Mali

Regional mediators put forth a plan on Sunday that would require Mali's embattled president to form a unity government but some opposition members immediately rejected the proposals as they allow him to stay in power.

The UN Human Rights Office is calling for an investigation into the excessive use of violence by an elite counter-terrorism force in Mali against anti-government protestors last weekend, causing many civilian casualties.

Mali’s prime minister has apologised for “excesses” by security forces who opened fire last week on anti-government protesters, but rejected opposition demands that President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resign.

Envoys from Mali's neighbors led by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan were scheduled to arrive in Bamako on Wednesday in a bid to mediate in an escalating political crisis ahead of new high-risk protests. Representatives from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are having to bridge apparently irreconcilable differences between President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and a protest movement that is demanding his resignation.

After weeks of remote negotiations, on 29 June, the UN Security Council agreed upon MINUSMA’s mandate for the next 12 months. Last year the Security Council made a significant change to the mandate, by adding a second strategic priority that instructed the Mission to help the Malian authorities protect civilians and reduce intercommunal violence in central Mali. Recognizing that MINUSMA is still adapting to implement the new strategic priority, the Security Council made more modest amendments to the protection language in the new mandate.

Protesters took to the streets of Mali’s capital on Friday afternoon for the latest in a series of mass demonstrations calling for the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has struggled to stem rising jihadist and inter-communal violence in northern and central parts of the country after seven years in power.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has offered concessions in a move to unblock a stalemate with opposition leaders that has mired the country in turmoil since a disputed legislative election in March.

Sahel countries and their ally France on Tuesday vowed to press ahead with a tactical shift in their campaign against an eight-year-old jihadist insurgency, saying the change had notched up substantial gains although major challenges also remain. After a summit in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott to review the new strategy at the six-month mark, French President Emmanuel Macron said there had been “spectacular results.”

Brushing aside any concern about coronavirus, huge crowds are sustaining a campaign of mass protest across Mali, demanding the resignation of the West African state's increasingly beleaguered President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. … The real mobiliser - the figure who wields the critical crowd pulling power - is an imam, Mahmoud Dicko.

Feeding an entrenched cycle of violence and reprisal, 580 civilians have been killed in Mali so far this year, as worsening security conditions and widespread impunity undermine efforts to protect people caught in intercommunal fighting, the UN Human Rights chief said on Friday.