Theme: Mali

Six months after their abduction, Mali junta critic Mountaga Tall and his son, Cheick Mamadou Tall, remain missing, their fate unknown and the authorities silent, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which also records the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances’ call for Malian authorities to locate and protect the two.

The rivalry between Algeria and Morocco is projecting further south, into the Sahel, the Middle East Eye points out. In the region, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, united in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), are trying to diversify their partners as they distance themselves from several of their former Western allies, according to the outlet.

An attack by militants affiliated with the Islamic State group killed 48 people in the Ménaka region of eastern Mali over the weekend, a lawmaker told The Associated Press (AP). Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, a Tuareg leader and member of the National Transitional Council, said fighters from the Islamic State in Sahel Province (ISSP) attacked from Sunday night into Monday morning, and the casualties included children and elderly people.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, three junta-ruled Sahel states, on Saturday resumed dialogue with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional bloc they withdrew from more than 18 months ago, according to France 24. The two sides agreed to establish one joint working group that will develop a cooperation framework agreement to guide future relations between ECOWAS and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), according to the BBC. The first session of the ministerial meeting of the dialogue on cooperation between ECOWAS and the AES Confederation took place in Dakar, Senegal, on 17 October 2026, according to the final communiqué published by the bloc.

Gunmen on motorcycles killed at least 40 civilians in Mali, attacking camps housing mainly members of the Daoussahak community, according to security and community sources cited by The Hindu. Hindustan Times reported more than 40 civilians killed in the same episode, also attributing the toll to security and community sources.

Human Rights Watch said in a report published on Monday that the Malian military, armed groups and insurgent forces are committing grave laws-of-war violations while international organizations and governments “largely stand by”, AllAfrica reported. The organization urged the African Union’s Peace and Security Council to “urgently take action to prevent further atrocities” in the west African country.

Malian forces and the Russian Africa Corps carried out 47 drone strikes that killed 94 civilians between April and August, compared with 22 strikes and 44 deaths in the same period a year earlier, in attacks described as apparently indiscriminate, including the August 19 attack on a cattle market in Bandiagara that killed six men, according to data from the ACLED monitor cited in a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, in a Times of India report.

Mali’s army, supported by Russian paramilitary forces, re-entered the northern town of Kidal, forcing Tuareg separatists to withdraw, according to Deutsche Welle. The Azawad Liberation Front said it decided to carry out a strategic and controlled withdrawal from Kidal, without direct fighting, citing disproportionate use of air power by Russian mercenaries of the Africa Corps. Mali’s transitional government said, in a statement read on state TV, that the retake was carried out by air and ground forces with the support of Russia’s Africa Corps, according to the Associated Press.

The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) announced a strategic and controlled withdrawal of its forces from the city of Kidal, in northern Mali, according to AFP, in a text republished by Arab News. Kidal had been captured by the Tuareg separatists in April, alongside allied jihadists, in attacks aimed at weakening Mali’s junta rulers. Mali’s armed forces announced large-scale operations in the region.