First Independent Mena Newspaper
The railway between Mali and Senegal will soon be operational, Senegalese President Macky Sall has announced in his new year address to the nation earlier this week. Mali has signed an agreement with China Railway Construction Corp to renovate a rail line linking its capital Bamako to the border with neighboring Senegal. The rail will […]
In Niger, a military camp was attacked Thursday by suspected Islamist militants, killing at least 25 soldiers and more than 60 assailants, local media reported. The attack took place on an army outpost in western Niger, just a few kilometers from the border with Mali. It is close to where 71 soldiers were killed just […]
A raid by French troops in Mali has killed 33 Islamist militants last weekend using attack helicopters, ground troops and a drone, near the border with Mauritania, French President Emmanuel Macron said. The operation took place in a different part of Mali where 13 French soldiers died last month in a helicopter crash while tracking […]
In Mali, Police forces have rescued some 64 victims of human trafficking and people smuggling in an operation in coordination with Interpol, local media reported. The victims were women and girls targeted for sexual exploitation and forced labor in the mining sector and forced begging, Interpol said in a statement. “Police also conducted raids at […]
In Mali, armed groups that have signed the 2015 peace agreement, on Saturday called on other groups that share a common core to rally behind one umbrella to form a political movement in the northern region of the war-torn West African nation. At the opening of a “congress” of its movement in Kidal, the High […]
The Commander of the US Africa Command, General Stephen Townsend, is undertaking this week his first multi-country regional visit to West Africa. On Tuesday, General Stephen Townsend met in Ouagadougou with President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso and several other Burkinabe and allied military leaders. Meetings focused on building a comprehensive understanding […]
Niger and Mali, two terrorism-stricken nations, have agreed to set up an inter-governmental cross-border security committee to pool efforts to fight the terrorism scourge. The decision was made Tuesday at talks in Bamako between Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, and visiting President of Niger Issoufou Mahamadou. The purpose of setting up the committee is […]
The Malian Mines Ministry announced on Wednesday a new mining code, under which mining companies operating in the west African nation will no longer be exempt from VAT during production and will have a shorter period of protection from fiscal changes. The government said the new code seeks to redress the “shortcomings” of a […]
The United Kingdom is to send a contingent of 250 troops to Mali next year, to support the UN’s peacekeeping operation in the country, MINUSMA, announced the United Nations. A statement, posted on the UK Ministry of Defense website on Monday, said that the soldiers were being deployed in recognition of increased instability in the […]
The Malian government has launched a national plan worth approximately €2.2 billion to save Africa’s third-longest river, currently facing threats such as pollution, silting, dredging and other illegal servitude occupations. The Niger River, also known as Djoliba in the Mandingue language, is a transboundary river in West Africa shared by five other countries, namely […]