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| Mali negotiates with 'Al-Qaeda' after Army and Russians fail to break 'Lere' siege |
| 2026-09-03 |
Translated Text: Mali Negotiates with "Al-Qaeda" After Army and Russians Fail to Break "Lere" Siege The Islamic and Muslim Support Group (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, has agreed to lift the siege it imposed about 11 months ago on the city of Lere in northern Mali near the Mauritanian border. The agreement came after negotiations led by the city's elders, with the participation of the army commander in Lere and local officials. Movement will not resume until the group removes the mines it planted on the roads. The deal reveals that the Malian army and the Russian African Corps were unable to secure a city hosting government forces. The group does not control Lere from within, but it controls its surroundings and roads, and holds sway over the entry of food and fuel and the exit of residents. The situation repeats in other areas. In Boni in central Mali, authorities agreed in 2025 to reduce their military presence in exchange for lifting a siege that lasted about two years. In Farabugo, the group imposes taxes and its rules on the population, while other villages and towns in the Ségou, Mopti, and Timbuktu regions have struck local deals with it to open roads and halt attacks. Security studies say the army and its Russian allies are deployed inside bases and major cities, while the group operates in rural areas with small cells and strikes roads and supply lines. Government forces are also spread across fronts involving Al-Qaeda affiliates, ISIS affiliates, and Azawad movements. While these forces failed to break the Lere siege, "Human Rights Watch" documented the killing of 9 civilians, including 4 children, by African Corps elements accompanied by Malian soldiers in the village of Pombouri in Youwarou last July, after the group's fighters had left the village before their arrival. A Russian airstrike also killed 8 civilians, including 3 children, in the village of Kirniya in the Mopti region. Related: Lere : 2023-09-24 Mali’s junta struggles to fight growing violence in a northern region as UN peacekeepers withdraw Lere : 2021-07-05 Mali says four soldiers killed in ambush by suspected militants Lere : 2020-11-16 Nearly 50,000 acres of Kurdistan Region land torched by Turkey’s bombs this summer: report |
| Posted by:badanov |