Sevare, Mali | AFP | Two months ago, all 400 inhabitants of the Malian village Toou grabbed a few belongings and fled fighting between armed groups, leaving their homes behind among the ghosts of the country’s war. Today, they sleep in an abandoned school in Sevare near the regional capital Mopti, …
Read More »Sahel violence having devastating impact on children: UN
Dakar, Senegal | AFP | Hundreds of children in the Sahel were killed, maimed or forcibly separated from their parents last year, the United Nations said Tuesday, as a jihadist conflict rages across the region. In Mali alone, 277 children were killed or maimed during the first nine months of 2019, …
Read More »Seven children among 14 killed in roadside bomb in Burkina Faso
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | Seven children and four women were among 14 civilians, killed when a roadside bomb blew up their bus in northwestern Burkina Faso, the government said. “The provisional toll is 14 dead,” a statement said, adding that 19 more people were hurt, three of them …
Read More »Why UN appointed new HIV/AIDS chief
UN appoints new HIV/AIDS chief after controversy United Nations, United States | AFP | United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed a new HIV/AIDS chief on Wednesday after the previous incumbent left accused of serious mismanagement. Oxfam International executive director Winnie Byanyima of Uganda will lead UNAIDS, a spokesperson for …
Read More »Mali president visits village massacre site as UN calls for action
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Friday visited the graves of 37 villagers killed during a New Year’s Day massacre blamed on warring communities that is under investigation by UN rights experts. Residents have blamed traditional Dogon ethnic hunters for the attack, in which the …
Read More »37 killed in hunter-farmer conflict in Mali: government
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Thirty-seven civilians were killed when armed men believed to be traditional Dogon hunters attacked a village of Fulani herders in central Mali Tuesday in the latest clash between the warring communities, the government said. The attack on Koulogon village near Bankass in the Mopti region …
Read More »Six killed by landmine in central Mali: local officials
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Six civilians, including four women, were killed in central Mali on Wednesday when the vehicle they were in drove over a landmine, local officials said. The road they were travelling on is regularly the scene of explosions by improvised bombs blamed on jihadists. Last month …
Read More »Mali to send reinforcements to Timbuktu
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Mali on Sunday announced it will be sending reinforcements to the northern city of Timbuktu amid growing concerns about security in the region. Another 350 police officers, paramilitary gendarmes and soldiers will be deployed, Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga told reporters in Bamako Saturday on …
Read More »Several dozen killed near Mali’s border with Niger
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Several dozen civilians have been shot dead by gunmen who raided an area in northeastern Mali near the border with Niger, local officials and a Touareg self-defence group told AFP Thursday. The attack, which took place early Wednesday, occurred in an area which has been …
Read More »Armed Dogon hunters group reject ceasefire in central Mali
Bamako, Mali | AFP | An armed group of ethnic Dogon hunters have rejected a recent ceasefire with Fulani herders in central Mali, arguing they need to protect fellow tribe members after several were killed by Mali army troops, a military-wing spokesperson said Wednesday. The armed group, known as Dan …
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