Timeline: How Mali went from democracy beacon to instability
Mali’s security crisis has worsened since rival armed groups have allied and launched coordinated attacks across the country. Al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has claimed responsibility for attacks by gunmen that began on Saturday. They were carried out in Kati near Bamako as well as the capital’s airport and other locations farther north, including Kidal, Mopti, Sevare and Gao. Tuareg rebels claimed participation in the assaults. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Defence Minister Sadio Camara was killed in the attacks. The attacks have exposed security vulnerabilities in the country, which once was a beacon of democracy in the region but has been reeling from political and security crises since 2012. Here’s a timeline of how the security situation has deteriorated in Mali: 1960: Mali gains independence The former French colony became independent on September 22, 1960, and Modibo Keita was elected the country’s first president. Keita was a staunch proponent of African socialism. But his rule of the country through socialist policies of nationalisation failed to yield economic benefits. The country also experienced severe droughts, which led to poor harvests under his leadership. In November 1968, Keita was overthrown in a bloody military coup led by Lieutenant Moussa Traore. 1968-1991: Military dictatorship After leading the coup, Traore established himself as president for the next 23 years. According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Traore established “a highly repressive regime that routinely opened fire on protesters and eliminated rivals or those that dared to voice dissent”. Advertisement In a 2020 report, the centre noted that Traore’s government was likely responsible for the killing of thousands of Malians while economic growth was “anaemic”. Corruption was also rampant during his rule, the report said. In March 1991 after mass student-led protests, Lieutenant Colonel Amadou Toumani Toure led a coup to overthrow Traore. “After his ouster, Traore was tried and convicted for the killing of at least 200 protesters in March 1991. He was later pardoned for his crimes by President Alpha Oumar Konare in 2002,” the report added. 1992-2012: Democracy prevails After the 1991 coup, Toure served as interim head of state during a transition that led to a new constitution and multiparty elections. While the northern part of the country was still unstable with Tuareg rebels seeking to secure their own independent region, the country held municipal, parliamentary and presidential elections in 1992. Alpha Oumar Konare was elected president. Konare served two terms from 1992 to 2002 during which, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, there was steady economic growth and citizens enjoyed civil liberties and political rights. During this time, Mali also became a founding member of the intergovernmental Community of Democracies in 2000. In 2002, elections were held again, and Toure, who led the 1991 coup, was elected president. During his two terms, which lasted until 2012, corruption was rife in government institutions and the economy shrank. Interim President Dioncounda Traore lays a wreath at a monument in Bamako in 2013 on Martyrs’ Day, which commemorates the day when General Moussa Traore was overthrown on March 26, 1991 [File: Adama Diarra/Reuters] 2012-2020: Military coup and security deterioration In March 2012, Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo led a coup weeks before elections and forced Toure to resign. He established a military government, and Dioncounda Traore was made interim civilian president until elections could be organised. During this period, ethnic Tuareg separatists, allied with fighters from an al-Qaeda offshoot, launched a rebellion that took control of northern Mali. The instability in the north led leaders from neighbouring African countries to suggest that members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) fight alongside the Malian military against the Tuareg rebels. Sanogo, however, refused the deployment of foreign forces and asked for logistical support only. Fighters from another armed group, Ansar Dine, swiftly pushed out the Tuareg rebels and seized key northern cities. This triggered French military intervention in early 2013 at the request of the government. Ansar Dine later merged with several other groups to form the JNIM. Advertisement In September 2013, the country held elections, and Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was elected president. His fragile democratic rule ended in 2020 in yet another military coup. During his time in power, the United Nations brokered a peace deal between his government and northern Tuareg groups fighting for an independent Azawad in 2015. 2020: Another military coup Colonel Assimi Goita led the coup that deposed Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020 after months of mass protests over severe economic problems and the renewed advance of armed groups in the north. In September that year, Bah Ndaw, a retired colonel, was sworn in as interim president with Goita as vice president. Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with interim Malian President Assimi Goita at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 23, 2025 [Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters] 2021-2026 – Yet another military coup and Goita’s rule In May 2021, Goita seized power in a second coup. Mali is currently ruled by Goita’s military government. Initially, it pledged to return Mali to civilian rule by March 2024, but it has not kept this promise. Goita invited Russian mercenaries to support the military administration in its fight against armed groups in December 2021 after asking French troops, who had been helping to hold off rebels in the north, to leave the country. France and other supporting European Union nations eventually withdrew in 2023, leaving a security vacuum in Mali. During Goita’s rule, Mali along with Burkina Faso and Niger withdrew from ECOWAS in January 2025. Together, the three nations formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). Last week, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop attended a security forum in Senegal, where he said the withdrawal from ECOWAS was “final” but AES would maintain a constructive dialogue with the bloc on freedom of movement and preserving a common market. In January 2024, Mali’s rulers terminated the UN-brokered 2015 peace deal with Tuareg rebels in the north, accusing them of not complying with
Plane crashes near South Sudan’s Juba, killing all 14 on board
Preliminary reports indicate Cessna aircraft may have crashed due to bad weather conditions that caused low visibility. By AP and Reuters Published On 27 Apr 202627 Apr 2026 A plane has crashed on the outskirts of South Sudan’s capital, Juba, killing all 13 passengers and the pilot. The country’s civil aviation authority said on Monday that initial reports indicate the aircraft may have crashed due to bad weather conditions that caused low visibility. The Cessna 208 Caravan, which was operated by CityLink Aviation, lost communication while flying from Yei to Juba International Airport, it added in a statement. Among those onboard were two Kenyan nationals, while the rest were South Sudanese. A team has been sent to the site to gather information and support emergency services, the aviation authority said. Videos of the crash site, located some 20km (12 miles) outside of Juba, showed the remains of the aircraft in flames. Adblock test (Why?)
Germany’s Merz says US has no strategy in Iran war
NewsFeed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US has no clear exit strategy with their war on Iran, warning “an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership”. Published On 27 Apr 202627 Apr 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Oil prices rise amid stalled US-Iran peace talks
Brent crude rises more than 2 percent after Washington and Tehran fail to hold second round of talks in Pakistan. Published On 27 Apr 202627 Apr 2026 Oil prices have climbed higher amid stalled peace talks between the United States and Iran. Brent crude rose more than 2 percent on Sunday after hopes for a second round of ceasefire negotiations between Washington and Tehran unravelled over the weekend. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list After easing slightly, Brent, the primary benchmark for global prices, stood at $106.99 as of 1:30 GMT. Stock markets in Asia shrugged off the impasse to open higher on Monday, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI gaining 0.9 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, in morning trading. US President Donald Trump on Saturday cancelled a planned trip to Pakistan by his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, after Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi departed Islamabad before any direct engagement could take place between the sides. Araghchi arrived in Russia’s Saint Petersburg on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials as Tehran seeks a way out of the diplomatic impasse. Araghchi’s trip, which follows a whistle-stop visit to Oman on Sunday, comes as uncertainty hangs over the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. Trump announced an extension to their two-week truce last week, without specifying a deadline for reaching a deal to end the war. As US and Iranian negotiators struggle to break the deadlock, Tehran’s threats against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have reduced traffic to a trickle, paralysing a large portion of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas. Advertisement On Saturday, 19 commercial vessels transited the strait, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil and natural gas supplies, according to maritime intelligence platform Windward. Before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February, the waterway saw an average of 129 daily transits, according to the United Nations Trade and Development. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran war live: Araghchi to meet Putin; Trump says Tehran can call for talks
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, Iran’s foreign minister heads to Russia as Trump says Iranian leaders can call on the phone if they want to talk. Published On 27 Apr 202627 Apr 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Satellite images show scale of Israeli destruction of south Lebanon towns
NewsFeed Satellite images taken on April 16 reveal the massive scale of damage to the towns of al-Qozah and Beit Lif in south Lebanon, following the Israeli military’s ground invasion and sustained attacks on the south. Published On 27 Apr 202627 Apr 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Will Yamal, Salah and Ekitike miss the World Cup 2026 due to injury?
Mohamed Salah has become the latest player to sustain an injury weeks ahead of the World Cup, adding to his team’s and supporters’ woes as Egypt return to the tournament after missing out on the previous edition. Salah suffered a hamstring injury during Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace in the English Premier League on Saturday, with a top Egyptian football official confirming the forward will miss the rest of his club’s season. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The Egyptian talisman is not the only player to have suffered a blow ahead of the global tournament, and joins an increasing list of major players spending the rest of the club football season on the sidelines. With the World Cup kicking off in less than two months in Canada, Mexico and the United States, several players find themselves in a race against time to overcome injuries and prove their fitness. Title contenders and former champions Spain, Brazil and Germany will be among those hoping some of their key players recover in time for the tournament, which begins on June 11. Here are some of the big names who have sustained injuries ahead of the World Cup: Mohamed Salah: Egypt The Egyptian and Liverpool forward was in pain as he limped off the field and held his hamstring after being substituted in the league game. While his club manager Arne Slot refused to say whether Salah would miss the rest of Liverpool’s season, his national team’s director confirmed that the 33-year-old will be out for four weeks. “We have to wait and see how his injury is and if he is able to return to play,” Slot told reporters after the match. Advertisement “What I do know about Mo is that throughout all of these years, he has taken such good care of his body that he will have the minimum time required to recover from an injury,” he added. However, Egyptian football official Ibrahim Hassan confirmed that Salah’s club season was over. “He has suffered a hamstring tear and will require four weeks of treatment,” Hassan told the Reuters news agency. Hassan said Salah would be fit for the World Cup, where Egypt face Belgium, New Zealand and Iran in Group G. Salah is no stranger to pre-World Cup blows, having injured his shoulder before the 2018 edition in the Champions League final. He missed the Pharaohs’ opening game, but recovered for the remaining two group matches and scored two goals in a campaign that ended at the group stage. Egypt at World Cup 2026: Belgium (June 15), New Zealand (June 21), Iran (June 26) Lamine Yamal: Spain All eyes will be on the award-winning football prodigy, but his World Cup debut has been thrown into doubt after a hamstring injury in his left leg (biceps femoris muscle). Barcelona announced that Lamine Yamal’s domestic season in Spain is over, but the international forward should be fit to represent Spain at this summer’s World Cup. The 18-year-old’s participation is still doubtful since it could take four to six weeks to recover as he follows a “conservative treatment plan”. Yamal was an integral part of the Spain side that lifted the Euro 2024 title with their 2-1 win against England. Then just 16 years of age, he showed speed and guile on the ball that marked him as one of the hottest properties in global football. Spain at World Cup 2026: Cape Verde (June 15), Saudi Arabia (June 21), Uruguay (June 27) Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Serge Gnabry: Germany The 33-year-old first-choice goalkeeper for Germany has spent more time recovering than playing this year after a severe hamstring injury in February sent him into rehabilitation. German national team coach Julian Nagelsmann told Marc-Andre ter Stegen in March that his chances of playing for the national side were “very slim” and that he had to speed up his recovery to be fit for the tournament in June. The four-time champions could rely on Oliver Baumann in Stegen’s absence. Meanwhile, Germany’s Serge Gnabry took to social media this week to announce he would be “supporting the boys from home”. The 30-year-old suffered a torn adductor muscle in his right thigh that also ruled him out of Bayern Munich’s remaining Bundesliga season. Germany at World Cup 2026: Curacao (June 14), Ivory Coast (June 20), Ecuador (June 25) [Al Jazeera] Estevao, Rodrygo and Eder Militao: Brazil Brazil and Chelsea forward Estevao has also been ruled out of the remaining Premier League season after suffering a hamstring injury that left the teen in tears as he was taken off the pitch. Advertisement Chelsea’s interim coach Calum McFarlane expressed his hope for the 19-year-old to make it to the Brazilian squad, though he cautioned there was no guarantee yet. Estevao joined Chelsea from Palmeiras last year and has scored eight goals this season. He was expected to be part of Carlo Ancelotti’s squad for the World Cup after scoring five times in his last six international appearances. Unlike Estevao, Brazil forward Rodrygo has been decisively ruled out of the World Cup squad due to a torn meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee. “One of the worst days of my life, how much I always feared this injury,” the 25-year-old wrote in a social media post after the setback in March. Rodrygo made five appearances for Brazil at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Yet another blow to Brazil comes from a hamstring injury sustained by Eder Militao during Real Madrid’s 2–1 win over Deportivo Alaves. The 28-year-old defender is set to undergo surgery, and according to reports, will not be available for Brazil’s World Cup campaign as previously expected. Brazil at World Cup 2026: Morocco (June 13), Haiti (June 19), Scotland (June 24) Hugo Ekitike: France France striker Hugo Ekitike has also been ruled out of the World Cup entirely after tearing his Achilles tendon in April during the Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. He recently underwent surgery, which Liverpool
‘State of war’: Why Israel has escalated attacks in Gaza
Israel has escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past week, with at least four Palestinians killed across the devastated enclave, including a 40-year-old woman in Khan Younis, in the past 24 hours amid daily violations of the October “ceasefire”. Medics and local health officials report more than 25 Palestinians have been killed in the past week alone, taking the number of people killed since the ceasefire to more than 800. The enclave has been devastated by more than two years of genocidal war, which killed more than 72,500 Palestinians. The rising attacks come as the new United States-backed governance structures seem to have been sidelined. Chaos and the ‘yellow line’ On the ground, the Israeli military has intensified its targeting of Palestinian police officers, recently acknowledging the killing of six officers it claimed were involved in planning imminent strikes. It provided no proof that they were planning to attack. However, Palestinian analysts argue the targeted strikes are part of a broader strategy to maintain a state of war and undermine the US-brokered agreement. Ahmed al-Tanani, a political analyst in Gaza, said Israel is targeting police forces to eradicate any possibility of restoring stability and to push the enclave into internal chaos. “It wants to make it an unlivable environment, forcing residents to seek displacement, which serves the strategic goal of this war,” al-Tanani said. Simultaneously, Israeli forces are advancing further into western Gaza and expanding the “yellow line” delineating areas under Israeli military control. Al-Tanani noted that Israel has added 37km (23 miles) to this eastern zone, meaning it now controls approximately 60 percent of the enclave, effectively partitioning Palestinian territory and severely restricting freedom of movement. Advertisement Under the “ceasefire” agreement, Israel was expected to withdraw its troops from Gaza by the end of phase one, but it has refused to do so despite the truce entering its second phase. (Al Jazeera) An ’emptied’ technocratic committee The military escalation coincides with the effective paralysis of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a body of Palestinian technocrats established under US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace“. While Washington framed the 12-member NCAG as a roadmap for “reconstruction and prosperity”, Iyad al-Qarra, a political analyst, argued that the committee has been “emptied of its role” and isolated in Cairo by Israel to prevent it from functioning on the ground. “It is difficult to separate the committee’s work from providing services to citizens, and it is hard to separate serving citizens from the security apparatus and the presence of the occupation,” al-Qarra explained. He added that a real transition requires an Israeli withdrawal from the areas it controls, which has not happened. Academic and Israeli affairs expert Mohanad Mustafa noted that the ceasefire agreement was initially forced upon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the US. Now, Mustafa argued, Israel is deliberately blocking the entry of the NCAG to prevent the return of any political or civil life to Gaza, aiming to maintain a status quo of indefinite military occupation. Al Jazeera repeatedly reached out to the NCAG for comment on these developments, but the body declined to speak to the media. Disarmament and the US umbrella The “Board of Peace” is chaired by Trump and features pro-Israel US figures like Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio, who have the power to decide Gaza’s future. Adolfo Franco, a Republican strategic analyst in Washington, defended the Israeli military’s actions, stating that Israel has paused its implementation of the ceasefire because Hamas refuses to disarm. “President Trump said two things: Hamas will be disarmed either the easy way or the hard way, and the hard way will be Israel taking over the disarmament if Hamas refuses to do it itself,” Franco said. Hamas has said it would not disarm until Israeli forces are no longer occupying Palestinian territory. Palestinians maintain that Israel has manipulated the agreement since day one. While the ceasefire originally stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks daily, current figures show only 150 to 190 trucks are crossing. Al-Qarra noted that the amount of aid entering does not exceed 20 percent of what was agreed upon, with essential equipment for clearing rubble and repairing hospitals remaining entirely blocked. Advertisement Al-Qarra argued that Israel has successfully used Trump’s overarching peace narrative as a cover to continue its military operations while demanding “disarmament” – a condition he described as “a vague and unrealistic excuse”. “Israel is now successfully taking this banner and legitimacy from the US, trading everything for the issue of disarmament,” al-Qarra said. Meanwhile, al-Tanani revealed that Nickolay Mladenov, the representative linking the NCAG to the Board of Peace, privately acknowledges Israel’s daily violations and manipulation of aid during meetings with Palestinian factions, despite publicly adhering to the US and Israeli narratives. A ‘sovereignty-minus’ reality Critics have previously described the overarching US-led structure as a “corporate takeover” that reduces Palestinians to municipal workers with zero political agency. With Israeli militias allegedly operating on the ground and international stabilisation forces failing to deploy as planned, confidence in the newly established administrative councils has evaporated among the Palestinian public. As Israeli forces maintain their grip on the territory and continue their targeted killings, the prospect of an independent, functional administration in Gaza appears increasingly remote. “We have returned back to square one, unfortunately,” al-Qarra concluded. Adblock test (Why?)
New footage shows moment of deadly bus bombing in Colombia
NewsFeed Newly released dashcam video shows the moment that a bomb-laden bus exploded in Colombia, killing at least 13 people on the Pan-American Highway. The country’s president says that dissidents from the FARC movement are responsible. Published On 26 Apr 202626 Apr 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Deporting soldiers? Why immigrant veterans fear removal from the US
Seeking citizenship from a warzone Hernandez has spent most of his life in the US. He was brought across the border by his mother as a baby. He now has three children, all US citizens. As of 2022, nearly 731,000 military veterans like Hernandez were immigrants. They comprise roughly 4.5 percent of the US’s veteran population. For decades, faced with declining enlistment numbers, the US military has depended on immigrants to serve alongside its US-born citizens. Most have citizenship, too — but an estimated 118,000 immigrant veterans do not. Hernandez is one of them. Like many other veterans struggling to reintegrate into society after their military service, Hernandez struggled to find his place in the civilian world. He was jailed on illegal gun charges shortly after returning from his deployment. When he was released a few weeks later, he found he had been evicted from his apartment, and all his possessions, including military memorabilia, had been confiscated. “I came out with nothing,” he told Al Jazeera. With few options left, he became involved in selling drugs, which led him to be in and out of prison on multiple convictions. Without US citizenship — and especially with convictions on his record — the threat of deportation now hangs over him. His experience is not an outlier. Roughly a third of veterans are arrested at least once in their lifetimes, and surveys estimate that as many as 181,500 are imprisoned each year. Many veterans struggle with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorders and substance abuse issues, which can lead them to commit criminal offences. Hernandez was among those who enlisted after the attacks in the US on September 11, 2001. In the military frenzy afterwards, a recruiter at his California high school convinced him to sign up. Hernandez was just 18, and the structure, ambition and steady income of military service appealed to him. “I was trying to make a difference, trying to defend the land that was supposed to be my country — that adopted me,” he said. Hernandez was deployed when the US invaded Iraq in 2003 and then deployed two more times after that. He worked on the USS Kearsarge LHD-3, an amphibious assault group in the US Navy. “They said I was going to get to see the world,” he said. “I didn’t. It was nothing but sea.” During his first deployment on the ship, he filed his application for citizenship. The process was supposed to take only about six months. Then-President George W Bush had pledged to expedite naturalisation applications for active-duty service members who served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in an effort to boost recruitment. But like other immigrant soldiers at the time, Hernandez’s naturalisation was delayed. The US immigration system has been chronically overwhelmed, and after the September 11 attacks, stricter background checks led to even slower service. By the time Hernandez was finally called for his citizenship interview in 2006, two years had passed since his return from his final deployment. He already had a criminal conviction for drug possession. As he was no longer in the military, Hernandez’s expedited naturalisation case was denied. Adblock test (Why?)