Connect to share and comment

At least 10 people killed in Niger bombings: Western source

At least 10 people were killed on Thursday in twin car bombings that hit a military base and a French-owned uranium processing plant in Niger, officials said. "There were at least 10 dead" in the bombing at the military base in Agadez, a Western source told AFP while a Nigerian defence ministry spokesman said that there were dead "on both sides." A nearly simultaneous bombing at the uranium plant owned by France's nuclear giant Areva left the suicide bomber dead and wounded 13 local workers, according to the group. bh-cf-tmo/yad/txw

Mali Tuaregs reject army presence in bastion for July vote

Mali's main Tuareg separatist group said Wednesday it supported the holding of a nationwide presidential poll in July but ruled out allowing the army in its northern bastion of Kidal for the vote. A delegation from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) held talks in Ouagadougou, the capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso, with the region's lead mediator in the Malian crisis, Djibrill Bassole.

Two suicide bombers strike in northern Niger towns- sources

NIAMEY (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers struck on Thursday at a military barracks and a plant run by French nuclear group Areva in northern Niger, according to military and company sources. The bombers killed themselves and wounded at least four people in the attacks in the towns of Agadez and Arlit, the sources said. (Reporting by Aboulaye Massalatchi; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by John Stonestreet)

France accused of favouring Mali's Tuareg rebels

A senior Mali army officer accused France Saturday of picking favourites among the country's warring militias after its troops attacked Arab rebels who had captured a village from armed Tuaregs. The intervention came on Friday after the Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA) took the northern desert settlement of Anefis from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), a Malian and another African military source said. But the Malian source, a senior member of the war-torn west African nation's army, described the French intervention as "a bit of a mess".

Malian Tuareg separatists lose key support faction

An influential Mali tribal chief has withdrawn his support for separatists fighting for an independent state in the deeply divided west African nation, according to a statement seen Friday by AFP. Intalla Ag Attaher's tribes of the northern Iforas mountains were a key partner in the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), an armed collective of ethnic Tuaregs which rose up against the state last year.

Mali leader says Tuareg rebels 'ready for talks'

Tuareg separatist rebels who held a chunk of Mali's vast north and still occupy the key town of Kidal are ready for talks to end the west African country's crisis, President Dioncounda Traore said Friday. Traore, who met French counterpart Francois Hollande at the Elysee presidential palace, also pledged that elections would be held on July 28 to replace his interim government. The Malian leader "repeated that the elections will be held on the scheduled date and that is our position as well," Hollande told journalists.

Malian army heads for rebel-held northern town of Kidal

By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian troops headed for the remote northeastern town of Kidal on Sunday ahead of a mid-May deadline set by the government to wrest it from the control of Tuareg separatist rebels. French forces which swept Islamist insurgents from the far north of Mali have allowed the MNLA rebels to run Kidal in recent months but Mali's government wants to reimpose its authority ahead of July presidential and legislative elections.

Five suicide bombers die in attacks on troops in Mali

Suicide bombers targeted troops in two towns in war-torn northern Mali on Friday, leaving five of the attackers dead and two Malian soldiers wounded, military sources said. The first attack was against soldiers from neighbouring Niger stationed in Menaka, a Saharan desert commune 300 kilometres (185 miles) east of Gao, with only the bomber being killed, Nigerien and Malian military sources on the ground told AFP.

Mali 'cannot have two armies': French minister

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday that Mali "cannot have two armies" in the rebel-held city of Kidal, calling for talks with armed Tuareg militants in the war-torn north. The Tuaregs' National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which runs Kidal, has refused to give up its weapons or take part in elections planned for July until negotiations have taken place with the Mali government.

Mali polling officials voice doubts over July vote

Officials charged with organising elections in Mali have expressed doubts over the ability of the war-torn west African nation to stage a nationwide poll in July. Mamadou Diamoutani, president of the National Independent Electoral Commission said late Thursday that July 7, the date most often mooted for the first round of a presidential election, "would be a difficult to achieve".
Syndicate content