Mali

[…] Today, the Council decided to make more effective, at regional level, the work of the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions in the Sahel: EUCAP Sahel Mali, EUCAP Sahel Niger and EUTM Mali. It approved a joint civil-military concept of operations on regionalisation of CSDP action in the Sahel. This means that the process of regionalisation will now enter its second phase.

A German convoy was attacked on Saturday as it was returning from a mission to recover a UN transport vehicle 50 kilometers (31 miles) from their base in Gao in western Mali, the German military said in a statement Sunday.

Islamist militants are increasing their activity in West Africa despite the establishment of a regional force to combat them in the Sahel region, and they are now threatening coastal countries, Burkina Faso's foreign minister said on Saturday. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Minister Alpha Barry gave a bleak outlook of the situation more than six years after French troops intervened in Mali to stop Islamist militants advancing on the capital Bamako.

Alioune Tine noted that central and northern areas, where conditions are continuing to worsen, and the Government presence is weak, are being particularly hard hit. That, combined with growing extremist violence, combined with counter-terrorism operations by Malian and international forces - as well as organized crime - are creating a “deep sense of fear and insecurity.”

Romania will supply transport helicopters to a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the troubled African nation of Mali once Canada has pulled out as scheduled this year, the Canadian government said on Thursday. Canada currently has six helicopters and 250 support troops based near the northern Mali city of Gao. They are due to leave on July 31.

Two peacekeepers from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) were killed on Friday following an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack against a convoy near Douentza, in the Mopti region, central Mali.

Ten ‘blue helmets’ from the United Nations Stabilization Mission In Mali (MINUSMA) were killed on Sunday following a complex terrorist attack against the mission’s camp in Aguelhok, in the Kidal region, northern Mali.

[…] Bintou Keita, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations in Africa, also apprised the Council of the alarming security situation in the central and northern areas of the African State, saying it was “of grave concern,” and provided “a major challenge” to implementing the UN-backed 2015 peace agreement.

El Salvador has sent a second aviation unit with three MD 500E helicopters to Mali, where they have taken over from the German Tiger attack helicopters operated on behalf of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Armed men killed 37 Fulani civilians on Tuesday in central Mali, where ethnic violence cost hundreds of lives last year, the government has said.