While Western media continues to describe hit-and-run attacks on civilian fuel tankers by Al-Qaeda fighters who cannot hold positions as a “blockade”, a much more complex struggle for and against Mali’s sovereignty unfolds on the ground.

Two weeks before, the armed forces had fought off the highly-coordinated attacks on six cities by about 12,000 jihadist and separatist fighters on April 25.

While Western media continued prophesying the fall of the popular, sovereignist government that expelled French troops, the cabinet met on April 29 to push forward with developmental projects.

African regional blocs, including the Alliance of Sahel States and the African Union, as well as the head of the UN have condemned the senseless attacks by terrorist groups in Mali.

Combining limited nationalization with conditional foreign ownership amid the rally in gold prices, Mali has generated substantial mining revenue – channeled back to communities through the Local Mining Development Fund.

A historic turning point in Sahelian sovereignty, as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger bolstered their regional security through a unified military force and in the same week held its second AES summit.

The government of Mali recovered at least USD 1.2 billion after conducting a sector-wide audit and renegotiating mining agreements.

As panic-inducing travel advisories and doomsaying media reports prophesy the fall of Mali to an Al Qaeda affiliate attacking fuel convoys, the government has re-secured supply routes and hosted Mali’s first international defense expo in a supposedly besieged capital.

Mali’s cabinet has approved a proposal to extend Colonel Assimi Goïta’s leadership for a renewable five-year term, allowing him to further consolidate ongoing reforms in the country.

As an ECOWAS military threat looms over Niger, the three countries have formally declared that any act of aggression against one will be considered an aggression against all. The leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have come to power in popularly-backed coups amid mass anti-French anger and rising insecurity in the Sahel

Russia and the government of Mali had objected to the indefinite extension of sanctions as harmful for the political process to establish peace in the country. They had sought a provision whereby the sanctions regime would be wound up in August 2024

A day after ECOWAS chiefs of staffs finalized plans for a military intervention, Nigeria’s Senate refused to support President Bola Tinubu’s proposal to deploy soldiers. Tinubu is the current chair of ECOWAS. Meanwhile, Niger has seen multiple demonstrations in support of the coup that overthrew Mohamed Bazoum