Euronews, 24.5.2014

Ein vor eineinhalb Jahren in Mali entführter Franzose ist nach Angaben seiner Entführer nicht mehr am Leben.

Nach den Worten von Präsident François Hollande starb Gilberto Rodrigues-Leal vermutlich bereits vor einigen Wochen infolge der Bedingungen in der Geiselhaft.

Der in Portugal geborene Rentner  war  im November 2012 als Tourist in einem Campingwagen unterwegs, als er von Mitgliedern der islamistischen “Bewegung für Einheit und Dschihad in Westafrika” verschleppt wurde.

Die Terrorgruppe „Bewegung für Einheit und Dschihad in Westafrika“ (Mujao) hat den Tod einer französischen Geisel bekanntgegeben wie die französische Nachrichtenagentur AFP am Dienstagabend berichtete.

http://de.euronews.com/2014/04/23/franzoesische-geisel-in-mali-getoetet/

Bamako 06.04.2014

Regierungswechsel über Nacht: Im westafrikanischen Mali ist Ministerpräsident Oumar Tatam Ly zurückgetreten. Einen Grund dafür nannte das Präsidialamt nicht. Der Nachfolger steht jedoch bereits fest.

31 March 2014

Cape Town — The return of democracy and peace to much of Mali has generated a complete turnaround in public confidence in the country’s future, according to a new opinion survey.

Afrobarometer, the leading continent-wide researcher of African public opinion, says that a survey in southern Mali in December 2012 – following a military takeover of the government, the seizure of the north by insurgents, an attack on a civilian president and the arrest of the prime minister – showed that only one in four people believed the country was headed in the right direction.

However, following the recovery of the north from rebels and the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections in 2013, two in three Malians believed a year later they were heading in the right direction.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201403312507.html

25 JANUARY 2014

A French counter-terrorism operation in northern Mali has killed 11 Islamist militants and left a French soldier wounded.

An official from France’s Operation Serval military mission told news agency AFP the operation took place in Mali’s Timbuktu region, adding the wounded soldier’s life is not in danger.

Malian military and foreign sources said the troops were targeting the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (JUJAO); the Signatories in Blood, an armed unit founded by fugitive jihadist commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar; and fighters loyal to slain warlord Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, who was killed in February last year.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201401250517.html

16 January 2014. 

Nombori — The region around Bandiagara, in central Mali’s Mopti Region, is struggling to cope with the dual crises of successive poor harvests and the near-total collapse of its once-thriving tourist industry.

Nestled among giant boulders at the base of the Bandiagara Escarpment is the mud-built village of Nombori, home to around 1,200 ethnic Dogon people. There, Pilif Guindo’s small clinic is struggling to cope with a steady increase in child malnutrition.

The clinic sees 15 new cases of malnutrition per week, a threefold increase in as many years, explains Guindo, a doctor who practices both modern and traditional medicine. „The people used to eat well here,“ he tells IRIN. „But now, the mothers are not eating well, and the babies are not getting milk.“

Guindo says he usually hands out vitamin B tablets and advises the children to eat more. But after years of poor rains and disappointing harvests of the staple, millet, food insecurity is rife. A recent government food-security study, not yet out, found that Bandiagara was currently the area most at risk.

After an extended dry spell in September, other parts of the country with below-average harvests are Koulikoro, Ségou and Kayes, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net).
http://allafrica.com/stories/201401161349.html