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Tag: Mali

  • Macron lays out ‘new era’ for France’s reduced presence in Africa

    Macron lays out ‘new era’ for France’s reduced presence in Africa

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    French President Emmanuel Macron called on Monday for his country to build “a new, balanced relationship” with Africa, as the former colonial power seeks to reduce its military presence on the continent.

    “The objective of this new era is to deploy our security presence in a partnership-based approach,” Macron said in a speech in Paris, ahead of a tour that will take him to Gabon, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo later this week.

    In the future, French military bases on the continent will be “co-administered” with local personnel, the French president said, while there will be a “visible decrease” in the number of French troops stationed in Africa over the next few months.

    The news comes as France has faced increasing opposition from local governments over its continued military presence in several of its former colonies, and was forced to withdraw hundreds of troops from Mali, the Central African Republic and Burkina Faso over the past year. Around 5,000 French soldiers remain stationed on various bases throughout the continent.

    But Paris’ waning influence — particularly in the Sahel region — has also allowed Russia to expand its reach in Africa, including in the digital sphere through the use of disinformation campaigns, as well as on the ground with mercenaries from the Wagner group, who in some cases have replaced French soldiers.

    The French president said his country would steer away from “anachronistic” power struggles in Africa, saying African countries should be considered as “partners,” both militarily and economically.

    “Africa isn’t [anyone’s] backyard, even less so a continent where Europeans and French should dictate its framework for development,” Macron said.

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    Nicolas Camut

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  • “Main suspect” allegedly confesses after 10 mysterious beheadings in Mali

    “Main suspect” allegedly confesses after 10 mysterious beheadings in Mali

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    President of Mali arrested in military coup


    President of Mali arrested in military coup

    03:43

    Investigations into a string of beheadings in southern Mali that have shocked the nation in Africa’s Sahel region have scored a breakthrough, judicial and police sources said on Monday. Ten people in the cotton-growing town of Fana have been decapitated since 2018, sparking fears of ritual killings. 

    “We have arrested the main suspect,” local prosecutor Boubacar Moussa Diarra told AFP by phone.

    “The details he gave of the crimes correspond to the nature of the murders,” he said.

    A police official who declined to be named revealed the suspect had been arrested a year ago but had only confessed last week to the grisly murders.

    Neither the prosecutor nor the police official revealed the possible motive for the crimes.

    The victims included a former soldier, a housewife, a five-year-old albino child and a 2-year-old girl, and had apparently nothing in common.

    In most cases, their heads were found, but their blood had been collected, sparking fears of ritual murders and demands for a local police station that were met in 2019.

    The local authorities have urged caution regarding theories surrounding the killings and stress that the investigation is continuing.

    Mali has continued to be a danger zone for civilians and peacekeepers, especially since a 2020 military coup and the “activities of extremist groups,” the United Nations said last week. The U.N. warned about continuing violence in the nation after the abduction of a doctor working for the U.N. health agency.

    A U.N. mission in Mali launched about a decade ago following insecurity in the north and the military coup. On Friday, U.N. Special Representative El-Ghassim Wane told the Security Council that stabilizing Mali is crucial, “not only for the country but for the entire region.”

    Wane said the U.N. mission “has continued to make a sustained effort to protect civilians.”

    “It’s done so despite the difficult environment in which it operates and the gaps in capacity, which are significant,” he said.


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  • 2 peacekeepers killed, 4 wounded in attack in Mali, UN says

    2 peacekeepers killed, 4 wounded in attack in Mali, UN says

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    UNITED NATIONS — Two U.N. peacekeepers from Nigeria were killed and four others wounded in an attack Friday on a peace patrol in the town of Timbuktu in northern Mali, the United Nations said.

    The U.N. Security Council said a member of Mali’s security forces was also killed in the attack.

    U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said one of the peacekeepers killed was a woman.

    U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council strongly condemned the attack.

    The council stressed that involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring or conducting attacks targeting U.N. peacekeepers may constitute war crimes.

    Mali has been in turmoil since a 2012 uprising when mutinous soldiers overthrew the president. The power vacuum that resulted ultimately led to a jihadist insurgency and a French-led war that ousted the jihadists from power in 2013.

    Insurgents remain active in Mali and extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali since 2015, stoking animosity and violence between ethnic groups in the region.

    Tensions have grown between Mali, its African neighbors and the West since Mali’s government allowed Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to deploy on its territory.

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  • Burkina Faso summons Ghana envoy over president’s claim on Wagner

    Burkina Faso summons Ghana envoy over president’s claim on Wagner

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    President Nana Akufo-Addo alleged during the US-Africa Leaders Summit that Burkina Faso has hired Russian mercenaries.

    Burkina Faso has summoned Ghana’s ambassador to protest allegations that the embattled Sahel nation has hired Russian mercenaries, the foreign ministry says.

    The summons on Friday was issued after Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo alleged on Wednesday that Burkina Faso had hired the mercenaries.

    “Today, Russian mercenaries are on our northern border. Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali in employing the Wagner forces there,” Akufo-Addo said at the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington.

    Speaking alongside United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Akufo-Addo also alleged that Burkina Faso had offered Wagner a mine as payment.

    In a statement issued after its meeting with Ghana’s ambassador, Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had “expressed disapproval” about the statements made by the Ghanaian president.

    “Ghana could have undertaken exchanges with the Burkinabe authorities on the security issue in order to have the right information,” it said.

    However, it did not confirm or deny the allegations. In a separate message to Reuters, a foreign ministry spokesperson said, without elaborating: “In any case, Burkina has not called on Wagner.”

    Burkina Faso also recalled its ambassador from Ghana for a meeting, the spokesperson said.

    Authorities in Ouagadougou have not commented publicly on speculations of working with Wagner, a mercenary group that was hired in neighbouring Mali to help fight armed groups.

    In a response on Thursday to Akufo-Addo’s remarks, Wagner did not directly address Ghana’s concerns. But the response, attributed to Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused Western governments and United Nations forces of carrying out some of the offences Wagner has been accused of in Africa.

    The prospect of Wagner expanding its presence in Africa has troubled Western powers such as France and the US, who say the group exploits mineral resources and commits human rights abuses in countries where it operates.

    Burkina Faso’s government spokesman did not answer calls and did not reply to a message requesting comment.

    An official at Ghana’s foreign ministry said no one was immediately available for comment.

    Burkina Faso is struggling to contain some of the same armed groups present in Mali and, like its neighbour, is ruled by a military government that came to power on promises to improve security.

    Mali’s decision to employ Wagner forces last year alienated it from its regional and Western allies and was one of the reasons why French forces pulled out of the country.

    Wagner forces have also fought in Libya, the Central African Republic and Mozambique.

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  • Mauritanian indicted in 3 deadly 2015 terror attacks in Mali

    Mauritanian indicted in 3 deadly 2015 terror attacks in Mali

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    NEW YORK — A Mauritanian national suspected of planning and coordinating three lethal attacks in 2015 on Westerners in Mali was arraigned in a New York federal court on Saturday, a day after being transferred to U.S. custody in Mali.

    Fawaz Ould Ahmed Ould Ahemeid faces multiple terrorism charges in a six-count indictment, including for his alleged role in the attacks on a restaurant and two hotels that killed a total of 38 people. The victims included five United Nations workers and a U.S. citizen.

    “Today, we have made clear that the United States is steadfast in our commitment to bring to justice those who commit barbaric acts of terrorism targeting innocent victims, including, as in this case, an American aid worker who was killed more than 4,000 miles from her home in Maryland,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.

    Ahemeid, 44, also known as “Ibrahim Idress” and “Ibrahim Dix,” appeared in a federal court in Brooklyn, where U.S. Magistrate Judge James R. Cho ordered him to be detained, pending trial. Samuel Jacobson, one of Ahemeid’s federal public defenders, said they had no comment at this time.

    Ahemeid was previously sentenced to death in 2020 by a Malian court for his role in the same attacks. A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney’s Office said the Malian government agreed to turn him over to U.S. authorities.

    Alex Thurston, assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati, said “accountability for the organizers of terrorist attacks is important.” He noted “the case is unlikely to have much of an impact back in Mali, however, where most jihadist violence occurs far from the capital,” referring to more recent attacks in the West African nation.

    Ahemeid is charged with the murder of Anita Ashok Datar, the U.S. citizen who was among the 20 victims of a Nov. 20, 2015 attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, the capital of Mali. Datar, a 41-year-old public health expert from Takoma Park, Maryland, was a guest at the hotel and had been working for an international developing firm helping the U.S. Agency for International Development.

    Ahemeid also faces charges of unlawful use of firearms and explosives and helping provide support to the terrorist groups al-Mourabitoun and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a group he allegedly joined in or around 2007.

    The charges also relate to the March 7, 2015 attack on the La Terrasse restaurant in Bamako, Mali where a masked gunman sprayed bullets in a restaurant popular with foreigners, killing five people, including French and Belgium nationals. Documents filed by prosecutors accuse Ahemeid of personally committing the attack, armed with two assault rifles, a pistol and grenades. The group al-Mourabitoun publicly claimed responsibility that day for the attack.

    The third attack occurred on Aug. 7, 2015 at the Hotel Byblos in Sevare, Mali, where 13 individuals, including the five U.N. workers, were killed after a gunman armed with an assault rifle and wearing a suicide vest opened fire. Al-Mourabitoun claimed responsibility for that attack as well.

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  • US sanctions ex-Guinea leader, Mali politician for right abuses

    US sanctions ex-Guinea leader, Mali politician for right abuses

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    The US sanctions freeze assests including those of Guinea’s former President Conde and Mali’s former President Keita’s son.

    The United States has imposed sanctions on more than 40 people and entities for alleged rights abuses from nine countries, including Guinea’s former President Alpha Conde and Karim Keita, son of former Malian leader Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Karim Keita.

    In a statement released on Friday, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the announcement was the outcome of a thorough and multiyear investigation.

    Conde, who was deposed in a coup in September 2021, was sanctioned for his “connection to serious human rights abuses”.

    In 2010, Conde became Guinea’s first democratically elected leader and was re-elected for a controversial third term after a constitutional referendum 10 years later. His presidency was bogged by allegations of endemic corruption and serial human rights abuses.

    In May, Guinea’s attorney general ordered legal proceedings against Conde and 26 of his former officials for alleged crimes, including acts of violence while in office. The charges range from complicity in murder and assault to destruction of property.

    According to the statement released by the US Embassy in Guinea, Conde’s security forces engaged in violence against opposition supporters and “the government arbitrarily arrested and detained opposition members” in 2020.

    Meanwhile, Keita served as the president of the Security and Defense Commission of the National Assembly in Mali from February 2014 until his father was overthrown in an August 2020 coup. He used his position to receive bribes, embezzle government funds and remove other officials who did not support his actions, the US said.

    Keita was also allegedly involved in the abduction, torture, and murder of reporter Birama Toure who was investigating his involvement in corruption.

    “Corrupt actors and human rights abusers both rely on deficiencies in the international financial system to perpetrate their activities,” Brian Nelson, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in another statement on Friday.

    “Over the past year, the Treasury has made combatting corruption and serious human rights abuse a top priority, including through the use of financial sanctions and addressing vulnerabilities in the US and international financial systems. By exposing the egregious behavior of these actors, we can help disrupt their activities, dismantle their networks, and starve them of resources,” he added.

    The announced sanctions freeze any US assets of the affected persons and bar US citizens from dealing with them.

    Individuals and entities from North Korea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iran, Philippines, Russia, the Tibetan autonomous region of China, and elsewhere were also included in the sanctions list.

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  • Guinea junta agrees with bloc to hold vote in early 2025

    Guinea junta agrees with bloc to hold vote in early 2025

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    CONAKRY, Guinea — The government led by Guinea’s coup leader reached an agreement late Friday with West African regional mediators on a schedule for holding new elections a little over two years from now.

    The regional bloc known as ECOWAS has spent more than a year negotiating with Col. Mamady Doumbouya’s government following the September 2021 coup and had imposed sanctions on the junta leadership. It was not immediately known how soon those might be lifted.

    The junta initially proposed a three-year transition, which was rejected by the regional mediators who already had obtained two-year transition deals after similar coups in both Mali and Burkina Faso. Guinea’s two-year clock starts in January, with elections then due in early 2025.

    For some, the news was bittersweet as demonstrations protesting the duration of the transition in Guinea have turned deadly, including three killed Thursday.

    “It took more than 17 deaths to reach a consensus,” complained Aly Baldé, whose brother was shot dead in Conakry.

    Guinea became the second country hit by a recent coup in West Africa, a little over a year after Mali’s military junta overthrew that country’s democratically elected ruler. Since then, Burkina Faso has seen two coups of its own.

    Burkina Faso and Mali already have agreed with ECOWAS on election dates — Mali’s is scheduled to be held by March 2024, but the situation in Burkina Faso is now in doubt after the latest coup there.

    A deal had been reached with the man who first toppled Burkina Faso’s president in January to hold a vote by July 2024. But it remains to be seen whether Capt. Ibrahim Traore, who seized power on Sept. 30, will fully honor that agreement.

    ECOWAS has said that Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso will all remain suspended from the bloc until elections are held.

    Beyond setting dates, ECOWAS also has expressed concerns about what shape the future elections will take and whether the coup leaders turned interim presidents will be allowed to run as candidates.

    Earlier this month, Doumbouya reiterated that neither he nor any member of the junta or the transitional government would take part in the eventual elections now due by January 2025.

    Doumbouya emerged as the leader after mutinous soldiers overthrew President Alpha Conde last year.

    Conde had won a landmark 2010 election after decades of dictatorship and strongman rule in Guinea, only to eventually try to seek a third term in office. He claimed the country’s term limits did not apply to him. While he succeeded in winning a third term, he was overthrown nine months later.

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    Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.

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  • Protesters attack French Embassy in Burkina Faso after coup

    Protesters attack French Embassy in Burkina Faso after coup

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    OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Angry protesters attacked the French Embassy in Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday after supporters of the West African nation’s new coup leader accused France of harboring the ousted interim president, a charge French authorities vehemently denied.

    Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba was overthrown late Friday only nine months after he’d mounted a coup himself in Burkina Faso, which has been failing to effectively counter rising violence by Islamic extremists. Comments by a new junta spokesman earlier Saturday set into motion an outburst of anger in Ouagadougou, the capital.

    Video on social media showed residents with lit torches outside the perimeter of the French embassy.

    Damiba’s whereabouts remained unknown but France’s Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement: “We formally deny involvement in the events unfolding in Burkina Faso. The camp where the French forces are based has never hosted Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba nor has our embassy.”

    Capt. Ibrahim Traore, who was named in charge after the Friday evening coup was announced on state television, said in his first interview that he and his men did not seek to harm Damiba.

    “If we wanted, we would take him within five minutes of fighting and maybe he would be dead, the president. But we don’t want this catastrophe,” Traore told the Voice of America. “We don’t want to harm him, because we don’t have any personal problem with him. We’re fighting for Burkina Faso.”

    Roads remained blocked off in Ouagadougou and a helicopter could be heard flying overhead. An internal security analysis for the European Union seen by The Associated Press said there was “abnormal military movement” in the city.

    As uncertainty prevailed, the international community widely condemned the ouster of Damiba, who himself overthrew the country’s democratically elected president in January. The African Union and the West African region bloc known as ECOWAS sharply criticized the developments.

    “ECOWAS finds this new power grab inappropriate at a time when progress has been made,” the bloc said, citing Damiba’s recent agreement to return to constitutional order by July 2024.

    After taking power in January, Damiba promised to end the Islamic extremist violence that has forced 2 million people to flee their homes in Burkina Faso. But the group of officers led by Traore said Friday that Damiba had failed and was being removed.

    The new junta leadership said it would commit “all fighting forces to refocus on the security issue and the restoration of the integrity of our territory.”

    But it remains to be seen whether the junta can turn around the crisis. Concerns already were mounting Saturday that the latest political volatility would further distract the military and allow the jihadis to strengthen their grip on the once-peaceful country.

    For some in Burkina Faso’s military, Damiba was seen as too cozy with former colonizer France, which maintains a military presence in Africa’s Sahel region to help countries fight Islamic extremists. Some who support the new coup leader, Traore, have called on Burkina Faso’s government to seek Russian support instead.

    In neighboring Mali, the coup leader has invited Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to help with security, a move than has drawn global condemnation and accusations of human rights abuses.

    Mali also saw a second coup nine months after the August 2020 overthrow of its president, when the junta’s leader sidelined his civilian transition counterparts and put himself alone in charge.

    Chrysogone Zougmore, president of the Burkina Faso Movement for Human Rights, called the latest overthrow “very regrettable,” saying the political instability would not help in the fight against Islamic extremist violence.

    “How can we hope to unite people and the army if the latter is characterized by such serious divisions?” Zougmore said.

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    Mednick reported from Barcelona.

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  • Army officers appear on Burkina Faso TV, declare new coup

    Army officers appear on Burkina Faso TV, declare new coup

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    OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — More than a dozen members of Burkina Faso’s army seized control of state television late Friday, declaring that the country’s coup leader-turned-president, Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had been overthrown after only nine months in power.

    A statement read by a junta spokesman said Capt. Ibrahim Traore is the new military leader of Burkina Faso, a volatile West African country that is battling a mounting Islamic insurgency.

    Burkina Faso’s new military leaders said the country’s borders had been closed and a curfew would be in effect from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. The transitional government and national assembly were ordered dissolved.

    Damiba and his allies overthrew the democratically elected president, coming to power with promises of make the country more secure. However, violence has continued unabated and frustration with his leadership has grown in recent months.

    “Faced by the continually worsening security situation, we the officers and junior officers of the national armed forces were motivated to take action with the desire to protect the security and integrity of our country,” said the statement read by the junta spokesman, Capt. Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho.

    The soldiers promised the international community they would respect their commitments and urged Burkinabes “to go about their business in peace.”

    “A meeting will be convened to adopt a new transitional constitution charter and to select a new Burkina Faso president be it civilian or military,” Sorgho added.

    Damiba had just returned from addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York as Burkina Faso’s head of state. Tensions, though, had been mounting for months. In his speech, Damiba defended his January coup as “an issue of survival for our nation,” even if it was ”perhaps reprehensible” to the international community.

    Constantin Gouvy, Burkina Faso researcher at Clingendael, said Friday night’s events “follow escalating tensions within the ruling MPSR junta and the wider army about strategic and operational decisions to tackle spiraling insecurity.”

    “Members of the MPSR increasingly felt Damiba was isolating himself and casting aside those who helped him seize power,” Gouvy told The Associated Press.

    Gunfire had erupted in the capital, Ouagadougou, early Friday and hours passed without any public appearance by Damiba. Late in the afternoon, his spokesman posted a statement on the presidency’s Facebook page saying that “negotiations are underway to bring back calm and serenity.”

    Friday’s developments felt all too familiar in West Africa, where a coup in Mali in August 2020 set off a series of military power grabs in the region. Mali also saw a second coup nine months after the August 2020 overthrow of its president, when the junta’s leader sidelined his civilian transition counterparts and put himself alone in charge.

    On the streets of Ouagadougou, some people already were showing support Friday for the change in leadership even before the putschists took to the state airwaves.

    Francois Beogo, a political activist from the Movement for the Refounding of Burkina Faso, said Damiba “has showed his limits.”

    “People were expecting a real change,” he said of the January coup d’etat.

    Some demonstrators voiced support for Russian involvement in order to stem the violence, and shouted slogans against France, Burkina Faso’s former colonizer. In neighboring Mali, the junta invited Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to help secure the country, though their deployment has drawn international criticism.

    Many in Burkina Faso initially supported the military takeover last January, frustrated with the previous government’s inability to stem Islamic extremist violence that has killed thousands and displaced at least 2 million.

    Yet the violence has failed to wane in the months since Damiba took over. Earlier this month, he also took on the position of defense minister after dismissing a brigadier general from the post.

    “It’s hard for the Burkinabe junta to claim that it has delivered on its promise of improving the security situation, which was its pretext for the January coup,” said Eric Humphery-Smith, senior Africa analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

    Earlier this week, at least 11 soldiers were killed and 50 civilians went missing after a supply convoy was attacked by gunmen in Gaskinde commune in Soum province in the Sahel. That attack was “a low point” for Damiba’s government and “likely played a role in inspiring what we’ve seen so far today,” added Humphery-Smith.

    U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday that nearly one-fifth of Burkina Faso’s population “urgently needs humanitarian aid.”

    “Burkina Faso needs peace, it needs stability, and it needs unity in order to fight terrorist groups and criminal networks operating in parts of the country,” Dujarric said.

    Chrysogone Zougmore, president of the Burkina Faso Movement for Human Rights, called Friday’s developments “very regrettable,” saying the instability would not help in the fight against the Islamic extremist violence.

    “How can we hope to unite people and the army if the latter is characterized by such serious divisions?” Zougmore said. “It is time for these reactionary and political military factions to stop leading Burkina Faso adrift.”

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    Mednick reported from Barcelona. Associated Press writers Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

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