First Independent Mena Newspaper
Four Malian gendarmes were killed and three wounded on Sunday (15 January) in an ambush in the west of the Sahelian country, as diplomats, analysts and human rights groups say indiscriminate violence against civilians has grown since the arrival of the Wagner Group mercenaries more than a year ago. Two gendarmerie vehicles were reportedly burned, […]
Armed men Monday (2 January) attacked a civil defense post in a small southwest town in Mali in what was a rare attack near the capital Bamako, killing five people, Mali’s security ministry has said. The ministry said in a statement Tuesday (3 January) the unidentified armed individuals attacked the defense post in the town […]
Burkina Faso’s interim President Ibrahim Traore has assured US diplomats that he has no intention of inviting mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group to fight militants in the country, US under secretary for political affairs Victoria Nuland said on Wednesday (26 October). Western powers have expressed a concern that Burkina Faso might follow the lead of […]
Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin has for the first time acknowledged he is “proud” of founding Wagner Group, a private military company, in 2014, staffed by veterans of the country’s armed forces. After previously denying ownership and suing journalists for reporting it, this was Prigozhin’s first public confirmation that he was the man behind the mercenary […]
Mali’s military-appointed prime minister has lashed out at the former colonial ruler France and the United Nations as he praised the “exemplary” cooperation with Russia. Addressing the 77th session of the UN General Assembly (24 September), Abdoulaye Maiga slammed what he called “unilateral decision” by Paris to relocate the remaining French troops to neighbouring Niger […]
At least 50 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed and more than 500 arrested during a military operation conducted by Mali’s army and “foreign troops” on 19 April, the United Nations’s peacekeeping mission MINUSMA said in a report published on Wednesday (31 August). The alleged massacre took place on market day in […]
Al-Qaida’s affiliate in Mali claimed Monday (15 August) it had killed four mercenaries from Russia’s private military firm, Wagner Group, as France announced its forces have completed their withdrawal from the conflict-torn country. The media unit for Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), said in a statement its fighters clashed with the Russian mercenaries Saturday […]
An armed group in Mali affiliated with al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on the country’s main Kati military base near the capital city Bamako, which it said was a response to governmental collaboration with Russian mercenaries. Friday’s (22 July) raid on the Kati base that killed at least one soldier and wounded […]
Following the decision of the Malian authorities to expel the French ambassador in Bamako, the French government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, said on Tuesday that the “situation cannot remain as it is”. According to him, Paris and its European allies are giving themselves until mid-February to rethink their military device in Mali. Gabriel Attal said that […]
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian private military company Wagner, has accused the international community for Libya’s problems for trying to take money from the country, reports say. Speaking to Sputnik, Prigozhin also indicated that western states don’t help Libya for free and this is clear in the fact that top European officials and international […]