U.S. Rep. Gregory Weldon Meeks, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (meeks.house.gov) By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES U.S. Congressional members Wednesday condemned horrific reports of Malian troops and suspected Russian mercenaries allegedly executing about 300 people in central Mali, west Africa. Human Rights Watch said
Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was a Burkinabé military officer, Marxist revolutionary, and pan-Africanist President of west African nation Burkina Faso. Sankara was assassinated in 1987. (Wikipedia Commons) By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES Burkina Faso’s former president Blaise Compaoré was sentenced to life in prison
Credit: ecowas.int/ The Economic Community of West African States, also known as ECOWAS, is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS Friday said it will keep crippling sanctions
The national flag of West African nation Mali (Wikipedia Commons) By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES The court of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) on Thursday ordered suspension of sanctions placed against Mali. Leaders from the regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS imposed regional
U.S. Army Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command, meets with troops assigned to the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, Nov. 3, 2019, on Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. (Photo: Senior Airman Codie Trimble/ Air Force) By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES WASHINGTON
France 24 French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. (Source: Wikipedia) By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES France “deplores” a move by Mali’s military junta to suspend broadcasts by French international news outlets RFI and France 24. Mali announced it would ban the French foreign news broadcasts
Al-Shabaab Emblem (Wikipedia Commons) By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES WASHINGTON DC – Ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Armed Services Committee Sen. Jim Inhofe Tuesday called on the Pentagon to consider re-deploying U.S. troops to Somalia to counter the sharp rise in extremist
Peacekeepers with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) are greeted by children. (Photo: MINUSMA/Marco Dormino) By Gary Raynaldo UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – France’s withdrawal of troops in Mali will leave UN peacekeepers and civilians in danger
The European Union is a political and economic union of 27 member states located primarily in Europe. By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES The European Union on Friday imposed targeted sanctions on five members of Mali’s military junta, including Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga. The five
Russian 56th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade. (Credit/mil.ru/) By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES US AFRICOM Commander Stephen Townsend said Russian Mercenaries are operating in West Africa nation Mali via the Wagner Group. “We have observed the Malian junta bring Russian mercenaries into their