Africa: Mali

Electoral officials wore masks and gloves as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus during Mali's parliamentary elections. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

Mali records low turnout for parliamentary election

Apr 3, 2020

Turnout for Mali's parliamentary elections this week was 36 percent, officials said on Thursday, after voters dealt with ...

The risk of catching coronavirus looms over a parliamentary election in Mali. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

Mali votes despite coronavirus and security fears

Mar 29, 2020

Malians voted in a long-delayed parliamentary election on Sunday, barely a day after the country recorded its first coro ...

The poll will see new MPs elected to the 147-seat National Assembly for the first time since 2013. By Souleymane Ag Anara (AFP)

Mali votes despite virus, security fears

Mar 29, 2020

Malians headed to the polls on Sunday for a long-delayed parliamentary election just hours after the country recorded it ...

Mali will hold a parliamentary election on Sunday despite coronavirus fears and the kidnapping of the main opposition leader. By Souleymane Ag Anara (AFP/File)

Mali records first coronavirus death hours before ...

Mar 29, 2020

Mali recorded its first coronavirus death on Saturday, a day before the West African country voted in a long-delayed par ...

Mali opposition urges huge election turnout despit...

Mar 28, 2020

Mali's main opposition party called for massive participation in Sunday's parliamentary election, despite its leader b ...

Mali's government says the poll will go ahead on Sunday, even as the novel coronavirus has added to the country's chronic security problems. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

Mali heads to polls despite coronavirus, insecurit...

Mar 27, 2020

Malians vote Sunday in a long-delayed parliamentary election, despite a raging jihadist conflict, the recent kidnap of a ...

Where science and politics meet: Amadou Kone, coronavirus researcher and candidate in Mali's upcoming elections. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

Malian election candidate fights political crisis ...

Mar 26, 2020

Amadou Kone has thrown himself into two fights worthy of a titan -- easing Mali's deepening domestic crisis and braking ...

Cisse is a former finance minister and ran for the presidency three times. By Michele CATTANI (AFP/File)

Mali opposition leader kidnapped ahead of parliame...

Mar 26, 2020

Mali's government said on Thursday that leading opposition figure Soumaila Cisse had been kidnapped in West African nati ...

The Malian singer Rokia Traore is fighting a Belgian arrest warrant over a child custody dispute.. By Loic VENANCE (AFP/File)

French court releases Malian singer despite backin...

Mar 25, 2020

A Paris appeals court on Wednesday granted Malian musician Rokia Traore conditional release despite ruling she could be ...

Mali health authorities are bracing for an onslaught of patients with few resources to accommodate them. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

Mali fears it is woefully unprepared for coronavir...

Mar 20, 2020

At a seven-bed isolation centre in Mali's capital Bamako, medical staff are scrambling to prepare for an outbreak of the ...

Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said the patient was recovering in hospital in Arusha. By Filbert RWEYEMAMU (AFP)

Coronavirus now in Tanzania, Somalia as E.Africa s...

Mar 17, 2020

Tanzania and Somalia on Monday became the latest East Africa countries to confirm their first cases of coronavirus, as n ...

Mali's authorities say Traore is in possession of a diplomatic passport. By BERTRAND LANGLOIS (AFP/File)

Mali backs singer Rokia Traore held in France

Mar 15, 2020

Mali's government on Saturday expressed its support for singer Rokia Traore, arrested earlier this week on a Belgian war ...

Seen in a photograph from the Facebook page dedicated to their disappearance, Luca Tacchetto and Edith Blais were freed two years after being kidnapped in 2018 in Burkina Faso by armed men. By FAMILY HANDOUT (FACEBOOK/AFP/File)

Western couple abducted in Burkina in 2018 found a...

Mar 14, 2020

A Canadian woman and her Italian partner kidnapped in Burkina Faso in 2018 have been found alive in the northwest of Mal ...

An Islamist insurgency erupted in the north of the vast west African state in 2012, claiming thousands of military and civilian lives since. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

Attacks, ethnic massacres leave ghost villages in ...

Mar 14, 2020

After years of ethnic massacres and unrelenting jihadist attacks, central Mali has been left a harrowed area of deserted ...

Malian singer Rokia Traore has been arrested in France on a Belgian warrant for kidnapping in a child custody dispute with her ex-partner. By Loic VENANCE (AFP/File)

Malian singer Traore arrested in France

Mar 14, 2020

The Malian singer Rokia Traore has been arrested in France on a Belgian warrant for kidnapping in a child custody disput ...

A Somali soldier on guard at the Sanguuni military base, where a US special operations soldier was killed in a mortar attack in June 2018. By Mohamed ABDIWAHAB (AFP/File)

Somalia: The Pentagon's new 'endless war'?

Mar 8, 2020

The Pentagon has been issuing near daily announcements of new strikes against the Islamic militants of Shebab in Somalia ...

Two months ago, all 400 inhabitants of the Malian village Toou grabbed a few belongings and fled fighting between armed groups. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

Caught up in Sahel war, Mali villagers flee to unc...

Mar 6, 2020

Two months ago, all 400 inhabitants of the Malian village Toou grabbed a few belongings and fled fighting between armed ...