Civilians flee as militant advance in northeast Mali

Militant aligned with the Islamic State group are advancing in northeastern Mali, prompting terrified citizens to flee their homes, sources there say.

The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) launched an offensive in the Gao and Menaka regions in March, triggering heavy fighting with local armed groups and rival militants.

"If nothing is done, the whole region will be occupied" by militants, a human rights campaigner, contacted by AFP on WhatsApp, said on condition of anonymity.

Witnesses and other sources contacted by AFP confirmed the ISGS' sustained push in this remote and dangerous area, and rights campaigners say civilians have been massacred.

The strategic towns of Gao and Menaka have long been in the forefront of Mali's decade-long militant crisis.

Since 2012, thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes, in an insurgency that has spread to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.

Despair at the toll prompted Malian army officers to mount a coup in 2020.

The junta has brought in Russian paramilitaries-a move that prompted France to pull out troops who had been battling militants for nine years.