Africa StreaM

A spokesperson for Mali's Tuareg rebel group Azawad Liberation Front pledged on Wednesday that the country's ruling junta "will fall" and said the group wanted to see Russian forces withdraw "from all of Mali" after weekend attacks by Islamist insurgents and Tuareg separatists targeting major cities.

Four mountain bongos have arrived in Kenya after being returned from a Czech zoo in a bid to bolster numbers of the critically endangered species of which there are less that 100 left in the wild. Kenyan officials hailed the return as a “homecoming of the majestic bongos".

France on Wednesday called on its citizens to leave Mali "as soon as possible" following weekend of attacks on government targets in cities across the country launched by jihadists and Tuareg separatists.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Dr. Folahanmi Aina, Political Scientist and Lecturer in the Political Economy of Violence, Conflict and Development at SOAS London. As a researcher of global security and political dynamics, his analysis of Mali's evolving crisis focuses on the interplay between militarised governance, external partnerships and the persistence of insurgent violence in the Sahel. According to Dr. Aina, the current trajectory under Colonel Assimi Goïta reflects a strategic overreliance on military solutions to what is fundamentally a multidimensional conflict.

Mali's military ruler Assimi Goita made his first public appearance since coordinated insurgent assaults over the weekend, pledging to “neutralise” those responsible as jihadist and separatist groups escalated attacks across the country.

In tonight's edition: Assimi Goïta addresses the nation in his first video appearance since coordinated attacks hit Mali. Also, in Nigeria, the Islamic State group says it carried out an attack in Adamawa state that killed at least 29 people. And amid the conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, there are concerns that the war in Sudan is being forgotten.

Annette Young is pleased to welcome Nina Wilen, Director of the Africa Programme at the Egmont Institute. According to Ms. Wilen, the insurgency in Mali reflects shifting power balances across the Sahel. What we are witnessing is not simply a surge in violence, but a reconfiguration of authority, where Tuareg rebels and jihadist groups, particularly the JNIM, have steadily expanded their operational capacity while state and international actors have lost ground. The recent coordinated attacks signal that they can strike at the heart of the state, yet they may not seek to govern it directly.

Speaking with FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney, Dr Nathaniel Powell, West Africa Analyst at Oxford Analytica and Research Associate at Lancaster University's Centre for War and Diplomacy, explains that the jihadist group operating in Mali, JNIM, "does not appear to have the capability to seize and hold an urban area for any length of time, so Bamako is not yet under threat of being captured, but the long-term prospects certainly do not look good".

Gunmen killed at least 29 people in an hours-long attack in Nigeria's northeastern Adamawa state, local authorities said, burning homes and places of worship and opening fire on people watching a football match. Nigeria continues to struggle with armed attacks by jihadists and armed criminal gangs.

In tonight's edition: Two days after a wave of coordinated attacks across the country, Mali remains on edge. Also, 42 people are killed in Chad after a clash between two families over a water point escalated into a cycle of reprisals. Plus Kenya's Sabastian Sawe smashes the two-hour barrier at the London Marathon.

An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group said Saturday that its fighters had joined forces with Tuareg rebels to launch attacks against the army across junta-ruled Mali. Helicopters buzzed over Bamako and around the international airport and fighting was reported at a nearby military base in what was one of the most complex attacks in years in the impoverished west African country.

Fighting continued in the northern Mali city of Kidal on Sunday as the army clashed with Tuareg rebels. The rebels on Saturday worked with jihadists to launched coordinated attacks across the country targeting major cities and government leaders.

The coordinated attacks on Mali's capital of Bamako represent a "dramatic setback" for the junta-led government, said Andrew Lebovich, Research Fellow with Clingendael's Conflict Research Unit. Lebovich said the attacks also showed how tenuous the security situation in Mali is with authorities along with their Russian partners struggling to prevent the attacks in and around the capital.

The army in junta-ruled Mali said on Saturday it was battling what it called “terrorist groups” that launched surprise attacks around the capital Bamako and other parts of the West African nation. The attacks were claimed by the Azawad Liberation Front, a separatist group that has been fighting the Malian army for more than a decade. FRANCE 24 journalist Justice Baidoo reported that the FLA has largely been confined to northern Mali in recent years.

Gunmen launched a wave of coordinated assaults across Mali early Saturday, striking the capital Bamako as well as key northern cities including Kidal and Gao. FRANCE 24's Justice Baidoo reports.

Mali's army said Saturday that it was fighting "terrorist groups" that had attacked army barracks in the capital Bamako and other areas in the African nation. Witnesses reported gunfire in several cities in the military-ruled state and an army statement said: "Terrorist groups, not yet identified, early this morning targeted certain points and barracks in the capital and the interior." FRANCE 24's Wassim Nasr said it is still "too soon to tell" if the country's military junta will fall.

People from the Western Tigray region in Ethiopia told Human Rights Watch that they had been arbitrarily detained and treated as second class citizens, FRANCE 24's Tom Canetti said, adding that there are more than 800,000 internally displaced people in Tigray.

Gunmen attacked several locations in Mali's capital and other cities early Saturday. Mali’s army said its soldiers were “engaged in eliminating the attackers”, while Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) coalition said they had captured the northern city of Kidal. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.

An Al-Qaeda affiliate ​and Tuareg rebels claimed responsibility on Saturday for coordinated attacks across Mali, in one of the boldest operations insurgents have launched in their campaign against the military-led government.