
Wagner Group leaving Mali after heavy losses but Russia's Africa Corps to remain
DAKAR, Senegal — The Russia-backed Wagner Group said Friday it is leaving Mali after more than three and a half years of fighting Islamic extremists and insurgents in the country.
Despite Wagner's announcement, Russia will continue to have a mercenary presence in the West African country. The Africa Corps, Russia's state-controlled paramilitary force, said on its Telegram channel Friday that Wagner's departure would not introduce any changes and the Russian contingent will remain in Mali.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Fox News
30 minutes ago
- Fox News
Russia launched its largest aerial attack of the war, Ukraine says
Russia launched its biggest aerial attack overnight since the start of the war against Ukraine, a Ukrainian official said on Sunday. Moscow fired 537 aerial weapons toward Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, according to Ukraine's air force. Among these weapons, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely electronically jammed. The attack was "the most massive airstrike" against Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine's air force, told The Associated Press, taking into account both drones and various types of missiles. Several regions were targeted, including western Ukraine, located far from the front line. Poland and allied countries scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, Poland's air force said. One person was killed in a drone strike in the Kherson region, according to Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin, while another died when a drone hit a car in the Kharkiv region, its Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Six people were wounded in Cherkasy, including a child, regional Gov. Ihor Taburets said. In the far-western Lviv region, a large fire broke out at an industrial facility in the city of Drohobych after a drone attack that also cut electricity to parts of the city. Ukraine's air force said one of its F-16 warplanes supplied by the West crashed after sustaining damage as it was shooting down air targets, killing the pilot. The new attacks come after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow is ready for another round of direct peace talks in Istanbul to end the war. No end appears to be in sight as international peace efforts coordinated by the U.S. have not yet led to any breakthroughs. Two recent rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching an agreement.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Chechen leader says Putin congratulated him on son's wedding
(Reuters) -The head of Russia's Caucasus region of Chechnya, a fervent supporter of Moscow's war in Ukraine, said Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin telephoned him on Saturday to congratulate him on his son's wedding. Ramzan Kadyrov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said Putin "personally congratulated me ... on this important event and offered his warmest words of congratulation." Kadyrov said he was particularly touched that Putin had found the time to call "despite being so colossally busy with matters of state. This is a very dear thing." Kadyrov has led Chechnya, a mountainous Muslim region in southern Russia that tried to break away from Moscow in wars that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, since 2007. He has sent large contingents of troops to boost Russian ranks in the 40-month-old war against Ukraine and in the conflict's early stages commented frequently on events on the battlefield. His son, Adam, who turns 18 in November, already holds several positions in the region's security structures. Reports from the region said he was appointed secretary of Chechnya's security council in April. He also serves as his father's top bodyguard, a trustee of Chechnya's Special Forces University, and an observer in a new army battalion.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Morocco's Atlantic gambit: linking restive Sahel to ocean
A planned trade corridor linking the landlocked Sahel to the Atlantic is at the heart of an ambitious Moroccan project to tackle regional instability and consolidate its grip on disputed Western Sahara. The "Atlantic Initiative" promises ocean access to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger through a new $1.3-billion port in the former Spanish colony claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front but largely controlled by Morocco. But the project remains fraught with challenges at a time when military coups in the Sahel states have brought new leaderships to power intent on overturning longstanding political alignments following years of jihadist violence. The Moroccan initiative aims to "substantially transform the economy of these countries" and "the region", said King Mohammed VI when announcing it in late 2023. The "Dakhla Atlantic" port, scheduled for completion at El Argoub by 2028, also serves Rabat's goal of cementing its grip on Western Sahara after US President Donald Trump recognised its sovereignty over the territory in 2020. Morocco's regional rival Algeria backs the Polisario but has seen its relations with Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger fray in recent months after the downing a Malian drone. Military coups over the past five years have seen the three Sahel states pivot towards Russia in a bid to restore their sovereignty and control over natural resources after decades within the sphere of influence of their former colonial ruler France. French troops were forced to abandon their bases in the three countries, ending their role in the fight against jihadists who have found sanctuary in the vast semi-arid region on the southern edge of the Sahara. - 'Godsend' - After both the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS imposed economic sanctions on the new juntas, Morocco emerged as an early ally, with Niger calling the megaproject "a godsend". "Morocco was one of the first countries where we found understanding at a time when ECOWAS and other countries were on the verge of waging war against us," Niger's Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangare said in April during a visit to Rabat alongside his Malian and Burkinabe counterparts. The Sahel countries established a bloc of their own -- the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) -- in September 2023 but have remained dependent on the ports of ECOWAS countries like Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo. Rising tensions with the West African bloc could restrict their access to those ports, boosting the appeal of the alternative trade outlet being offered by Rabat. - 'Many steps to take' - Morocco has been seeking to position itself as a middleman between Europe and the Sahel states, said Beatriz Mesa, a professor at the International University of Rabat. With jihadist networks like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group striking ever deeper into sub-Saharan Africa, the security threat has intensified since the departure of French-led troops. Morocco was now "profiting from these failures by placing itself as a reliable Global South partner", Mesa said. Its initiative has won the backing of key actors including the United States, France and the Gulf Arab states, who could provide financial support, according to specialist journal Afrique(s) en mouvement. But for now the proposed trade corridor is little more than an aspiration, with thousands of kilometres (many hundreds of miles) of desert road-building needed to turn it into a reality. "There are still many steps to take," since a road and rail network "doesn't exist", said Seidik Abba, head of the Sahel-focused think tank CIRES. Rida Lyammouri of the Policy Center for the New South said the road route from Morocco through Western Sahara to Mauritania is "almost complete", even though it has been targeted by Polisario fighters. Abdelmalek Alaoui, head of the Moroccan Institute for Strategic Intelligence, said it could cost as much as $1 billion to build a land corridor through Mauritania, Mali and Niger all the way to Chad, 3,100 kilometres (1,900 miles) to the east. And even if the construction work is completed, insecurity is likely to pose a persistent threat to the corridor's viability, he said. anr/els/iba/bou/kir/dcp/tc