Mali

The European Union has suspended training in Mali after the military coup this month that removed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita from power, officials said on Wednesday, while Germany acknowledged that some perpetrators had been trained in Europe. … However, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell insisted that the suspension of the EU's training missions was temporary.

Mali remains without a blueprint forward after three days of talks between military coup leaders and West African mediators yielded no decision on the make-up of a transitional government. 

The Security Council will also hold a closed session on Wednesday where the head of UN Peacekeeping, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, will brief the 15 ambassadors. Like the UN chief, members have strongly condemned the mutiny.

Military coup leaders in Mali faced a barrage of condemnation on Wednesday from international powers, with the African Union suspending the country’s membership a day after mutinying soldiers detained President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita following months of protests against his rule.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Mali’s capital Bamako on Tuesday renewing calls for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to step down despite international mediation efforts to resolve a political crisis. Protests led by an opposition coalition called M5-RFP have raged since June, caused by contested local elections and perceived government corruption and incompetence.

Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita appointed nine judges to the Constitutional Court by decree as part of a compromise intended to ease the country's months-long political crisis.

Almost 150 people were extrajudicially killed by Malian and Burkinabe security forces in Mali between April and June, the UN said Thursday. 

Protesters in Mali are planning to go to the streets again this week as opponents continue to demand the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Tensions are growing after the opposition in Mali rejected a plan by West African leaders to end the country’s political crisis.

Five soldiers were killed and five were wounded in an ambush on a military convoy and an artillery attack on a camp, with both attacks blamed on jihadists, in central Mali, army and local sources said.

The Muslim cleric seen as the driving force behind Mali’s protest movement said the country’s political crisis could be resolved without President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigning, offering a more moderate solution than other opposition leaders.