Latest Mali News
Mali rebel group frees Spanish national kidnapped in Algeria
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A rebel alliance in Mali said Tuesday it has freed a Spanish man who was kidnapped in southern Algeria last week. The Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, a coalition of separatist armed groups in Mali's predominately Tuareg north, said on X that it freed Spanish...
Spain says a citizen has been kidnapped in northern Africa
MADRID (AP) — Spain’s foreign ministry says that a Spanish man has been kidnapped in an unspecified northern African country, while Spanish media report that the man is being held by a jihadist group. Spanish state news agency EFE and newspaper El País both report that the man...
Mali seizes 3 tons of gold from Canadian company Barrick amid dispute over share of revenue
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Mali's military government has started seizing gold stocks of the Canadian mining company Barrick as part of a legal battle over the share of revenue owed to the West African state, according to an internal Barrick letter seen by The Associated Press. The...
Ivory Coast asks French troops to leave, the latest African country to do so
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Ivory Coast announced on Tuesday that French troops will leave the country after a decadeslong military presence, the latest African nation to downscale military ties with its former colonial power. Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said the pullout...
Nearly 70 migrants died when their boat sank en route to Spain, a Malian minister says
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Nearly 70 migrants died when their boat sank as they tried to reach Spain earlier this month, Mali’s Minister for Malians Living Abroad said. In a press release on Thursday, Mossa Ag Attaher announced that a migrant boat bound for Spain sank on Dec. 19. The...
West Africa regional bloc approves exit timeline for 3 coup-hit member states
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS approved Sunday an exit timeline for three coup-hit nations after a nearly yearlong process of mediation to avert the unprecedented disintegration of the grouping. In a first in the 15-nation bloc’s nearly 50 years of...
Rights group accuses Russian mercenaries of abuses against civilians in Mali
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Mali’s armed forces, supported by Russian mercenaries, committed abuses against civilians since the withdrawal of a U.N. peacekeeping mission late last year, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday. Malian armed forces and the Russia-backed...
Mali court frees 11 signatories to declaration calling for ruling military junta to stand down
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A court in Mali has freed 11 opposition leaders who were arrested in June on charges of plotting against the ruling military junta after calling for a return to civilian rule. Their provisional release on Friday has been seen as an attempt to calm the...
Drone strikes by Mali's military regime kill 8 Tuareg leaders in the country's north
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Drone strikes by Mali's military regime killed eight Tuareg rebel leaders in the town of Tinzaouatine in the north of the country, a rebel spokesman said Sunday. It was the first time since the start of the rebellion in 2012 that so many Taureg leaders have been killed in a...
Mali arrests four senior employees of Canadian mining company as it presses firms for more taxes
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Authorities in Mali have arrested four senior employees of a Canadian mining company as the military regime in the West African nation continues to detain workers to pressure companies in its crucial mining sector to pay millions in additional taxes. Barrick...
