BAMAKO: Mali’s military-led government has arrested two generals and a French national, accusing them of participating in an alleged plot to destabilize the West African nation, according to a government statement and state-owned media.
Mali has endured over a decade of turmoil marked by Islamist insurgencies in its arid north along with political instability that culminated in a series of coups in 2020 and 2021 that brought current president General Assimi Goita to power.
Sources told Reuters earlier this week that more than 30 soldiers and military officials had been taken into custody on suspicion of attempting to destabilize Goita’s government.
Mali’s ministry of territorial administration, in a statement released late on Thursday, said those arrested included Yann Vezilier, a French citizen.
France’s once close relationship with its former colonies in West Africa’s Sahel region has soured in recent years as military officers have overthrown civilian governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Paris has withdrawn French troops involved in an operation to combat Islamist militants there under pressure from the countries’ new leadership. Mali, which cut military ties with France, has meanwhile turned to Russia for support.
The ministry statement accused Vezilier of acting on behalf of French intelligence services to mobilize political and civil society figures and military officers.
A French foreign ministry spokesperson said Friday that it had no official comment on Vezilier’s arrest.
Malian state media showed images of 10 other people detained for involvement in the alleged plot, including General Abass Dembele, who is the former governor of the central Mopti region, and General Nema Sagara, another leading military figure.
The ministry did not specify how many people had been arrested in total but described them as “a group of marginal elements” and said the situation was under control.
Mali’s military authorities have failed to keep their promise to hold elections. Instead, Goita was granted a five-year renewable term in June and political activities were suspended across the country.
While Mali’s military junta cited the civilian authorities’ failure to put down Islamist uprisings in the north among its justifications for seizing power, security woes have persisted under Goita.
The past few months have seen a surge of deadly attacks by Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam wal-Muslimin, an Al-Qaeda-linked group that also operates in Burkina Faso and Niger.
Mali arrests generals, French national accused in alleged destabilization plot
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Mali arrests generals, French national accused in alleged destabilization plot
- Mali’s ministry of territorial administration, in a statement released late on Thursday, said those arrested included Yann Vezilier, a French citizen
UNICEF warns of rise in sexual deepfakes of children
- The findings underscored the use of “nudification” tools, which digitally alter or remove clothing to create sexualized images
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The UN children’s agency on Wednesday highlighted a rapid rise in the use of artificial intelligence to create sexually explicit images of children, warning of real harm to young victims caused by the deepfakes.
According to a UNICEF-led investigation in 11 countries, at least 1.2 million children said their images were manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes — in some countries at a rate equivalent to “one child in a typical classroom” of 25 students.
The findings underscored the use of “nudification” tools, which digitally alter or remove clothing to create sexualized images.
“We must be clear. Sexualized images of children generated or manipulated using AI tools are child sexual abuse material,” UNICEF said in a statement.
“Deepfake abuse is abuse, and there is nothing fake about the harm it causes.”
The agency criticized AI developers for creating tools without proper safeguards.
“The risks can be compounded when generative AI tools are embedded directly into social media platforms where manipulated images spread rapidly,” UNICEF said.
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has been hit with bans and investigations in several countries for allowing users to create and share sexualized pictures of women and children using simple text prompts.
UNICEF’s study found that children are increasingly aware of deepfakes.
“In some of the study countries, up to two-thirds of children said they worry that AI could be used to create fake sexual images or videos. Levels of concern vary widely between countries, underscoring the urgent need for stronger awareness, prevention, and protection measures,” the agency said.
UNICEF urged “robust guardrails” for AI chatbots, as well as moves by digital companies to prevent the circulation of deepfakes, not just the removal of offending images after they have already been shared.
Legislation is also needed across all countries to expand definitions of child sexual abuse material to include AI-generated imagery, it said.
The countries included in the study were Armenia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Serbia, and Tunisia.
