Mali

Less than a year after sending hundreds of extra troops to the Sahel, France is hoping to cut back its military presence in the restive region to make room for a stronger European commitment, army sources say.

Task Force Takuba will work towards containing the jihadist violence in Mali that has plagued the area since 2013.

France and Mali differed on Monday over whether to talk to jihadists to help end the Sahel state's eight-year-old insurgency, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian ruling the option out. During a news conference in the capital Bamako, Le Drian distinguished between engaging with armed groups which had signed peace accords, and "terror groups".

The world must act now to reverse the situation in Africa’s central Sahel region, where humanitarian needs are at “a breaking point”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a high-level conference on Tuesday to address the burgeoning crisis. 

Dialogue may be possible with certain jihadist groups active in Africa’s Sahel region, but not “radical” ones such as the Islamic State (IS) group, UN chief Antonio Guterres said Monday.

[…] An Egyptian peacekeeper was killed, and another blue helmet seriously injured, when an explosive device hit a Mission vehicle in the Kidal region, located in the north. 

A UN peacekeeper was killed in northern Mali and another seriously wounded after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb on Thursday, the UN mission said. The attack came as civil servants in the capital, Bamako, protested against the "selective release" of foreign hostages in hostage swap deals by the government.

The Security Council today welcomed the elaboration of transitional political arrangements in Mali and underlined the need to fully adhere to their terms, issuing a presidential statement in the wake of developments unfolding rapidly in the West African nation.

The UN humanitarian chief warned Tuesday that daunting problems in Africa's Sahel region are getting worse and the region "is very close to a tipping point — and so by extension are its African neighbors, Europe, and the world."

Eleven political and military figures arrested during Mali’s coup have been released, including former prime minister Boubou Cisse, the transition authorities announced.