The Latest Breaking News from Mali

Niger needs a French military buffer, training and weapons as it continues to strengthen its army to tackle Islamist insurgents, Defence Minister Alkassoum Indatou said on Friday.

Egypt has told the United Nations it will temporarily suspend the activities of its contingent in a Mali peacekeeping mission, citing increased attacks on its peacekeepers who escort convoys supplying UN bases, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

French officials head to Niger on Friday to redefine the country's strategy to fight Islamist militants in the Sahel as thousands of troops complete a withdrawal from Mali and concerns mount over the growing threat to coastal West African states.

Ivory Coast on Tuesday demanded the release of 49 of its soldiers arrested in Mali, an incident that may worsen tensions between Mali's military rulers and other West African nations amid efforts to quell an Islamist insurgency and restore democratic rule.

The Sahel – a 5,000km long strip of the African continent stretching from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea – has become the most neglected and conflict-ridden part of the planet. Millions of people have been displaced in the region. Mass murders and property destruction occur almost daily.

Malian authorities have arrested 49 soldiers from Cote d’Ivoire, describing them as mercenaries who were planning to stop the protection and reform of the country.

The Anglophone pivot comes on the back of successive coups in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso to dump pro-French leaders.

Malian authorities arrested nearly 50 soldiers from Ivory Coast who came to Mali to work for a contracting company of the United Nations mission in Mali. The government made the announcement Monday calling the Ivorian soldiers “mercenaries,” in a move that could raise tensions between the two West African countries.

The country is emerging as a critical ally in a neighbourhood of failing states