Mali

European governments are divided on how to respond to West Africa becoming the world’s terrorism hotspot, with European nations who receive most migrants favouring to keep communication with the juntas open.

Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have announced a deal with Russia which will see them acquire telecoms and surveillance satellites.

The recent militant Islamist attack in Bamako is part of a broader push by violent extremist groups into southern Mali and reflective of the deteriorating security in Mali under military rule.

Mali’s military leader Asimi Goita has vowed to maintain operations against jihadist fighters after the al-Qaeda-linked JNIM group carried out a major attack in the capital, Bamako, severely denting the junta’s narrative that it is improving security in the country.

Islamic militants attacked a military training camp in Mali's capital Tuesday, sparking a deadly gunbattle and the temporary closure of a nearby airport before troops were able to subdue the assailants, officials said. 

[…] The loss of such experienced fighters exposes dangers faced by Russian mercenary forces working for military juntas, which are struggling to contain separatists and powerful offshoots of Islamic State and Al Qaeda across the arid Sahel region in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

A delegation from the Nigerien rebel group the Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) met the Malian rebel movement the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP) in late August to “strengthen” ties, a CSP spokesman told AFP Monday. The two rebel groups are fighting the respective juntas in Bamako and Niamey which seized power in recent coups.

Denmark said Monday it was shutting its embassies in Mali and Burkina Faso as part of its new Africa strategy, as military coups have "severely limited the scope for action in the Sahel region".

The military juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have written to the U.N. Security Council to denounce what they said was Ukraine's support for rebel groups in West Africa's Sahel region, Mali's foreign ministry said.

Sweden’s ambassador to Bamako, Kristina Kuhnel, has been ordered to leave the West African Sahel nation within 72 hours, Mali’s foreign ministry said on Friday (9 August), because of what it called a “hostile” statement by a Swedish minister. … Sweden’s minister for international development cooperation and trade, Johan Forssell, said on Wednesday that the government had decided to phase out aid to Mali due to its ties to Moscow.