First Independent Mena Newspaper
Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, has emerged as the most powerful militant force in West Africa, now commanding up to 6,000 fighters and staging coordinated, high-impact attacks across the Sahel, experts warn. According new analysis titled ‘JNIM Expanding Geographic Reach and Staging Coordinated Attacks in the Sahel’, JNIM’s recent assaults in Timbuktu […]
The Malian army successfully repelled a jihadist assault on its military camp in Timbuktu on Monday (2 June), just one day after a deadly attack in Boulkessi left at least 30 soldiers dead. According to the Malian Armed Forces, 13 attackers were “neutralized” during the attempted infiltration of the Timbuktu camp. Witnesses reported a car […]
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 prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday asked judges to approve war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against a Malian jihadi suspected of committing atrocities in the west African nation. The International Criminal Court has detained Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz on charges of sex slavery and destruction of Timbuktu’s UNESCO […]
Mauritania has released the former spokesman of Ansar Dine, Sidi Mohamed Ould Mohamed Ould Bouamama, aka Sanda Ould Bouamama, from prison raising fears that he would engage again within the extremist group and resume participation in terror activities. Mali had issued an international arrest warrant against him for alleged crimes he had committed during the […]
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 […]
Last December, the U.N. Security Council passed a cautious resolution that outlined steps to be taken before an international military intervention into Mali to deal with the deteriorating security situation in the country. But in a surprise move on 11 January, French President Francois Hollande authorized airstrikes in Mali to stop a sudden southward push […]
The 4th edition of the Taragalte Festival celebrating the Sahara and desert culture, held this November 9 to 11 in M’hamid El Ghizlane, Southern Moroccan province of Zagora, paid tribute to the Malian holy city of Timbuktu, which was occupied by the Islamist Ansar Dine group at the beginning of the current year. The festival […]