Overview
- The African Union called for enhanced cooperation and intelligence-sharing to confront Mali’s deteriorating security situation and urged the release of three recently kidnapped Egyptian nationals.
- An al-Qaeda-linked group, JNIM, has attacked fuel convoys since September, cutting deliveries to around 200 tankers a week from roughly 1,000 and causing shortages, power cuts and business closures.
- Schools in Bamako reopened after a two-week suspension triggered by the fuel shortfall, a Reuters witness reported.
- Western governments, including the United States, France, Britain and Italy, advised citizens to leave and reduced diplomatic staffing to essential personnel.
- France’s foreign intelligence chief said JNIM aims to topple the junta and install Islamist-aligned authorities rather than govern directly, while describing Mali’s Russian-backed security model as failing.