Latest Mali News
The head of Mali's military junta appoints himself to the highest rank in the army
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The head of the military junta that seized power in Mali in 2020 promoted himself Wednesday to the rank of army general with special title: Colonel Assimi Goita of the land army, the highest military distinction held only by two former heads of state in the country’s...
Mali's traditional theater gives psychiatric patients the stage
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — In the courtyard of a psychiatric ward in Mali’s capital, a small group of patients acts out scenes of a village dispute to the beat of a djembe, a traditional West African drum. One patient, Mamadou Diarra, cries out to another in the Bambara language,...
Burkina Faso’s junta suspends Voice of America broadcasts over coverage of militant violence
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Burkina Faso’s military junta has suspended Voice of America's broadcasts for three months over its coverage of militant attacks in the country and in neighboring Mali, the state news agency reported, in the latest measure targeting media freedom in the country. ...
In Senegal, the bastion of the region's Francophonie, French is giving way to local languages
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — For decades Senegal, a former French colony in West Africa, has been touted as the bastion of the French language in the region. Leopold Sedar Senghor, the country’s first president and a poet, is considered one of the founding fathers of the concept of Francophonie, a...
Military juntas in 3 West African nations investigate a French journalist over jihadi analysis
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Prosecutors in military junta-ruled Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso launched investigations on Wednesday against the French journalist and researcher Wassim Nasr into what they called his “apology of terrorism” and “complicity” in alleged terrorist acts, in the latest...
Media freedom group sounds alarm on increased security risks for local journalists in Africa's Sahel
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Local journalists in the Sahel region of Africa are facing increased security risks, a media freedom group said Tuesday, as extremist attacks and military coups have shaken the region in recent years. At least two community radio journalists were killed and...
Attacks by Islamic extremists are rampant in Africa's Sahel. Here's what we know about them
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Extremist attacks in Sahel, an arid swath of land south of the Sahara in Africa, have proliferated in recent months: Last week, Islamic militants attacked Bamako, the capital of Mali, for the first time in almost a decade, demonstrating their capacity to carry out large...
Mali officials close livestock markets over suspected links to militants
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Authorities in Mali’s capital announced Thursday after a deadly attack by al-Qaida-linked militants that they were closing several livestock markets that typically are run by an ethnic group that officials associate with the militants. The al-Qaida-linked...
A U.N.-chartered plane was damaged in an Islamist attack in Mali
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A plane that was used for humanitarian work by the World Food Program was damaged during an Islamist attack in the capital of Mali, according to the South African aviation company that owns the plane. The company, National Airways Corp., said late Wednesday that...
Mali troops put down a deadly militant attack in the capital
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali troops subdued the Islamic militants who attacked a military training camp and the airport in Mali’s capital Tuesday after gunbattles that killed some soldiers, authorities said. An al-Qaida-linked group claimed the attack. The militants tried to...
