Mali’s ex-president has flown to UAE for treatment

We head to northern Mali, where French forces are preparing to close a base used by the Barkhane force as France decides to reduce its presence in the country. Also, Botswana's court of appeal starts hearing a government attempt to overturn a landmark ruling that decriminalised homosexuality in 2019. And Cape Verde gears up for elections, with the revival of the tourism industry a key campaign issue.

Nigerian's in UAE are facing harsher times as restriction on work permits bites harder. Some of them spoke exclusively to The Guardian about what led to the current situation.

A weekly news show produced with photos, videos and personal accounts from FRANCE 24 Observers around the world – all checked by our staff here in Paris.

Military leaders in Mali and Guinea are under pressure to follow a roadmap for elections after coups in recent years. The sanctions consist of travel bans and asset freezes.

Mikheil Saakashvili's partner said he has been transferred to "the most dangerous place for his life." He has been on hunger strike since his arrest upon returning from exile on October 1.

Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told FRANCE 24 that recent coups in West Africa are undermining democracy and that events have reached a crucial juncture for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc. “Clearly it is a threat, it is an unfortunate precedent,” he said.

In Mali, a bizarre plastic monster roams the streets. But it's no demon — rather contemporary artist Zol, who uses his otherworldly costume to draw attention to plastic pollution.

Today we debunk photos shared on Facebook claiming to show "Russian ships arriving in Algeria to support Mali". Also, a slip of the tongue by the French Polynesian president Édouard Fritch is ripe for manipulation. Our team fact-check two stories circulating on social media, that should not be taken at face value.

Opposition leader and former president Mikheil Saakashvili says charges against him for his role in suppressing a 2007 protest are "trumped up." Amnesty International called his arrest "political revenge."

Militants killed at least 31 people in central Mali on Friday (December 3) when they fired upon a bus ferrying people to a local market, local authorities said - the latest deadly attack in a region racked by violent insurgency. The bus was attacked by unidentified gunmen as it travelled its twice-weekly route from the village of Songho to a market in Bandiagara, 10 kilometres (6 miles) away, said Moulaye Guindo, mayor of the nearby town of Bankass.

French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly granted an interview to FRANCE 24 and RFI in Dakar, Senegal. Parly slammed a "disinformation campaign" aimed at creating "anti-French discourse" in Africa's Sahel region, as France reorganises its military presence there. The minister said she did not believe Russian Wagner Group mercenaries were in the Malian capital Bamako, but added that "that does not mean the current Malian authorities are not planning to bring them there". The arrival of Russian mercenaries in Mali would be "simply unacceptable", she said.

For almost a decade, international forces in Mali have been trying to help fight Islamist groups that threatened to take over the country in 2012. But today, the government still only controls the capital and a small area around it. DW's Fred Muvunyi reports.