First Independent Mena Newspaper
A brutal ambush by suspected jihadists in northeastern Mali on Friday (7 February) left more than 50 people dead, amid worsening insecurity in a region long plagued by violence from jihadist groups linked to ISIS and al-Qaeda. The attack occurred near the village of Kobe, about 30 kilometers from the city of Gao, when a […]
Separatist rebels in northern Mali have claimed to have taken over a camp in the strategic town of Kidal immediately after it was evacuated by the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA, a significant development in an ongoing battle for territory. The Tuareg-dominated alliance of armed groups, known as the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), which had agreed […]
The Malian army is deploying towards a northern separatist rebel stronghold in the Kidal region in a high-risk operation which could foreshadow a major confrontation and become a turning point after a decade of conflict. A large convoy of the Malian army left Gao on Monday (2 October) and was reportedly headed to the localities […]
Over 460 peacekeepers from the Egyptian combat and convoy escort battalion working for United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) have pulled out of the country as the mission is preparing to complete exit by December 2023. The UN mission said the Egyptian troops “have conducted over a year convoy escorts from Gao […]
A helicopter belonging to the UN peacekeeping Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) capsized Thursday owing to winds and injured 11 on board. “One of our helicopters was blown over today after landing in Gao, northern Mali”, the Mission said on Twitter. “This was not a crash. Crew and passengers are all accounted for with 2 seriously […]
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Monday two of its staff kidnapped in Mali, early March, have been freed, without providing more details. “The two ICRC collaborators kidnapped on March 4 between (the cities of) Gao and Kidal (north) were released this (Sunday) evening”, announced the Malian branch of the ICRC on […]
After a working dinner at the Élysée Palace attended by some thirty African and European leaders, France, its European partners and Canada announced on Thursday, February 17, the withdrawal of military forces from Mali after nine years of military intervention against jihadists. Some 2,500 to 3,000 French soldiers will remain deployed in the Sahel after […]
Four years after the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi to nine years in prison for war crimes and the destruction of the mausoleums in Timbuktu, a delegation from the victims’ fund visited Bamako. The States signatories of the Rome Statute contribute to this fund. For Mali, 1.8 billion CFA francs […]
The Algerian government has reportedly reached in 2012 a secret agreement with Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar to attack Moroccan interests in the Sahara, reveals a confidential e-mail of former US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, made public by Wikileaks on Thursday “According to sources with access to the Algerian DGSE, the Bouteflika government reached a […]
After spending more than two years in captivity, the Algerian diplomats kidnapped and taken hostage by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) in northeastern Malian city of Gao have been released. The information was diffused in a released statement by the Algerian Foreign Ministry which also reiterated the country’s steadfastness towards […]