Credit: Forces Armées Maliennestwitter.com /  Les Forces Armées Maliennes (FAMa) sont responsables de la défense de l’intégrité territoriale et la souveraineté du Mali. 

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

At least 10 Malian soldiers were killed Thursday in an attack by Islamic extremists in an ambush in a central region in the west African nation near the Mauritanian border, Mali’s military reported.  It was confirmed that 10 soldiers were killed, including a senior officer, in the attack in Guire and four vehicles were destroyed by fire.  A reinforcement team was dispatched to the  area where excavations are still ongoing, the Mali military reported.         

Au cours de cette attaque la mission #FAMa de ravitaillement de #Guiré, déplore une dizaine de morts des blessés et des dégâts matériels. Un renfort y a été dépêché. Les fouilles sont toujours en cours. pic.twitter.com/mZfi2ygys4

— Forces Armées Maliennes (@FAMa_DIRPA) September 4, 2020

Mali was plunged into political chaos following a military coup that forced out  President  Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta . A group of military officers, the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), has controlled the West African country after the mutineers detained Keïta at gunpoint, arrested him and forced him to resign.  Anti-government protesters had been holding massive protests calling on President Keïta to resign during the past months. Protesters accused Keïta of stealing a parliamentary election in March and installing his own candidates. 

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) welcomed the  release of Mali’s ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta last week and agreed the country’s transitional government is to last only one year.  ECOWAS also demanded elections be held  within 12 months.  The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc  held an extraordinary summit August 29  to propose measures to help resolve the escalating political crisis in Mali following the August 18 military coup.  At the  conclusion of the video summit,  ECOWAS  called on the miliaty junta “to initiate a civil transition immediately” in Mali.  Following the military coup,  ECOWAS  moved to suspend Mali from all ECOWAS decision-making bodies with immediate effect, in accordance with the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, until the effective restoration of constitutional order.   ECOWAS further decided to close all land and air borders as well as stop all financial, economic and trade flows and transactions between Member States and Mali, except for basic essentials, drugs and other supplies and equipment for the fight against COVID-19, petroleum products and electricity. Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou, who is the chair of  ECOWAS, said sanctions would be “gradually lifted depending on the implementation” of the bloc’s requests.