By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on RFI
The Malian army and Russia’s Africa Corps killed more than 200 cattle and sheep in Mangara, in the Diéma circle, on Wednesday 28 October. Homes were also burned, according to RFI, which reported that this was the second similar incident in eight days and that the animals were the main means of subsistence for the herders concerned.
Air strikes by Malian forces and their Russian ally Africa Corps killed 89 civilians between April and August 2026, compared with 44 over the same period in 2025. Human Rights Watch, drawing on ACLED data, also reports 49 air strikes, against 22 a year earlier, amid intensifying military operations.
🇲🇱 Mali · Source: 24h au Bénin ·
Mali’s General Staff says it found 54 bodies at a settlement in Tagadayat, 35 kilometres south-east of Ménaka, after an attack on civilians. Nine survivors were taken to Ménaka and accounts implicate the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, according to Bénin Web TV.
🇲🇱 Mali · Source: Bénin Web TV ·
The Malian Armed Forces struck two terrorist groups near Ménaka and Piron, in the Mopti region, then neutralised three fighters near Moutégué, in the Ségou region. The 22 October operations were part of Operation Dougoukoloko, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
🇲🇱 Mali · Source: Bamada.net ·
Thirteen civilians, including six children, were killed in a Malian army drone strike near Lerneb, in the Timbuktu region. The Malian military headquarters has not commented on the operation, according to local sources verified by RFI.
🇲🇱 Mali · Source: RFI ·
Mali’s BDM-SA gives 20.5 million CFA francs to military familiesThe Banque de Développement du Mali has given 30 tonnes of rice, 10 tonnes of sugar and 580 containers of oil to the widows and orphans of Malian soldiers, in a donation valued at 20.5 million CFA francs. The handover took place on 29 October 2026 at the Directorate of the Army Social Services as part of the Month of Solidarity, Bamada.net reports.
Nigeria and Benin strengthen border cooperationNigeria and Benin want to link the settlement of border disputes with greater cooperation between communities along their approximately 770-kilometre land border. Adamu Adaji, director-general of Nigeria’s National Boundary Commission, presented this approach at a bilateral meeting held in Lagos from 28 to 30 October 2026, according to the commission.The week in Africa
Be the first to get our letter in English: the essentials from every region of the continent, free.
