At a time when Russian private military contractor—the Wagner Group—has come under careful international scrutiny for gross human rights abuses, possible war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Mali, Moscow’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov has promised even more military support for the West African state.  During a one-day working visit to Mali on Feb. 7…

BAMAKO—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will pay a two-day visit to Mali this week, the Malian foreign ministry said on Sunday, describing the visit as a reflection of a shared wish to strengthen defense and security ties. Lavrov will arrive in Bamako on Monday. It is the first time a Russian foreign minister has officially…

The Malian interim government on Sunday said the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission’s human rights division had 48 hours to leave the country as he had been declared persona non grata. In a statement, it said the decision to expel Guillaume Ngefa-Atondoko Andali was connected to what Mali’s ruling junta said was his allegedly biased choice of…

UNITED NATIONS—Al-Qaida and ISIS terrorist groups are driving insecurity in central Mali and continue to clash near populated areas in the northern Gao and Menaka regions, the U.N. chief said in a new report circulated Monday. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “the level and frequency of incidents of violence remain exceptionally high,” with attacks by “violent…

BAMAKO, Mali—Coordinated attacks by Islamic terrorists have killed 14 Malian soldiers and wounded nearly a dozen, the army said. Multiple improvised explosive devices detonated between Dia and Diafarabe villages as well as between Koumara and Macina towns in central Mali, said Col. Souleymane Dembele, the director of public relations for the army, in a statement…

BAMAKO—Three United Nations peacekeepers were killed and three others seriously injured when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in northern Mali on Monday, a U.N. spokesperson said. Islamist extremists, some with links to al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorist groups, have been waging attacks in northern Mali for the last decade. The peacekeepers were on a…

BAMAKO, Mali—A passenger bus struck an improvised explosive device in central Mali, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens of others, authorities said Friday, blaming Islamic extremists with links to al-Qaeda. The explosion took place Thursday afternoon in the village of Tile in Bandiagara region, the Malian military said in a statement. Among the…

BAMAKO—Terrorists killed 17 Malian soldiers and four civilians in an attack near the town of Tessit on Sunday, the Malian army said. Nine soldiers were also reported missing and vehicles and equipment were destroyed, it said in a statement released late on Monday, adding that it suspected an ISIS terrorist group affiliate. “On 07 August…

BAMAKO—Radical Islamic terrorists killed 15 soldiers and three civilians during two separate attacks in southwest Mali on Wednesday, the army said in a statement. Six soldiers died and 25 were wounded when terrorists assaulted a military camp in Sonkolo, a rural commune in the south-central Segou region, more than 300 kilometers (186 miles)north of the…

BAMAKO—Unidentified armed men killed six people at a checkpoint 70 kilometers (44 miles) east of Mali’s capital Bamako, the security ministry said on Friday. It did not say who was responsible for the attack, which took place overnight on Thursday in an area in southwestern Mali that has been relatively untouched by the Islamist insurgency…