Mali

Seven United Nations peacekeepers were wounded in central Mali on Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded under their convoy, the UN force in the West African country (MINUSMA) said.

The German government said on Wednesday it had decided to end its participation in the UN mission in Mali by next May over problems with the ruling junta. Chancellor Olaf Scholz‘s cabinet said Berlin would pull its 1,110 troops in the UN mission MINUSMA out of the West African country over the next year and pivot towards more humanitarian and development aid for the region.

Mali’s army on Monday said it had arrested “12 terrorists” in the troubled northeast, where militants affiliated with the Islamic State group have widened their control, but Tuareg ex-rebels claimed the fighters were theirs.

In a report presented to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Mali's ruling junta to "accelerate" the pace of the handover, in order to return power to elected civilians by early 2024 as promised.

Militants affiliated to Islamic State group have taken Tidermene in Mali, further isolating the regional capital, Menaka, in a region that has fallen almost entirely under their control, officials and witnesses told AFP on Wednesday.

The UN mission in Mali has been hampered politically and operationally by the ruling junta. The UN secretary-general is now drawing up a list of conditions the junta must meet if the mission is to stay on in the country. 

Reporters Without Borders published on Monday an investigation into the colossal dangers journalists face while working in the Sahel, the vast, semi-arid region beset by jihadism, armed groups and instability. The NGO fears this part of West Africa is becoming a no-go area for journalists. 

In order to promote Mali's new draft constitution, Colonel Assimi Goita, head of the country's junta, meets with religious leaders, politicians and civil society. … This Constitution is the starting point of the vast reform project initiated by the transitional authorities in Mali for the return to civilian power. 

Mali's military rulers have moved to postpone a constitutional referendum, which they themselves had scheduled for March 19. However, authorities say they'll maintain the previously agreed timeline to return to civilian rule.

Mali’s Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga speaks to Al Jazeera about the security situation in the West African country after the departure of troops from France.