Mali

The blue helmets – who were serving with the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) - died when their armoured vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device some 60 kilometres northeast of Gao on Tuesday.

West African leaders on Sunday lifted sanctions on Mali's military regime, accepting a March 2024 return to civilian rule and agreed to allow Burkina Faso two years for its transition back to democracy.

The French-led Takuba task force of EU special forces has officially ceased operating in Mali, France announced Friday, ending an anti-jihadist effort launched in March 2020 that soured after two military coups overthrew the civilian government.

Germany will be the largest provider of troops in Mali following the UN's decision to extend its peace mission in Mali.

The UN Security Council agreed Wednesday to extend a peacekeeping mission in Mali another year — but without French air support as in the past, compounding the risk for one of its deadliest peacekeeping operations.

Malians are fleeing to nearby Mauritania to escape from bandits, fighters, the army and now Russian operatives.

Eight UN peacekeepers were wounded Thursday in a mine explosion in Mali’s jihadist-wracked Timbuktu region, the United Nations said.

The Secretary-General issued a statement on Wednesday expressing his shock and outrage over reports that well over a hundred civilians have been killed in the past week, during attacks by armed extremists in central Mali, and further north.

The Secretary-General strongly condemned on Sunday, an attack in Kidal, a city in northern Mali, against a convoy of UN peacekeepers that claimed the life of a blue helmet.

[…] As the UN Security Council (UNSC) prepares to renew MINUSMA’s mandate later this month, it’s worth examining why previous efforts to reduce the threat to civilians have been insufficient.