Mali

Suspected jihadists mounted an ambush Thursday on an army convoy in central Mali that left 15 soldiers dead and 34 wounded, 10 of them seriously, the army said.

Gunmen have attacked several villages in northern Mali, “shooting at anything that moved” and killing at least 51 people in apparent retribution for the recent arrest of several rebel leaders, authorities said.

The UN expert said that some Malians expressed serious doubts about the political will of the authorities to guarantee the security of civilians, especially in the regions most affected by conflict. 

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.