Tag: Timbuktu

As UN targeted by Islamists in Mali, Bishops urge renewed peace efforts

October 9, 2014 Mali Ansar Dine, Bamako, Gao, Kidal, Mali, MNLA, MUJAO, Timbuktu, UN

The UN Mission in Mali honors nine Nigerien peacekeepers killed on 3 October 2014.UN Photo/Marco Dormino While the world’s attention is fixed on IS in Syria and Iraq, it’s easy to forget that last year, French troops were rushed to Mali to prevent a jihadist-influenced coup that threatened to . . . Read More

Islamists want to ‘wipe out’ Christian presence in northern Mali

September 2, 2014 Mali Africa, Bamako, Gao, Islamic extremism, Mali, Sahel, Timbuktu, Tuareg

It’s not only in the Middle East that the advance of Islamist jihadists is exercising the international community. While attention has been focused on northern Iraq and Syria, the French government has been bombing Islamist militant positions in Africa to stop the emergence of jihadists in the Sahel. Now on . . . Read More

Renewed fighting in Mali revives Christian anxieties

May 30, 2014 Mali African Union, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Bamako, Burkina Faso, Gao, Kidal, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Timbuktu, Tuareg

A Malian child waits to see receive a free consultation at a medical clinic in Gao, Mali.16 May 2014UN Photo/Marco Dormino Renewed fighting and re-occupation of a number of towns in northern Mali by armed Tuareg groups has renewed anxieties among the region’s Christian minority. On May 21, a . . . Read More

Mali’s state of emergency lifted ahead of election

July 12, 2013 Mali Bamako, Dioncounda Traoré, Gao, Kidal, Mali, Timbuktu, Tuareg, UN

The political situation of Mali has been changed by Sunday’s launch of the campaign for its Presidential election (due on July 28th) in which 28 candidates are competing to succeed the current interim President Dioncounda Traoré, who is not taking part. Mr Traoré, who was the head of Parliament, became . . . Read More

For a church leader in Mali, relief and anxiety

February 12, 2013 Mali Burkina Faso, Islamic extremism, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Timbuktu, Tuareg

The liberation of the main cities of Northern Mali has created a great sense of relief and joy in the country, but the task of reconstruction and reconciliation is huge. A month after the French offensive, the Malian and African troops have regained control of the main cities in the . . . Read More

Hope in Mali rises with international military intervention

January 15, 2013 Mali Bamako, Burkina Faso, France, Gao, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sharia, Timbuktu, Tuareg, West Africa

French troops have launched a military operation in Mali, aiming at stopping the advance of Islamists from their bases in the north to the South. The French intervention started on Friday, Jan. 11 with air strikes, and had enabled the Malian troops to regain control of the cental town of . . . Read More

Kidnapped Swiss Christian freed amid Mali’s unrest

April 27, 2012 Mali Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine, Bamako, Beatrice Stockly, Berbers, Gao, Kidal, Mali, Timbuktu, Tuareg

Separatist Islamist rebels released a Swiss Christian woman kidnapped by a private militia on April 15 amid political turmoil in Timbuktu, Mali, according to a Swiss foreign ministry statement. Armed members of the militant Islamic group Ansar Dine handed Beatrice Stockly to Swiss diplomats on Tuesday (April 24), Reuters reported. . . . Read More

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