A United Nations report claims that a group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) has doubled the territory under its control in Mali in under a year.
The report claims that the IS affiliate is seeking to replicate the 2012 creation of a state under their rule in Northen Mali, which was previously defeated by a French intervention into the country.
French troops were expelled after a coup in 2021 brought an anti-French government to power in the country.
[Image: saharan_kotogo, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=107705965]