The junta in Mali is accusing France of spying and subversion after the French military used a drone to film footage that Paris says shows Russian mercenaries burying bodies in a mass grave near a military base. The French government… Read more‘False flag’ plot behind Mali mass grave?
The European Union announced April 11 that it is halting its military training mission in Mali, citing the presence of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, who are said to have committed a slew of abuses in recent weeks alongside the… Read moreEU ends Mali training as junta turns to Russia
Malian armed forces and associated foreign soldiers are believed to have summarily executed an estimated 300 civilian men in a town they occupied in late March, Human Rights Watch says in a new report April 5, calling it “worst single atrocity… Read moreRussian mercenaries accused in Mali massacre
France and allied European countries are withdrawing their military forces from Mali after diplomatic relations broke down with the ruling junta that came to power in last year’s coup d’etat. The junta has meanwhile reportedly welcomed in hundreds of mercenaries from the… Read moreMali: crisis deepens as foreign forces withdraw
France, now in the process of drawing down its military presence in West Africa’s Sahel nations, has criticized plans that could see Russian mercenaries brought to Mali, where jihadist groups tied to ISIS or al-Qaeda operate in large parts of… Read moreRussian mercenaries to Mali?
The tri-border region where the Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali come together is the scene of fast-mounting massacres by presumed Islamist militants. At least 80 people were killed in an ambush in Burkina Faso on Aug. 18. The target… Read moreMounting massacres across Africa’s Sahel nations
France is to reduce its forces battling jihadists in the Sahel—a seven-year deployment that has failed to stem the violence, and which has proved increasingly unpopular both in the region and domestically. President Emmanuel Macron said on June 10 there would… Read moreFrance announces Sahel drawdown
Amnesty International condemned the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) and its partners from the Russian private military company Wagner Group for perpetration of war crimes, including the murder and torture of civilians. Summary executions and massacres appear to have targeted ethnic Fulani men, in what is described as a campaign of ethnic cleansing. A landmark human rights case has been filed before the African Court on Human & Peoples' Rights (ACtHPR) by TRIAL International, the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) against FAMa and Wagner for their role in repeated atrocities and massacres, most famously that at Moura in March 2022. (Photo via Lansing Indstitute)
In the latest outbreak of fast-escalating violence across Africa’s Sahel, gunmen in southwestern Niger on March 15 killed at least 58 people when they intercepted a convoy of four commercial transport vehicles carrying local civilian residents from a weekly market,… Read moreUS steps up drone ops as Sahel violence flares
Russia destroyed one of its own satellites with a ground-based missile, in a test of its PL-19 Nudol DA-ASAT (direct-ascent anti-satellite) system. The blast created thousands of pieces of debris that have spread out into Earth orbit. The US says it has identified more than 1,500 trackable pieces of debris from the strike, and many thousands of smaller ones. That same day, the Russia's RosCosmos space agency reported that the astronauts aboard the International Space Station had to shelter in place due to a cloud of debris passing by the station every 90 minutes, the time it takes for the ISS to orbit the Earth. It was unclear if the debris threatening the space station came from Russia's ASAT test. But Washington charges that the new debris field poses a danger to the space station. (Image: MIT News)
A US district judge granted a temporary restraining order enjoining the federal government from interfering with fencing erected by Texas state authorities at the US-Mexico border. As part of Operation Lone Star, the Texas Military Department has deployed concertina wire fencing to deter illegal crossings at the border. The suit, brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alleged that federal agents have implemented a policy of destroying the state-erected fencing, and providing support to those attempting to cross after swimming the Rio Grande. Judge Alia Moses found that "the balance of interests favors granting an injunction, but just barely." The decision weighed Texas' interest in deterring unlawful activity and avoiding the costs associated with repairing broken fencing, against US Customs & Border Protection's interest in "allowing [Border Patrol] agents to address medical emergencies." The order includes an exception to permit CBP agents to continue cutting the concertina wire to aid individuals in medical distress. (Photo: Christoph Buchel via Radical History Review)
Soldiers rampaging through villages in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have unlawfully killed or forcibly disappeared at least 199 people between February and April 2020, Amnesty International said in a new briefing published June 10. Some of the killings amount… Read moreSahel security forces accused of war crimes
