Sahel

A symbolic ceremony to compensate the victims was organized on Tuesday, March 30, in Bamako by the Malian Transitional Authorities and the International Criminal Court. The incident follows the ICC's conviction in 2016 of Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, executive director of the jihadist group Ansar Dine, which led the destruction of the mausoleums in Timbuktu in 2012. The mausoleums have since been rebuilt, and…

The joint force of the G5 Sahel, but also the Barkhane force, will therefore, from today, be able to benefit from significant military support to armed terrorist groups. This battalion was eagerly awaited in the central Sahel zone. The news was confirmed to RFI on Monday by the head of the G5 Sahel Joint Force, General Oumarou…

Unmatched attacks on villages and settlements in western Niger have left more than 200 dead in six days. This violence has not been claimed, but it bears the hallmark of the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara, the only large jihadist group in this area that is well enough organized to carry out attacks of this size. Since the beginning of the year, four attacks have been directed at civilians in…

A few days before 2021, two questions arise for France in the Sahel. Should we reduce Barkhane's workforce? And should we negotiate with the jihadists?

About 7.5 million Nigerian voters are expected to vote in the presidential and legislative elections on Sunday, December 27. The 26,000 polling stations opened around 8 a.m. with a slight delay, and about thirty candidates are running to succeed Mahamadou Issoufou. Mohamed Bazoum, from the ruling Nigerian Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS), is one of 30 candidates to run in the first round on Sunday.…

An operation to combat arms trafficking networks taking place in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire led to the acquisition of tens of thousands of explosives, but also a large amount of dirty fuel, Interpol and the UN announced on Monday. The 260 men and women in the operation called KAFO deployed from November 30 to…

French General François Lecointre returned on December 12 from a two-day inspection visit to Niger and Mali, his seventh visit to the Barkhane Force's Operational Theater. The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces went to meet French soldiers and their partners from the Malian armed forces. The possibility of an overview of military operations one month before the anniversary of the Pau summit, 13 January, when a change in the format of French…

Nigerian General Oumarou Namata, commander of the G5 Sahel Joint Force, was in Paris on Wednesday, December 2. RFI could meet him exclusively. General Namata assures us that the joint force, three years after its creation, has now reached maturity in the fight against armed terrorist groups. If the military presence in the Sahel becomes international with the gradual arrival of the European Takuba…

The Congolese capital hosted an international conference on Tuesday 27 October to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Brazzaville Manifesto, the act by which General Charles de Gaulle designated this city the capital of free France during World War II. At least four African heads of state who participated took the opportunity to call for more solidarity to fight terrorism shaking the continent.…

France and Mali differ on Monday on whether or not to speak to jihadists to assist finish the Sahel's eight-year-old rebellion, with French International Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian ruling out the likelihood. Throughout a press convention within the capital Bamako, Le Drian distinguished between partaking with armed teams that…