First Independent Mena Newspaper
Foreign ministers from Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, all of which recently underwent military coups, have called for their reinstatement into the African Union (AU) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) following a trip to the region by Russian envoy Sergey Lavrov. The top diplomats from the three west African countries said in […]
Foreign ministers from three west African nations ruled by military regimes — namely Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso — all of whom came to power following coups, met in Burkinabé capital Ouagadougou on Thursday, February 9 on the heels of a trip to the region by Russian envoy Sergei Lavrov. The meeting comes only days […]
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Mali Tuesday (7 February) for talks with its junta leaders who only two days earlier ordered the rights chief with the UN peacekeeping mission in the country to leave for expressing views against Russia’s Wagner Group in Mali. Lavrov’s visit of fewer than 24 hours will be his […]
Burkina Faso has denied claims that it awarded a mining permit to Nordgold just because it is a Russian company, its mines minister told the media on Sunday (5 February), rebuffing Western concerns that the ruling junta is seeking closer ties with Moscow. Burkina Faso allows all companies to operate in the west African country […]
UN experts on Tuesday (31 January) called for an independent investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russian private military contractor Wagner Group and government forces in Mali. This comes just days after the US formally designated (26 January) Russia’s Kremlin-affiliated Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organization responsible for widespread […]
Several thousands of demonstrators rallied in Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday (28 January) in support of the ruling junta, a few days after the confirmation of the departure of France special forces from the country by February. Packing Nation Square in central Ouagadougou, demonstrators held signs bearing slogans including “Down with imperialism,” “Down with French […]
At least 28 people, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in two separate attacks by rebel fighters in northern Burkina Faso, a regional governor and the army said in separate statements. The army said on Monday (30 January) that a combat unit in Falagountou, in the country’s north near its border with Niger, came […]
Laurent Gbagbo, Cote d’Ivoire’s ex-leader, has called on regional grouping ECOWAS to establish counter-terrorism brigade to curtail terrorism that has plagued the region. Gbagbo was speaking at a meeting of his party PPA-CI, at Bayota, a town in south-central Ivory Coast. “The problem in the Sahel today is the jihadists,” he said. For a 77-year […]
Mali acquired Thursday military equipment including fighter jets and helicopters from Russia to beef up the army in the fight against terrorists. The delivery included one Soukhoï Su-25 attack aircraft, trainer jet Aero L-39 Albatros and several Mi-8 helicopters. Colonel Assimi Goïta, the leader of the transition in the African country, and Igor Gromyko, the […]
The United Nations Secretary-General has warned of the worsening security situation in central Mali, deepened by Al-Qaida and Islamic State extremist groups that are driving insecurity. Both extremist groups continue to clash near populated areas in the northern Gao and Menaka regions, the UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a new report to the UN […]