ISIS militants have almost doubled the territory they control in Mali in less than a year amid stalled peace efforts, United Nations experts have said.
“In less than a year, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has almost doubled its areas of control in Mali,” the expert panel said in a report shared by the Associated Press, referencing the group's control of rural areas in eastern Menaka and large parts of the Ansongo area in northern Gao.
ISIS attacks in the area have also eroded trust in signatories of a 2015 peace agreement, it added, with actors appearing "to be weak and unreliable security providers” for communities targeted by the extremists.
The terror group and Al Qaeda-affiliated rivals have taken advantage of the delay in implementing the agreement to stage attacks and are looking to re-establish an Islamist state in the north of the country, as happened in 2012, the UN experts said.
The Al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) is now positioning itself as the sole actor capable of protecting populations against Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, the experts said in the report circulated on Friday.
Mali, which has witnessed several coups in recent years, has supported the military junta which took power last month in neighbouring Niger.
The instability there has threatened counterterror efforts across Africa's Sahel region, where experts have warned of a huge increase in ISIS and militant activity.
France and the US, which both have troops in Niger, suspended counterterror operations following the coup, while Mali's leaders have warned Ecowas, the bloc of West African states, against a military intervention there.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea have told Ecowas that sending troops into Niger would also be seen as a declaration of war against them.
With ISIS' presence waning in the Middle East, the terror group is now on the rise in Africa, experts have previously told The National.
While it has to battle rivals in Mali, it has managed to gain a strong foothold in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others.
In June, Mali's junta ordered the UN peacekeeping force and its 15,000 international troops to leave after a decade of working on stemming the extremist insurgency.
The Security Council terminated the mission’s mandate on June 30.
The peacekeeping force, Minusma, also played a crucial role in facilitating peace talks and monitoring violations of the peace agreement, the experts' report said.
In June, a UN peacekeeper was killed and nine others wounded in an attack on their convoy.
More than 300 Minusma personnel were killed during the UN mandate in the country, making it the world's deadliest peacekeeping mission.
The panel said the armed groups that signed the 2015 agreement expressed concern that the peace deal could fall apart without UN mediation, “thereby exposing the northern regions to the risk of another uprising".
It also accused Russia's Wagner Group of being involved in "persistent" sexual violence in central and eastern parts of the country.
“The panel believes that violence against women, and other forms of grave abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law are being used, specifically by the foreign security partners, to spread terror among populations,” the report said.
Last month, the US sanctioned Malian officials, including the Minister of Defence, for alleged links to the Wagner Group.
Washington has also accused the paramilitary group of helping engineer the Minusma departure from Mali.
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Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
National Editorial: Suleimani has been killed, now we must de-escalate
Jack Moore: Why the assassination is such a monumental gamble
Matthew Levitt: Iran retains its ability to launch terror attacks
Damien McElroy: A CEO tasked with spreading Iran's influence
Hussein Ibish: Trump's order on solid constitutional ground
Simon Waldman: Cautious Israel keeping a low profile
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Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
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Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership
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Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
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Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
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Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
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Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
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Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
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Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
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Women’s Coach of the Year
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Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: Health-tech
Size: 22 employees
Funding: Seed funding
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Founded: 2017
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Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
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There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
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Tries Gormley, Penalty
Cons Flaherty
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Tigers
Tries O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
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Investment: approximately $8 million
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