Mali

Mali's transitional government is conscious of its commitment to a fixed deadline for arranging elections to restore democracy after last year's coup, Prime Minister Choguel Maiga said on Friday. … Presenting the interim government's action plan, Maiga outlined four key policy areas, which included delivering transparent and credible elections after the creation of a new electoral body.

A man accused of trying to kill Mali’s military strongman Assimi Goita, the figure behind two coups in less than a year, has died in custody.

Malian interim president Colonel Assimi Goita survived an assassination attempt at a mosque in Bamako on Tuesday, in the latest blow to stability in a country reeling from two military coups in less than a year.

The recent announcement by President Macron that France would end Operation Barkhane, its regional counterterrorism military operation in the Sahel, raises questions about the role of regional and international partners in countering the rising tide of jihadist violence in the region.

France’s anti-jihadist military force in the Sahel region, which today involves over 5,000 troops, will end in the first quarter of 2022, President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday. Last week Macron announced a gradual drawdown of France’s military presence in the Sahel and the end of the existing Barkhane operation. Now he has put a timeline on the end of the operation, while assuring that France is “not withdrawing” entirely from the region.

Un sommet G5 Sahel a lieu ce vendredi 9 juillet en visioconférence, c'est le premier depuis l'annonce de la fin progressive de l'opération Barkhane. Emmanuel Macron participera à la réunion. Il devrait en profiter pour préciser les contours de ce désengagement.

[…] Its revised strategy for the Sahel confirms the need for an integrated approach, moving away from a security-oriented course to greater insistence on the political dimension. Government and EU accountability to the Sahelian population, as well as between EU and Sahel partners, is central to the 2021 strategy, especially on issues of governance and human rights.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday extended its Mali peacekeeping mission until the end of June 2022, insisting on a return to civilian rule and for elections on February 27. The resolution drafted by France to that effect was adopted unanimously and provides for a renewed mandate for the MINUSMA peacekeeping mission at its current strength of maximum 13,289 soldiers and 1,920 police.

The soldiers were among 15 UN peacekeepers wounded in the "suicide attack" at their operational base. The three most severely injured are being flown to Germany for treatment.