French and allied African forces launched a new offensive against Islamist rebels in northern Mali after a suicide attack on a checkpoint killed two Chadian soldiers.
A visit by a delegation of cabinet ministers from Mali’s central government to Kidal, the northern town held by Tuareg rebels of the MNLA, sparked a mini-intifada.
A UN mission formally took over from the African-led force in Mali—although most of the actual soldiers remain the same. France is to keep some 1,000 troops in the country.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in Niger that the attackers who carried out double suicide bombings on a military camp and uranium mine likely came from Libya.
France has vowed to punish those responsible for the car bomb blast at its embassy in Tripoli. Two were arrested following a lightning investigation by a French-led team.
UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism Ben Emmerson warned that Burkina Faso is at risk of being destabilized by the conflict in neighboring Mali.
One year after Tuareg rebels briefly seized power in Mali’s desert north, they face hunger, ethnic attacks and rights abuses at the hands of French-backed government forces.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced a “permanent” military mission in Mali, and said Tuareg rebels must disarm and accept “confinement.”
Malian troops swept Timbuktu for remaining Islamist fighters after a battle that left seven dead and prompted France to send reinforcements and fighter jets.
The UN Security Council unanimously approved the first-ever “offensive” UN peacekeeping brigade to battle rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Workers went on a 72-hour strike at the Chinese-owned Somina uranium mine in northern Niger, demanding better wages and the release of unpaid bonuses.
Tuareg rebels called on the International Criminal Court to investigate what they called war crimes committed by Malian government forces during the current conflict.
