29 December, 2020 | Menas Associates, Sahara, Sahel
On 2 January another two French soldiers were killed in Mali, after three were killed in late December at Hombori in the central Mopti Region when their vehicle detonated an improvised explosive device (IED). This latest loss of French military lives will intensify...
19 November, 2020 | Menas Associates, Sahara
The question of whether Algeria might trigger a war in the Western Sahara sounds far-fetched, and we believe it is. However, under the current prevailing circumstances in Algeria, the question should not be dismissed quite so lightly. Several of our Algerian...
2 October, 2020 | Mali, Menas Associates, Sahara
Last month a new transitional government — albeit it one in which the junta which overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (IBK) on 18 August retains the most powerful portfolios — took office in Mali. International and regional sanctions were therefore lifted and...
24 September, 2020 | Menas Associates, Niger, Sahara
In the past month there have been several reports from reliable sources connected to Agades’ Aïr Info news-site — and confirmed by Menas Associates’ own sources in the Agades region — that groups of armed men, along with some 20 vehicles, have been seen at locations...
24 August, 2020 | Mali, Menas Associates, Sahara
Mali’s latest coup d’état, on Tuesday 18 August, has been almost universally condemned internationally and especially by the African Union (AU), Mali’s neighbouring Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the UN and France. By contrast, most Malians have...
18 August, 2020 | Mali, Menas Associates, Sahara
On 23 July in our Sahara Focus regular monthly report we predicted that Mali’s political crisis will have serious implications for the whole region. Following the regime’s lethal gun attack on the 11 July peaceful demonstration, the way in which Mali’s political...
