A World Health Organization employee was released in northern Mali after being abducted by unidentified assailants, a spokesperson said Friday.
Dr. Mahamadou Diawara was freed Thursday afternoon and is in Gao town, Abdoulaye Cisse, communication officer for the WHO in Mali told The Associated Press.
Experts seek investigation of Wagner Group, Mali forces
January 31, 2023 GMTGENEVA (AP) — Independent human rights experts working with the U.N. on Tuesday called for an investigation of possible abuses, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by government forces in Mali and the Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian military contractor.
Mali defends Russian ties and opposes options for UN force
January 28, 2023 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Mali’s foreign minister defended the military government’s cooperation with Russia on Friday and rejected three options proposed by the U.N. chief to reconfigure the U.N. peacekeeping force in the west African country where Al-Qaida and Islamic State extremist groups are driving insecurity.
Man sentenced to death in Mali for UN peacekeeper killings
January 26, 2023 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A Mali court sentenced a man to death for the killings of three United Nations peacekeepers almost four years ago, the U.N. mission in Mali said Thursday.
The court in Bamako imposed the death sentence for a February 2019 attack on five peacekeepers, three of whom died, the mission reported in a tweet.
World Health Organization employee abducted in northern Mali
January 24, 2023 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A World Health Organization employee was abducted by unidentified assailants in northern Mali, the U.N. agency's director-general said Tuesday.
Dr. Mahamadou Diawara was kidnapped from his car in the town of Menaka on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.
UN: Al-Qaida and Islamic State driving insecurity in Mali
January 17, 2023 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Al-Qaida and Islamic State extremist groups are driving insecurity in central Mali and continue to clash near populated areas in the northern Gao and Menaka regions, the U.N. chief said in a new report circulated Monday.
Violence soars in Mali in the year after Russians arrive
January 14, 2023 GMTDAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Alou Diallo says he was drinking tea with his family one morning last month when groups of “white soldiers” invaded his village in central Mali, setting fire to houses and gunning down people suspected of being Islamic extremists.
49 Ivory Coast soldiers pardoned by Mali’s junta leader
January 6, 2023 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's military junta leader on Friday pardoned 49 soldiers from neighboring Ivory Coast who were convicted of undermining Mali's state security and conspiracy against the government, authorities announced.
46 Ivorian soldiers sentenced to 20 years in Mali prison
December 30, 2022 GMTTIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) — Forty-six soldiers from Ivory Coast were sentenced to 20 years in prison for undermining state security in Mali and for attacks on Mali's government, the African nation's prosecutor general said Friday.
German hostage freed after 2018 jihadi abduction in Niger
December 10, 2022 GMTDAKAR, Senegal (AP) — German aid worker Jorg Lange was freed Saturday more than four and a half years after Islamic extremists kidnapped him in the West African country of Niger, according to Help, the German aid organization where he works.
Mali government says jihadi rebels kill 132 civilians
June 20, 2022 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Recent attacks by jihadi rebels in central Mali have killed 132 civilians, the government announced Monday.
The killings happened when several villages in the Bankass area were attacked on Saturday and Sunday, the government said in a statement Monday.
Mali government says it has thwarted countercoup attempt
May 16, 2022 GMTBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The Malian government headed by a two-time coup leader announced late Monday that security forces had thwarted a countercoup attempt that it said was supported by an unnamed Western government.
Top Russian diplomat defends mercenaries’ presence in Mali
September 26, 2021 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) —
Russia’s top diplomat on Saturday defended the Mali government's right to hire a private Russian military company to help fight terrorists, accusing French troops in the country of failing to get rid of them and scolding the European Union for demanding that the Russian mercenaries leave.