A militant climbs up a tower with a flag at at what appears to be a military base with barricades and makeshift container buildings, in Tessalit, Mali, on May 1, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A general view of Bamako after insurgents launched attacks on military bases across the country, in Bamako, Mali April 25, 2026. REUTERS/Aboubacar Traore
| Photo Credit: ABOUBAKAR TRAORE

A general view of Bamako after insurgents launched attacks on military bases across the country, in Bamako, Mali April 25, 2026. REUTERS/Aboubacar Traore
| Photo Credit: ABOUBAKAR TRAORE

An ariel view of Bamako, Mali on Saturday (April 25, 2026).
| Photo Credit: AP

Independence square, Bamako. File
| Photo Credit: Getty images/iStock photo

Lagos:

Junta-led countries Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso officially left West Africa’s main political and trade group ECOWAS on Wednesday after more than a year of diplomatic tensions.

The withdrawal has shaken the Economic Community of West African States that many consider to be the continent’s most important regional group and which this year marks its 50th anniversary.

Its leadership said in a statement that the group would “keep ECOWAS doors open” to the three countries but their departure has left the organisation’s future uncertain.

The rupture was sparked by the July 2023 coup in Niger, after military leaders in Burkina and Mali had also seized power since 2020.

ECOWAS threatened to intervene militarily in Niger to reinstate the deposed president and imposed heavy economic sanctions on Niamey, which have now been lifted.

The three countries, who were founding members of ECOWAS, announced in January 2024 they planned to withdraw immediately but the rules of the organisation required one-year’s notice for it to take effect.

Their military rulers accused ECOWAS of imposing “inhuman, illegal and illegitimate” sanctions.

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have now formed their own confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

The ECOWAS statement called on member countries to recognise “until further notice” the passports from the three countries that bear the ECOWAS logo.

It said that citizens of the three countries should “continue to enjoy the right of visa free movement, residence and establishment in accordance with the ECOWAS protocols” until a new decision is taken.

Goods and services from the three will also be treated in line with ECOWAS rules until the West African group decides its “future engagement” with the three, it added.

The military leaders in the Sahel states accuse ECOWAS of failing to help them fight jihadist uprisings in their countries and of being too close to France, the former colonial power in the region.

The three have largely cut their security ties with France and turned towards Russia, Iran and Turkey for assistance.

In a sign of the doubts within ECOWAS, Togo and Ghana have normalised their relations with the three states and Ghana’s new president, John Mahama, has named a special envoy to the Alliance of Sahel 

About 600 people were killed within a few hours by members affiliated with Al-Qaeda in an August attack on the town of Barsalogho in Burkina Faso, a report claimed on Friday. The residents of Barsalogho were shot dead on August 24 as they dug protective trenches.

The attack, in which most of the victims were women and children, was one of the worst in the West African country’s history, which has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency waged by rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group that spilled over from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

The members of Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliate based in Mali and active in Burkina Faso, shot down villagers as they swept into the outskirts of Barsalogho on bikes.

While the United Nations estimated a death count of around 200, JNIM said it had killed nearly 300 “fighters”. However, CNN, citing a French government security assessment, reported that up to 600 people were shot dead in the attack.

A man, who said he was one of dozens of men told to dig the trenches by the army, told CNN that he was 4 kilometers from the town at about 11 am, in a trench, when he heard the first gunshots.

“I started to crawl into the trench to escape. But it seemed that the attackers were following the trenches. So, I crawled out and came across the first bloodied victim. There was blood everywhere on my way. There was screaming everywhere. I got down on my stomach under a bush, until later in the afternoon, hiding,” he said.

Another survivor, who lost two members of her family in the attack, said JNIM killed people “all day long”.

“For three days we were collecting bodies – scattered everywhere. Fear got into our hearts. At the burial time, there are so many bodies lying on the ground that burying was hard,” she said.

The military reportedly ordered the locals to dig a vast trench network around the town to protect it from jihadists circulating nearby.

JNIM has warned civilians against endorsing the army in its fight against the insurgency.

According to the ACLED analysis group, which tracks global conflict, members affiliated with Al-Qaeda – which was founded by Osama bin Laden and carried out the 9/11 attacks in the US – and the Islamic State group have killed about 3,800 this year.

Since the start of the conflict in 2015, more than 20,000 people have been killed and over two million displaced in Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries situated in the Sahel, a region wracked by instability.

(With agency inputs)

This video grab taken from an AFPTV video on September 17, 2024 shows a plume of smoke rising in Bamako as shots and detonations were heard.
| Photo Credit: AFP

An elaborate attack by an Al Qaeda affiliate in Mali’s capital this week killed some 70 people, diplomatic and security sources said on Thursday (September 19, 2024) while the government offered no figures on casualties.

Militants attacked an elite police training academy and the airport on Tuesday, demonstrating their ability to strike at the heart of Mali’s capital. The country is fighting an insurgency that took root over a decade ago in its arid north.

The scale and complexity of the attacks further undermines the ruling junta’s claims that security has improved since it booted out French and U.S. forces, and turned to Russia instead for security.

Two diplomats serving in the region, including one based in Bamako, said the death toll was believed to be in the 70s. Reuters could not independently verify the numbers.

A third diplomat based in the region said hundreds were believed dead and wounded, and hospitals had run out of beds to treat survivors.

Since the conflict in Mali erupted, violence has spread to neighbours in the Sahel region and reached the north of coastal countries. Thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the region, and some fighters are allied with Al Qaeda or Islamic State.

Tuesday’s attack was claimed by Al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM).

Mali’s ruling junta has said it suffered some losses, without providing details. A Malian newspaper reported that funerals for some 50 police cadets were to be held on Thursday.

Reuters was unable to obtain further details or confirm the services took place.

The attack was captured in videos published on social media that showed insurgents setting fire to the presidential jet and dead bodies at the police academy.

Only days prior, Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goita, who seized power in a coup in 2021, said his army had considerably weakened the armed groups it is fighting with Russia’s help.

The attack also comes on the heels of a battle with high casualties in July, when insurgents wiped out scores of experienced Russian mercenaries and Malian forces in fighting near Mali’s northern border with Algeria.

Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Alliance of Sahel States
| Photo Credit: X@BakaryYaou

Junta-run Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have finalised plans to form a confederation after turning their backs on former colonial ruler France to seek closer ties with Russia.

Their Foreign Ministers met Friday in Niger’s capital Niamey to agree on a text establishing the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

“The objective was to finalise the draft text relating to the institutionalisation and operationalisation of the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)”, said Niger Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangare as he read the final statement late Friday.

He said the text would be adopted by the heads of state of the three countries at a summit, without specifying the date.

“We can consider very clearly, today, that the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) has been born,” Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said after meeting General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of Nigerien military regime.

The third Foreign Minister at the meeting was Burkina Faso’s Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore.

The Sahel region has been subject to deadly jihadist violence for years, which they accused France of not being able to curb.

The three countries said late January they were quitting The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which they said was under French influence, to create their own regional grouping.

Dakar, Senegal:

Suspected jihadists in central Mali are holding more than 110 civilians they abducted six days ago, local sources told AFP on Monday.

Three buses carrying the civilians were stopped on April 16 by “jihadists”, who forced the vehicles and the passengers to head towards a forest between Bandiagara and Bankass, a local group of associations and an elected official said.

“We demand the release of more than 110 passengers of three buses kidnapped on Tuesday by jihadists,” a member of the group, Oumar Ongoiba, told AFP.

An elected official from Bandiagara, who wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons, said: “The three buses and the passengers, more than 120, are still being held by jihadists.”

Bandiagara associations had on Friday published a statement condemning the “persistence of terrorist attacks”, the “growing numbers of displaced” people in towns and “the lack of action by the armed forces”.

A protest against insecurity in the town last August following jihadist attacks turned violent and several people were injured.

Mali has since 2012 been ravaged by different factions affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as by self-declared, self-defence forces and bandits.

The violence spilled over into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, with all three countries seeing military regimes seize power.

Since overthrowing Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020, the junta has undertaken a strategic reorientation, breaking off its long alliance with former colonial power France and fostering closer military and political ties with Russia.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger formed their own Sahel alliance in November and all pledged to leave regional bloc ECOWAS.

The worsening security situation in Mali has been compounded by a humanitarian and political crisis.

The junta has faced domestic and international criticism raised since failing to meet commitments to hold a presidential election in February and then step down.

Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga said this month that elections would only be held once the security crisis has been stabilised.

Opposition silenced 

According to security sources and human rights reports, violence increased in the centre of Mali in the last quarter of 2023 when military operations surged.

Despite the operations, armed groups have continued their attacks in the centre and south, coming close to the outskirts of the capital Bamako.

In March, the army said troops had fought off three “terrorist” assaults targeting a customs post about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Bamako and two army camps in the south.

AFP could not independently verify claims from both sides from often remote places where access is rare. The Malian army rarely reports on any operation other than to claim victory.

The regime has effectively silenced the opposition, journalists and human rights defenders, with many in jail or exile.

On March 31, less than a week after the junta had been scheduled to hand power back to civilians, several political parties and civil society groups put out a rare statement demanding elections “as soon as possible” and noting the country was in a “legal and institutional vacuum”.

Days later, all political activities were suspended awaiting the results of a national dialogue launched by junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita in December.

Media coverage of political parties was also banned in the West African nation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)