Bamako, Mali | AFP | A peacekeeper from Niger was shot dead by militants in northern Mali on Friday, the UN’s mission to the country said, the latest in a spate of deadly attacks on “Blue Helmets” in the conflict-torn country. “Today at 7:00 pm (1900 GMT) two unidentified gunmen opened …
Read More »Amnesty calls on Mali to probe extrajudicial killings
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Amnesty International on Tuesday called on authorities in Mali to investigate extrajudicial killings following the discovery last week of a mass grave containing six bodies. The rights group said it had collected evidence that “the six bodies found in a mass grave on 25 March had …
Read More »Mali PM in first top-level visit to restive Kidal since 2014
Kidal, Mali | AFP | Mali’s Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga made a landmark visit to the restive northern town of Kidal on Friday, the first since 2014 by a head of government to an area still in the hands of former rebels. Five French soldiers were wounded in Kidal …
Read More »Canada to send peacekeepers to Mali: official
Ottawa, Canada | AFP | Canada will send peacekeepers backed by helicopters to the troubled west African nation of Mali before autumn, a government source said on Friday. Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan is to provide details of the number of troops on Monday, said the source, speaking on condition of …
Read More »Congolese warlord loses bid against $1 mln damages award
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | War crimes judges Thursday upheld an order that a former Congolese militia leader must pay $1 million in damages to his victims, after his forces rampaged through a village in 2003. Germain Katanga, 39, a former militia commander from the restive northeastern Congolese Ituri …
Read More »Ambassador Ocheger now in Mali
Mali’s President Keita hails Museveni as Ocheger lands in Mali Bamako, Mali | THE INDEPENDENT | Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has hailed his Ugandan counterpart, President Yoweri Museveni as a true Pan Africanist committed to the development and integration of the African continent. Keita made the remarks after receiving …
Read More »Mali insecurity continues, migrating to country’s center: UN
United Nations, United States | AFP | Insecurity in Mali “continues to rage” and is progressing toward the center of the country, according to an interim UN report. Members of Plateforme, an armed pro-government coalition, and the CMA rebel alliance, who were signatories to a 2015 peace deal, are seeing …
Read More »Erdogan starts new Africa tour to push Turkey’s influence
Algiers, Algeria | AFP | President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Algeria on Monday as he embarked a new tour of Africa in a bid to ramp up Turkey’s growing influence throughout the continent. The Turkish strongman touched down in Algiers, the first leg of the trip that he described as …
Read More »Jihadist group claim Mali attack that killed 2 French soldiers
Nouakchott, Mauritania | AFP | A powerful jihadist alliance has claimed an attack on a French military vehicle in Mali that left two soldiers dead, Mauritanian media reported on Friday. Two soldiers from France’s counter-terrorism force in West Africa were killed and another was hurt on Wednesday when their vehicle …
Read More »French forces kill at least 10 jihadists in Mali: military sources
Bamako, Mali | AFP | French air power on Wednesday killed at least 10 jihadists in northeast Mali near the border with Algeria, local and foreign military sources said. “French forces on Wednesday led at least one raid near Tinzaouatene, at the Algerian border, against the terrorists,” a local Malian …
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