Mali

Cluster bombs, banned under an international treaty, have been used for the first time by Mali’s army and its Russian allies in the country’s north, where jihadist groups, separatist movements and the army have been fighting for more than a decade.

The human rights situation in Mali is rapidly deteriorating following coordinated attacks by armed groups across the country, with civilians killed, displaced and cut off from food and aid, UN rights office OHCHR said on Tuesday.

Mali's military leader Gen Assimi Goïta has taken over as defence minister after the officer who previously held the post was killed in a wave of surprise attacks.

Russia said on Thursday its forces would remain in Mali and continue backing the country’s military rulers, rejecting demands from Tuareg separatists to withdraw after surprise attacks forced Russian troops out of a key northern town.

Mali's capital city Bamako - a major West African hub and home to more than three million people - is under a partial blockade by Islamist militants, days after the country's defence minister was assassinated there.

Jihadist and Tuareg separatist militants launched a sequence of shocking attacks across Mali on 25-26 April. The unprecedented scale, geographical spread and levels of coordination demonstrated by the strikes has sent shockwaves across West Africa. 

There are reports of continuing clashes in Mali on Sunday, a day after a series of coordinated attacks across the landlocked African nation against Government forces by extremists and northern separatist rebels. 

Following the 2022-2023 coups in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the junta regimes turned to Russia, China and even the US. Now, the EU wants to invest more in West Africa's security and growth to forge closer ties.

The United States is reshaping its approach to Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso as Russia expands the footprint of its Africa Corps across the Sahel region.

The landlocked country depends on fuel imports and in July had signed a deal with Niger to supply 85 million litres of fuel over six months to its vast, northern desert region, where various militant groups operate. Niger is an oil-producing country and a major ally of Mali - both run by military juntas which face jihadist violence.