Mali

France’s armed forces minister said on Wednesday she would travel to Washington in the coming days to discuss US military support to French forces in the Sahel region, amid growing concern of a US exit from the area.

Operation Barkhane was supposed to be France’s contribution to ridding jihadists from the Sahel region, one of its main spheres of influence in Africa. But instead, President Emmanuel Macron is increasingly isolated – both in Africa and in Europe.

Operation Barkhane was supposed to be France’s contribution to ridding jihadists from the Sahel region, one of its main spheres of influence in Africa. But instead, President Emmanuel Macron is increasingly isolated – both in Africa and in Europe.

Implementation of the 2015 peace agreement in Mali provides the only pathway for stabilization there, the head of UN peacekeeping told the Security Council on Wednesday. Jean-Pierre Lacroix updated ambassadors on developments in the West African country, … . Despite slow starts and disagreements, both between and among the sides, the UN peacekeeping chief reported that progress has been achieved in Mali, such as the holding of an inclusive national dialogue which concluded in December.

The leaders of France and the G5 Sahel group of states have agreed to form a military coalition under joint command and to focus their counter-insurgency efforts against Islamic State.

France's president and his counterparts from the Sahel region are meeting to discuss military operations against Islamist militants in West Africa. BBC looks at the figures behind the conflict, … .

Heads of state from West Africa and France will be meeting in Pau, France on Monday, to find new strategies against jihadists in the Sahel. But resistance to the presence of French troops in the region is growing.

Twenty people were wounded on Thursday in northern Mali’s restive Kidal region, including 18 UN peacekeepers from Chad, in a rocket attack on a military base for U.N., French and Malian forces, a UN spokesman said.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said she supports sending more troops to Africa's Sahel. Although France already has a strong deployment, they've asked for support and Germany cannot "duck away" from the region, she said.

Malian leader meets representatives of political and rebel groups in a bid to find solution to rising violence.