The amendments are expected to facilitate a transition to civilian leadership in the junta-ruled West African country. Observers voiced concerns over last week's referendum, saying the vote was marred by irregularities.

Russia says the Wagner group's activities in Mali and Central African Republic will continue, unaffected, despite an aborted mutiny by its leader at the weekend. Provisional results from Sierra Leone's presidential election show the incumbent Julius Maada Bio in the lead.ahead of his main rival Samura Kamara. And Kenya's President William Ruto signs a contentious bill into law... that will raise taxes on a wide range of items, from petrol, to housing, and basic goods

Mali's relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since a 2020 military coup in the country. The junta has rallied behind Russia and brought in the paramilitary Wagner Group to meet its security needs.

Sudan's government on Monday refused to join a regional meeting aimed at ending nearly three months of brutal fighting, accusing Kenya, which chaired the talks, of favouring the rival paramilitaries.

A one-day summit by West African leaders from Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and the Niger Republic ended in a stalemate after the leaders met with Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Muslim Cleric Mahmoud Dicko.

Neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, which are also both run by military juntas, strongly rebuked regional bloc ECOWAS for weighing the option of using force to reinstate deposed President Mohamed Bazoum.

Mali's junta demanded in June that the MINUSMA force withdraw from the West African country after a decade-long deployment. The mission was created to quell separatist and Islamist insurgencies in northern Mali.

The German chancellor said the Saudi-led peace talks and others will help Russia realize it has "taken the wrong path." Scholz was, however, non-committal on whether Berlin would supply Kyiv with Taurus cruise missiles.

The pact allows Mali and Burkina Faso to provide military assistance to Niger in the event of military intervention against the putschists there.

In a renewed attempt to broker peace, Colombia's leftist President Petro agreed on a ceasefire with an armed dissident group. The EMC is a splinter group that rejected the 2016 deal broadly honored by the larger FARC.

No details have yet been given by Malian authorities on any casualties from the attack. It's the latest violence in the West African country after two assaults by suspected jihadis killed dozens a day prior.

At least 49 civilains and 15 soldiers were killed in two separate attacks by suspected jihadists in Mali.