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Mali’s army and its Russian mercenary allies surrendered a strategic northern military stronghold to armed rebels on Friday, as Tuareg separatists and jihadists waged a unified front to bring down the country’s junta.
Forces at Mali’s Tessalit military base, a “super-camp” near the Algerian border, surrendered and were scattering southward, an official from the Tuareg-dominated Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) told AFP.
Mali’s defence minister died after an attack on his house, his family said Sunday, as the army fought a second day of battles with jihadist fighters and separatist rebels near the capital Bamako and other cities, putting the Sahel nation’s ruling junta under severe pressure.
Eritrea on Monday denounced accusations by Ethiopia that Eritrean troops were present inside the country as “false and fabricated”.
Relations between the two Horn of Africa countries have long been fraught but in recent months, Addis Ababa has accused Eritrea of supporting insurgents on Ethiopian soil — allegations Asmara denies.
Ethiopia’s foreign minister has accused neighbouring Eritrea of military aggression and of supporting armed groups inside Ethiopian territory, amid growing tensions between the neighbours.
The two longstanding foes had waged war against each other between 1998 and 2000, but signed a peace deal in 2018 and became allies during Ethiopia’s two-year war against regional authorities in the northern Tigray region.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said on Wednesday that more than 1,500 civilians have been killed in escalating violence in the country’s eastern province of South Kivu since early December.
In a statement, the government said fighting has intensified in several parts of the province, particularly along the Kamanyola–Uvira axis, where armed operations have triggered large-scale displacement.