First Independent Mena Newspaper
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR) has claimed it had provided the Tuareg separatist rebels with information that facilitated the devastating attack on Malian government troops and their allied mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, now called Africa Corps. Mali’s military has acknowledged, in a rare admission of a defeat, that it had suffered a “large number” […]
Germany’s top diplomat has talked up the prospect of closer political ties with Senegal and the Ivory Coast, two of the last democracies in a region otherwise plagued by sectarian conflict, in the latest attempt by a senior EU politician to rebuild the bloc’s political influence in West Africa. Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is […]
Mali’s military rulers allowed political parties and the civil society to resume normalcy after a ban that was imposed in April. “The government decided to lift the suspension that barred political parties and the activities of political associations,” said a statement from the council of ministers. In August 2020, the Malian army staged a coup […]
Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger announced the creation of a confederation that will bring the three nations under one institutional umbrella, in a decision that signals a no-return to the West African regional bloc, the ECOWAS. The leaders of the three countries announced the confederation decision at a summit in Niamey, accusing ECOWAS of taking […]
Dozens of guests, many of them young people, at a wedding ceremony have been killed by a group of unidentified armed men in an attack on a village in central Mali that has been struggling with violence from extremist groups for over a decade. Unidentified armed men cut the throats of approximately 40 people in […]
The junta-leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are set to hold their first ever joint summit of the so-called ‘Alliance of Sahel States’ (AES) since seizing power in a series of coups in Niger’s capital Niamey this weekend. “Our country will be hosting on Saturday (6 July) the first summit of the AES heads […]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday (26 June) convicted an al-Qaida-linked jihadist who was accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during Islamist militants’ one-year rule over Mali’s Timbuktu in 2012. Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud was found guilty of playing a key role in a reign of […]
The United States military commander is making a rare trip to Africa for talks on maintaining some of his troops’ presence in West Africa, after US troops were forced to withdraw from Niger and Chad and the Sahel countries’ shift to Russia for security. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown arrived […]
Mali’s revenue from gold mining activities fell by 26% due to lower taxes, official figures showed. Mali is the fourth largest gold producer in Africa. The mineral accounted for 80% of its exports and represents some 10% of its GDP. The revenue paid by mining companies to the Treasury fell to 563.8 billion CFA francs […]
Newly elected Senegalese president Bassirou Faye started a regional visit with Mali and Burkina Faso in a bid to strengthen ties with neighbors that quit the regional bloc ECOWAS in protest over sanctions following their consecutive coups. In Bamako, Faye held talks on the ECOWAS with Mali’s leader Col. Assimi Goita. Following the talks, he […]