Latest Mali News

Mali's ruling military appoints new prime minister, a day after his predecessor was fired

Nov. 21, 2024 10:03 AM EST

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's ruling junta on Thursday appointed a new prime minister from the ranks of the military generals, a day after firing his predecessor for criticizing the military regime. The move effectively consolidates all power in the African country in the hands of...

Mali junta leader fires prime minister days after he criticizes the military regime

Nov. 20, 2024 16:29 PM EST

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's junta leader fired Prime Minister Choguel Maïga and the government on Wednesday, days after Maïga criticized the military regime. The move was announced in a presidential decree issued by Gen. Assimi Goita, Mali's leader, and read on state television...

ICC sentences al-Qaida-linked former police chief to 10 years for war crimes in Mali

Nov. 20, 2024 09:45 AM EST

THE HAGUE (AP) — The International Criminal Court sentenced an al-Qaida-linked extremist leader to 10 years in prison on Wednesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out when he headed the Islamic police in the historic desert city of Timbuktu in the west African country of Mali....

Australian mine company to pay Mali junta $160 million after its CEO and 2 employees were detained

Nov. 18, 2024 19:53 PM EST

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Australia’s Resolute Mining said Monday it would pay $160 million to Mali’s ruling junta to resolve a tax dispute, more than a week after the company’s CEO and two employees were detained in the West African country. Earlier this month, the Australian...

Activists plant trees in Mali but residents strip them for firewood. They say there's no choice

Nov. 14, 2024 23:25 PM EST

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — After years of serving as Mali's minister of the environment, Aida M'bo now spends her time planting trees in a fight that many in the arid West African country acknowledge they are losing. “Deforestation is an important issue in Mali,” she said, standing in...

Mali arrests top politician for criticizing Burkina Faso's ruling junta

Nov. 13, 2024 16:02 PM EST

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's ruling junta arrested one of the country's top politicians Wednesday for criticizing the military rulers of neighboring Burkina Faso, according to his son and a judiciary source. Issa Kaou N’Djim, who previously supported Mali's current military leader...

Mali detains top executive and 2 others from an Australian gold mining company over dispute

Nov. 11, 2024 02:57 AM EST

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — The military junta in Mali has arrested the top executive and two other employees of Australia’s gold mining company Resolute Mining while they were visiting the country for talks over an unspecified dispute, the company said Monday. The three –...

The head of Mali's military junta appoints himself to the highest rank in the army

Oct. 16, 2024 17:24 PM EDT

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

Oct. 10, 2024 00:23 AM EDT

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

Oct. 08, 2024 10:46 AM EDT

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. ...