Sixty-four people including 49 civilians and 15 soldiers were killed Thursday, September 07, 2023 in two “terrorist attacks claimed” by Al Qaeda and targeting a passenger transport boat and an army base in northern Mali, where a three-day national mourning was decreed from Friday, the military-dominated government announced.

The two separate attacks targeted “the boat Timbuktu” on the Niger River and “the position of the army” in Bamba, in the region of Gao (north), with “a provisional toll of 49 civilians and 15 soldiers killed”, according to a government statement that does not specify how many people died on the ship and in the camp, assaults “claimed” by an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group.

Malian music star Salif Keïta has been appointed advisor to the head of the junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, says a decree issued Monday, August 14, 2023.

The artist is part of a list of five people named “special advisers” to the Malian head of state, says the decree dated August 11. The text does not specify the role of Salif Keïta.

The great name of afropop and World Music, Salif Keïta, 73, also stands out for his political commitment and, since the advent of the colonels following a putsch in 2020, for his support of the junta.

He was appointed one week after the announcement of his resignation from an assembly set up by the military as a legislative body.

“I will always remain the undisputed friend of the military of my country,” he said in his letter of resignation read in the gallery.

Mr. Keïta publicly expressed his support for the sovereignty discourse of the authorities. He openly called a few months ago for the departure of the UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA), since officially announced by the UN Security Council.

Since 2012, Mali has been plagued by jihadist expansion and a deep multidimensional crisis. Violence from the north has spread to central Burkina Faso and neighbouring Niger.

The Senegalese head of state left Dakar for Abuja on Sunday, May 28, 2023. President Macky SALL will attend the inauguration of Nigerian President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Upon his departure, the President of the Republic was greeted by the Prime Minister and other civil and military authorities. The head of state will return to Dakar tomorrow Monday.

Born in Lagos eight years before independence, Bola Tinubu is a veteran of the capital. An influential politician, he was notably a senator and governor of the State of Lagos. Considered a unifying force within his party, but controversial outside because sometimes cited in corruption cases, Tinubu will have a major challenge, that of recovering the national economy.

With a population of more than 219.4 million people, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and sixth in the world. The continent’s largest economy, however, is facing a slowdown exacerbated by recent global crises. Here inflation has risen above 20% in the second half of 2022, youth unemployment, recurrent shortages of nairas and fuel are all evils to be solved in a sustainable way.

Although Nigeria can count on a dynamic private sector with a large number of billionaires and millionaires, Bola Tinubu -whose inauguration will take place next May- will have to set the macroeconomic record straight.

Source : Ze-Africanews.com