January 3 -
Mali wedding airstrike: France says it neutralized dozens of jihadists in an airstrike but people in the town of Bounti in
Mopti Region, say that twenty wedding guests were killed by a low-flying helicopter.[4]
January 25 – U.S. Navy SEAL Tony DeDolph is sentenced to ten years of prison for murdering U.S. Army Green Beret Logan Melgar while serving in
2017 in Mali.[9]
January 31 – Three hundred British troops with 60 light vehicles join 14,000 United Nations peacekeepers under Chinese command. This is a different mission from the French mission that is supported by 90 British troops and three
Chinook helicopters.[10]
February 25 – Nine soldiers are killed and nine wounded in an attack in
Bandiagara, Mopti.[12]
March 30 – A United Nations investigation by the
UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) finds that a 3 January French military airstrike on the village of Bounty, hit a wedding group largely made up of civilians, leaving 22 people dead, including 19 civilians.[13][14]
April to June
April 1 – The remains of
Béatrice Stöckli, a Swiss missionary in
Timbuktu, have been identified. She was captured by kidnapped by jihadists in 2016.[15]
June 7 –
Assimi Goïta is sworn-in as
President of Mali after the recent coup d'état, which was considered a "
coup within a coup" after Goïta, who directed the
2020 coup, carried out another coup and arrested the leaders that were in charge after the 2020 coup.[21]
July 4 – Four
Malian soldiers are killed in an
ambush on their patrol. No group claims responsibility for the attack, which comes as
France resumes joint military exercises with members of the
Malian Armed Forces, which had been suspended following the
coup d'état this year led by Colonel
Assimi Goïta.[23]
August 8 – At least 51 people are killed as
Islamist militants storm three villages in central
Mali, near the border with
Niger. It is one of the deadliest recent terror attacks in the country against civilians.[28]
August 19 –
Jihadistsambush a convoy in
Mopti, killing 11 soldiers and wounding 10 others. A
roadside bomb hit the convoy, and gunmen then opened fire.
August 27 – Former Mali leaders
Bah Ndaw and
Moctar Ouane are released from house arrest by the junta who removed them from power in May.[30]
September to October
September 5 – Members of Mali's police Special Anti-Terrorist Forces (Forsat) stormed a prison to liberate detained commander Oumar Samake.[31]
September 12 –Five
Malian soldiers are killed in an ambush by "an as yet unidentified armed terrorist group" in the
Macina Cercle of the
Ségou Region, according to the army.[32]
September 28 –
Mali accuses
France of "abandoning the country" by reducing its
forces in the fight against
jihadist groups. In response to the remarks, France accuses Mali's
military junta of "wiping their feet on the blood of French soldiers".[36]
October 2 – A
United Nations peacekeeper is killed and three others are seriously injured when an
IED detonates near where they were patrolling in the volatile north of the country, near
the border with
Algeria.[38]
October 6 – A battle between
jihadists and
Malian forces in the central
Mopti Region leaves at least nine soldiers and 15
insurgents dead. The mayor of the nearby town of
Bankass says that up to 16 soldiers were killed in the attack.[39]
October 25 – The
Malian interim government gives the country's
ECOWAS representative 72 hours to leave
Mali over "actions incompatible with his status", though the government added that they still maintain a "willingness to work together with ECOWAS in the transition".[42]
October 29 – Two employees of the Canadian
mining company
Iamgold are reported missing following an attack on their convoy in
Burkina Faso while travelling to
Essakane.[43]
October 30 – Seven
soldiers are killed in two separate attacks on patrols in
Mourdiah.[44]
December 3 –
Mopti bus massacre:
Militants attack a bus carrying civilians in
Mopti Region, killing the driver, before
setting it on fire and killing 31 passengers. The majority of the victims are women who were on their way to work at the local market.[46]
December 5 – Militants bomb two
UN camps in
Gao, with no fatalities.[47]
Years in
Mali (1960–present)