Russian forces must withdraw from “all of Mali” and the ruling junta will “fall sooner or later”, a spokesman for Tuareg rebels told AFP, after Islamist insurgents and separatists launched attacks destabilising the west African country. FRANCE 24’s Juliette Brown reports. Keywords for this article Source link
FRANCE 24’s François Picard is pleased to welcome Ulf Laessing, Director of the Regional Sahel Programme at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. According to Laessing, we are witnessing in Mali the complete unraveling of a broader geopolitical experiment. Russia stepped into a vacuum left by France, promising stability through force. Instead, its reliance on mercenary brutality, coupled with a shallow understanding of local dynamics, has accelerated the demise of an already fraught collaboration. The fall of Kidal and the coordinated surprise offensives reveal a dramatic shift in the balance of power. Jihadist groups and Tuareg rebels, which were historical adversaries, are now tactically aligned against a common enemy. Popular dissatisfaction with the junta coexists with a deeper fear of Islamist governance, creating a tense equilibrium that sustains the current regime, Laessing tells us. Meanwhile, regional institutions such as ECOWAS find themselves constrained, powerless to exert any meaningful influence as the Sahel region plunges deeper into conflict, isolation and instability. Source link
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Mali ‘s defense minister was killed in a sweeping attack by jihadis and rebels who seized several towns and military bases, authorities said Sunday, the latest violence in the junta-run country that has long battled militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group as well as a separatist rebellion in the north. The Malian government confirmed the death of the defense chief, Gen. Sadio Camara, in a post on the defense ministry’s Facebook page, and expressed its condolences to his family. State-run television also broadcast the announcement of his death by spokesman Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly. Mali was struck on Saturday by one of the biggest coordinated attacks on its army in the capital, Bamako, and several other cities and towns in an assault that also challenged Mali’s security partner, Russia, which has forces on the ground in the West African country. The government said Sunday the attacks appear to be over, but several questions remain, including who was in control of a key northern city that the separatists claim …
Fresh fighting erupted Sunday in the key Malian town of Kidal between Tuareg rebels backed by jihadists and government forces supported by Russian mercenaries, a day after insurgents launched coordinated strikes across the restive Sahel nation. Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) on Sunday announced a deal for a Russian withdrawal from Kidal. “An accord has been reached permitting the (Malian) army and its (Russian) Africa Corps allies to leave the camp 2, where they were holed up since yesterday,” a Tuareg official told AFP. A Kidal resident told AFP: “We saw a military convoy leave, but don’t know the details of what’s happening… Fighters from armed movements have now taken over the streets.” The Africa Corps, an organisation under direct control of the Russian defence ministry, largely took over the Africa operations of the Wagner Group following the 2023 death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The group has been helping the Malian junta fight jihadists in the West African nation. To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking …
25/04/2026 – 20:14 Israel PM orders attacks on Hezbollah after army alleges truce violations Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to strike Lebanon’s Hezbollah hard after what the army said was a string of ceasefire violations. According to a brief statement from his office, the premier “ordered the IDF to forcefully attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon”, after the military said the Iran-backed group had violated a ceasefire that was extended earlier this week. 25/04/2026 – 20:13 Jihadist group JNIM says it launched Mali attacks with Tuareg rebels The Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) said that it had launched the attacks across Mali in a joint operation with Tuareg rebels. The group said in a statement that it had attacked the homes of junta leader General Assimi Goita and Defence Minister General Sadio Camara, among other targets. Earlier Saturday, Tuareg rebels in the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) coalition said they had seized the northern city of Kidal. 25/04/2026 – 19:17 Tuareg rebels “trying to create a separatist state” from …
One of Sir Keir Starmer’s top allies has paved the way for another fight with MPs over benefits cuts, calling for “further reform” to Britain’s welfare bill. In a move that risks a repeat of last year’s chaotic U-turn, which sparked questions over the prime minister’s authority, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said there “needs to be further reform to the social security system for people to get back into work”. Last year, Sir Keir attempted to impose welfare reforms that would have saved around £5bn per year, but he was forced to U-turn on the majority of the cuts at the last minute following a furious revolt by Labour backbenchers. The government was facing a humiliating defeat, with more than 120 Labour MPs having signed a rebel amendment seeking to kill the welfare bill. There is now a growing expectation that the government will attempt fresh reforms in the autumn to slash the ballooning welfare bill. Speaking to The Independent after the government lifted the two-child benefit cap this week, Ms Phillipson insisted that the …
Yasmen Almashan’s life was shattered when five of her brothers disappeared during Syria’s war. Now a member of the Syrian National Commission for Transitional Justice, she is speaking at the UN to push for answers and national reconciliation. More than 130,000 Syrians went missing under the Assad regime. Story by Jessica Lemasurier. Keywords for this article Source link
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The U.S. imposed sanctions Monday on the Rwandan Defence Forces and four of its senior officials for supporting the March 23 Movement, an armed group responsible for human rights abuses in the central African nation of Congo. The latest penalties come after a U.S.-mediated peace agreement was signed in December by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Washington, alongside U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump at the time praised the leaders for their courage, as the deal also opened the region’s critical mineral reserves to the U.S. government and U.S. companies. Despite the agreement, fighting between the two parties continues on several fronts in eastern Congo, claiming numerous civilian and military casualties. M23 is the most prominent of about 100 armed factions vying for control in eastern Congo, near the border with Rwanda. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, according to the U.N. agency for refugees. Congo, the U.S. and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of …
When a handful of House Republicans sank a slate of GOP labor bills last week, it not only marked an embarrassing blow to GOP leadership, but showcased the populist and pro-union sentiment that’s shaking up the orthodoxy of national Republican politics. The upshot is that the pro-union shift in the GOP may not have reached… Source link
ADDIS ABABA, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Ethiopian police said they had seized thousands of rounds of ammunition sent by Eritrea to rebels in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, an allegation Eritrea dismissed as a falsehood intended to justify starting a war. The charge by Ethiopia’s federal police escalates a feud between Ethiopia and Eritrea, longstanding foes who reached a peace deal in 2018 that has since given way to renewed threats and acrimony. The police said in a statement late on Wednesday they had seized 56,000 rounds of ammunition and arrested two suspects this week in the Amhara region, where Fano rebels have waged an insurgency since 2023. “The preliminary investigation conducted on the two suspects who were caught red-handed has confirmed that the ammunition was sent by the Shabiya government,” the statement said, using a term for Eritrea’s ruling party. Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told Reuters that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party (PP) was looking for a pretext to attack. “The PP regime is floating false flags to justify the war that it …
