Mali Instability and Shifting Alliancesactive

AJ's Defence Editor breaks down the latest threat to Mali’s government and the rapid retreat of Russian forces there

Dozens of political leaders and business executives will gather in the Kenyan capital this week, hosted by France's Emmanuel Macron and Kenya's William Ruto. But will it amount to more than just talk?

Jihadist fighters launched a fresh wave of deadly attacks in central Mali that killed dozens of people, local and security sources said on Saturday. One local official said the latest attacks brought the death toll to more than 70 in recent days, as Islamist armed groups intensify assaults on villages across the region.

Aliko Dangote tells the FT he is leaning towards Mombasa rather than Tanzania for 650,000-barrel-a-day oil mega-project

One official said the latest attacks by armed factions like the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims had brought the death toll to over 70 in recent days.

Seeking to rebuild French influence in Africa after a series of setbacks in former West African colonies, France will co-host a summit in Kenya next week aimed at strengthening political, security and economic ties with a range of African partners.

Speech At the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) Conference on Digital Assets, Dakar, Senegal

A French translation of the book 'The Sex Lives of African Women' was published in March. The author, a well-known figure in Ghanaian and African feminist circles, depicts the intimate lives of 31 women from the continent and the diaspora.

More than 30 people were killed in central Mali on Thursday after two attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda-linked militants, according to local, security and administrative sources. The strikes, claimed by JNIM, come amid renewed violence in the West African nation following recent coordinated assaults on military positions.

Mali asked Russia to provide security. It’s now under Islamist siege.

The two communities have come under suspicion of collaborating with the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and pro-independence activists from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), who launched attacks across the country on April 25. Several disappearances have been reported.

From deliveries of drones and armoured vehicles to training sessions led by Russian Africa Corps instructors, security cooperation between Madagascar and Russia has intensified since the October 2025 coup. Russia’s growing influence is expanding into other sectors as well, raising questions within parts of Malagasy civil society.

Senegalese duo Lamine Camara (AS Monaco) and Moussa Niakhaté (Olympique Lyon) will vie with Mali's Mamadou Sangaré (RC Lens) for the 2026 Marc Vivien-Foé Prize for the best African player in the French football league, presented by FRANCE 24 and Radio France Internationale (RFI).

After withdrawing from the town of Kidal at the start of the pro-independence and jihadist offensive on April 26, and then from Tessalit on May 1, Malian and Russian troops have begun pulling out from their base in Aguelhok. According to French military sources, their objective is to concentrate their forces in the central and southern parts of the country.

A well-known Malian lawyer and politician critical of the ruling junta was abducted overnight by masked men in the capital Bamako, members of his family told AFP Sunday.

Russian Africa Corps mercenaries have suffered several setbacks since jihadists launched an offensive on April 25, including the death of pro-Russian defense minister Sadio Camara and the loss of the town of Kidal.

As Mali’s military struggles to maintain control amid a growing jihadist insurgency, a number of its own soldiers have been arrested, accused of collaborating with Al-Qaeda-linked militants in coordinating widespread attacks. Islamist group JNIM, alongside separatist rebels, has reportedly seized two northern cities, killed the defence minister, and is now attempting to impose a blockade on the capital, Bamako. We take a closer look at what’s happening on the ground, the escalating security crisis, and the role of Russian mercenaries in supporting the government. France 24’s Gavin Lee is joined by Beverley Ochieng, a specialist in West Africa and political risk analyst at Control Risks, to discuss.

Malian authorities say some military officers collaborated with jihadist and separatist fighters who carried out coordinated attacks across the country earlier in the week. A statement from the prosecutor’s office confirmed that the first arrests have been made and that efforts are continuing to track down other suspects involved. Meanwhile, separatist fighters from the Azawad Liberation Front claim they have captured a strategic military camp in the town of Tessalit after the Malian army and its Russian allies withdrew. Consulting fellow of the Africa Programma at Chatham House, Paul Melly, shares further insights.

In Mali, the country’s army and its Russian mercenary allies lost control of a key northern military stronghold to armed rebels on Friday, marking a significant setback as Tuareg separatists and jihadist groups appear to be operating in a coordinated effort to challenge the ruling junta. Insurgents linked to Al Qaeda have also called on Malians to rise up against the military-led government and support a transition to Sharia law. Journalist Justice Baidoo reports the latest from Dakar, Senegal.

JNIM and Tuareg separatists continue their attacks against Mali's military government.

The war in Ukraine is draining Russia’s forces; Moscow has little to spare for its African adventures.

Mali's military leaders seized power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

Mali is facing its most serious security challenge in years as jihadist fighters and Tuareg separatists launch coordinated attacks and tighten a blockade around the capital, Bamako, increasing pressure on the country’s military rulers. The latest escalation, however, raises fresh questions about the strength of the alliance between the two groups.

As Mali's junta mourns the death of Defence Minister General Sadio CamaraIn, with thousands coming out to pay tribute, FRANCE 24's François Picard welcomes Paul Melly, Consulting Fellow for the Africa Programme at Chatham House and expert on the Sahel region. He offers a sobering assessment of Mali’s deepening crisis, framing current events within both historical precedent and a radically altered geopolitical landscape. While echoes of the 2012 Mali crisis are unmistakable, "are we in the same situation as in 2012 when the French military had to swoop in to save Mali's capital from being overrun by insurgents?" asks François Picard.

As Mali's junta mourns the death of their Defence Minister General Sadio CamaraIn, thousands coming out to pay tribute, FRANCE 24's François Picard welcomes Paul Melly, Consulting Fellow for the Africa Programme at Chatham House and an expert on the Sahel region. He offers a sobering assessment of Mali’s deepening crisis, framing current events within both historical precedent and a radically altered geopolitical landscape. While echoes of the 2012 Mali crisis are unmistakable, "are we in the same situation as in 2012 when the French military had to swoop in to save Mali's capital from being overrun by insurgents?" asks our host. Melly argues that today’s conditions are far more complex and less conducive to external stabilization. As he puts it, “we’ve seen the creation of this new alliance between the jihadists and the Tuareg separatists who have a secular agenda and want to carve out a homeland for the Tuareg Azawad in the north, in the Sahara desert.”: So you have a convergence of forces that blurs ideological lines and competing objectives, complicating any straightforward military response. Yet the decisive shift lies not just on the battlefield, but in diplomacy: “what’s really different this time is the regional and international context.” Mali, once embedded in regional and international cooperation frameworks, now stands increasingly isolated, having broken away from ECOWAS, distanced itself from France, and grown disillusioned with Russian mercenary support. In this vacuum, Melly suggests, the logic of force is giving way to a more fragile but necessary alternative: “curiously, out of this shocking wave of violence, we might find that politics is the more viable path forward.” Would the junta consider embracing this option? Melly even takes it a step further: "We could see the junta under pressure to begin to negotiate with some of its exiled opponents, for example, the very influential Imam Mahmoud Diko, who is currently in exile in Algeria, but has a big popular following. And he has formed a partnership, an alliance with civilian political opponents", some in Mali, and others in exile.

Jihadist fighters in Mali have called for a broad uprising against the country’s military rulers, escalating tensions as they move to tighten pressure on the capital, Bamako. The appeal comes days after coordinated attacks on junta positions and coincides with the start of a blockade on key roads into the city, raising fears of further instability in a nation already grappling with years of conflict and political upheaval.

The Russian defeat in Kidal, a strategically important town in the heart of the Malian desert, marked the most significant blow to Moscow's military presence in Africa since the Kremlin replaced France as the armed partner of the Malian military regime five years ago. The fall of the town, seized at dawn on April 25th by an alliance of Tuareg fighters from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and militants from the jihadist group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), linked to Al Qaeda, forced the few dozen Russian paramilitary personnel entrenched in the area to either retreat or die. They chose the former, according to a report published this Wednesday by the Financial Times. This setback has shaken the foundations of the Russian military projection project in the Sahel and raises questions about the viability of the pro-Russian government of General Assimi Goïta in Bamako, the capital. "It is a humiliation. Another confirmation that they are ineffective and unreliable in the face of insurgents and jihadists," said Wassim Nasr, an analyst at the Soufan Center in New York, to the British newspaper. Nasr emphasized that the recapture of Kidal three years ago had been the only military victory that Russian forces could claim in the country. Two setbacks in a weekend .responsive { width: 100%; height: auto; } The offensive was not limited to the north. On Saturday, the rebels attacked the main military command center in Kati, a town near Bamako, and killed the minister...

JNIM, an Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group, has declared a blockade of Bamako after launching an offensive against country's ruling junta on Saturday. France has urged its citizens to temporarily leave the country.

Russia on Thursday said its forces would stay in Mali, rejecting a call from Tuareg rebels for Moscow to withdraw after separatists and jihadists launched attacks last weekend against the military junta, which Russian paramilitary forces have helped support.

Mali's junta leader Assimi Goita is expected to attend the funeral on Thursday of Mali's defence minister Sadio Camara, who was killed in an assault on his home during attacks that have destabilised the army's grip on power.

Al-Qaeda-linked fighters killed the defense minister, a top Moscow ally, and forced Russian mercenaries to retreat, highlighting the Mali-Russia partnership’s failure.

A series ⁠of reversals suffered by Mali’s Moscow-backed military government has dented Russia’s image as ⁠a self-styled security guarantor in Africa and threatens its strategic and economic interests on the continent. The military junta, which turned to Russia for support after expelling French and UN troops following coups in 2020 and 2021, was rocked at the weekend by an offensive by West Africa’s al-Qaeda affiliate and a Tuareg-dominated separatist group. Mali’s Russia-trained defence...

Video has been published by Russian mercenaries showing a heavy gun battle between Mali’s military and rebels.

With Tuareg-led rebels saying the ruling junta in Mali will fall "sooner or later" and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops, the French Foreign Ministry has called on French nationals to leave the country.

A spokesperson for Mali's Tuareg rebel group Azawad Liberation Front pledged on Wednesday that the country's ruling junta "will fall" and said the group wanted to see Russian forces withdraw "from all of Mali" after weekend attacks by Islamist insurgents and Tuareg separatists targeting major cities.

France on Wednesday called on its citizens to leave Mali "as soon as possible" following weekend of attacks on government targets in cities across the country launched by jihadists and Tuareg separatists.

Fousseynou Ouattara emphasized that attempts by terrorists to destabilize these localities had been successfully thwarted

Mali’s leadership signaled it will not rethink its Russia-backed security strategy, even as the scale of rebel attacks over the weekend raises fresh questions over its effectiveness. Insurgents recaptured the Malian town of Kidal, a town that Kremlin-linked fighters wrested back in 2023. Africa Corps, a force overseen by Russia’s defense ministry, announced it was withdrawing from Kidal. The pullback punctures the claim that Moscow could deliver where France and other Western allies could not. Bloomberg's Jennifer Zabasajja reports. (Source: Bloomberg)

The leader of Mali's military government, Assimi Goita, made his first public appearance on Tuesday since insurgents launched coordinated attacks over the weekend. In a televised address, he vowed to "neutralize" those responsible. Al-Qaeda's affiliate in West Africa and a Tuareg-dominated separatist group attacked Mali's main army base and the area near Bamako's airport on Saturday. They also forced Russian troops supporting government forces out of the strategically important town of Kidal.

Setbacks suffered by the Bamako junta against insurgent groups have reestablished Algiers as a mediator after years of waning influence in the region.

Assimi Goita called on citizens not to give in to attempts by hostile forces to divide society

Mali's military ruler Assimi Goita made his first public appearance since coordinated insurgent assaults over the weekend, pledging to “neutralise” those responsible as jihadist and separatist groups escalated attacks across the country.

Annette Young is pleased to welcome Nina Wilen, Director of the Africa Programme at the Egmont Institute. According to Ms. Wilen, the insurgency in Mali reflects shifting power balances across the Sahel. What we are witnessing is not simply a surge in violence, but a reconfiguration of authority, where Tuareg rebels and jihadist groups, particularly the JNIM, have steadily expanded their operational capacity while state and international actors have lost ground. The recent coordinated attacks signal that they can strike at the heart of the state, yet they may not seek to govern it directly.

Kremlin-controlled paramilitaries also alleged it inflicted ‘irreplaceable losses’ on insurgents avoiding civilian casualties Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its Africa Corps – the successor to the former Wagner mercenary group – had prevented a coup in Mali over the weekend, avoiding mass civilian casualties and inflicting “irreplaceable losses” on rebel insurgents. It said in a statement that its troops in the desert town of Kidal near the Algerian border had fought for more than 24 hours while completely surrounded and vastly outnumbered. It also alleged without providing evidence, that the militants had been trained by European mercenary instructors including Ukrainians. The casualty toll was not specified. Continue reading...

Approximately 12,000 militants were involved in the attempted coup

Some media outlets claimed that Assimi Goita had been evacuated from the main presidential residence, located at a military base in the Kati suburb of the capital Bamako, during an attack by radical militants

Armed clashes are ongoing in certain regions of the country.

An alliance of al-Qaeda-linked jihadists and Tuareg separatists has carried out the largest coordinated attack in over a decade in Mali. The al-Qaeda-linked JNIM group — Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin — has expanded in recent years. Its leader, Iyad Ag Ghali, is the most wanted man in Mali. The French military, Malian authorities, and Russian mercenaries have all sought, in vain, to capture him.

On Sunday, April 26, after the Azawad Liberation Front rebels seized control of Kidal, at least 400 paramilitaries from Africa Corps were evacuated from the city under armed escort.

Insurgents recaptured a Malian town that had become a symbol of Russia’s promise to deliver security where Western forces had failed.

Coordinated attack by JNIM and the Tuareg minority inflicted significant casualties on government forces and Russian auxiliaries When al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic militants launched a series of attacks on military bases and raids into major towns in Mali and neighbouring Burkina Faso last summer, observers suggested they had been inspired by their counterparts in Syria, who had overthrown the regime of Bashar al-Assad and taken power six months or so earlier. Despite the tactical successes that earned them the fearful title of the “Ghost Army”, seizing swathes of territory and denying cities and the military of fuel and other essentials, the chances of Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) definitively defeating Mali’s military regime and the thousand or so Russian mercenaries hired to defend it looked poor. Continue reading...

Tuareg rebels in control of key Mali town

The death of Malian defense minister Sadio Camara amid a series of coordinated assaults on several Malian cities is posing a serious challenge to the junta in Bamako, analysts say.

Mali’s ruling junta was reeling on Monday after coordinated attacks by separatists and al Qaeda-linked jihadists sparked two days of fierce fighting across the country. It was the most serious challenge to Mali's central government since a 2012 rebel offensive was pushed back by the intervention of French forces.

The Azawad Liberation Front and the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) launched an offensive against several Malian towns on April 25. In the north, the city of Kidal was recaptured following a three-year presence of Russian and Malian forces. Verified footage offers a window into these two days of tensions.

Two days of national mourning have been declared in Mali after the country's defence minister was killed in an attack by Al-Qaeda linked group JNIM, who have allied with Tuareg rebels. Despite their disagreements, the two sides joined forces to fight against the Malian army, which is supported by Russian mercenaries.

The Malian Minister of Defense died in a large-scale attack carried out by jihadists and rebels who seized control of several cities and military bases, authorities reported. This is the latest episode of violence in the country ruled by a military junta, which has been struggling for a long time against militants linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist rebellion in the north. The Malian government confirmed the death of the head of defense, General Sadio Camara, in a post on the Ministry of Defense's Facebook page, and expressed its condolences to his family. The state television also broadcast the announcement of his death, made by the spokesperson, General Issa Ousmane Coulibaly. Mali was the target of one of the largest coordinated attacks against its army on Saturday, in the capital, Bamako, and in several other cities and towns, in an offensive that also raised questions about Mali's security partner, Russia, which has forces on the ground in the West African country. The government stated on Sunday that the attacks appear to have ended, but several questions remain unanswered, including who controls a key city in the north that separatists claim to have taken. The government has not provided a casualty figure for Saturday, and previously only stated that at least 16 people were injured in what it denounced as terrorist attacks. The separatists have been...

Military intelligence chief reportedly also killed in sweeping attacks by jihadists and separatist rebels Mali has been left reeling from sweeping attacks by jihadists and separatist rebels who seized several towns and military bases and killed the defence minister and military intelligence chief. The weekend assault on the west African state’s security architecture was coordinated by al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the separatist Tuareg-led movement Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) – former foes with distinct agendas. Continue reading...

The death of the minister, Gen. Sadio Camara, a central figure in the country’s military government, comes amid escalating violence in the region.

The situation in Mali remained highly unstable after unprecedented large-scale attacks on several cities, including Bamako, by jihadists from Nusrat al-Islam (GSIM, affiliated with al-Qaida), allied with northern pro-independence groups, on Saturday. The junta's number two, a key figure in the alliance with Russia, was killed.

Mali’s Defence Minister, Sadio Camara, has been killed during an attack on his residence near the capital Bamako,as fighting continued around the country between the army and Tuareg rebels backed by jihadist groups.

Car bomb kills Sadio Camara at home during coordinated assaults by rebel groups including West African al-Qaida affiliate Mali’s defence minister was killed in an attack on his residence, the government said on Sunday, a high-profile fatality during coordinated assaults staged the previous day by insurgents including the West African affiliate of al-Qaida. A car laden with explosives driven by a suicide attacker drove into Sadio Camara’s residence in the town of Kati, the spokesperson, Issa Ousmane Coulibaly, said in a statement read out on state television. A firefight ensued, and Camara sustained injuries from which he later died in a hospital, Coulibaly said, adding that Mali would observe two days of mourning. Continue reading...

Opponents, including a group linked to al-Qaeda, have joined forces.

Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries withdrew from the city of Kidal, in northern Mali, following a series of coordinated attacks carried out by rebel forces and jihadist groups in various parts of the country. According to the Front de Libération de l'Azawad (FLA), a separatist group led by Tuaregs, the withdrawal occurred after an agreement for a peaceful withdrawal of the army and the so-called African Corps, a Russian paramilitary group. "Kidal is declared free," said its spokesperson, Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan. The withdrawal takes place in a context of heightened tensions, after separatists and Islamists launched one of the largest simultaneous attacks against the Malian state on Saturday, including actions in the capital, Bamako, and other cities in the center and north of the country. Unprecedented alliance between separatists and jihadists For the first time, the Tuareg separatists acted in conjunction with the JNIM group, linked to Al Qaeda, which also claimed responsibility for attacks against Bamako's international airport and other locations. "This operation is being carried out in partnership with the JNIM," Ramadan stated, in an alliance that reflects the complexity of the conflict in the country. The Malian government confirmed at least 16 injuries, among civilians and military personnel, although it did not provide figures for the dead. At the same time, a three-day nighttime curfew was declared in the capital. Murder of the Minister of Defense and attacks in Bamako The...

Russian paramilitary forces deployed in Mali have achieved limited gains in the fight against jihadist groups, according to Philip Obaji, Nigerian journalist and Daily Beast correspondent. Obaji pointed to ongoing insecurity and mounting allegations of abuses, raising questions over the effectiveness of Moscow-backed forces supporting the country’s military rulers.

Ulf Laessing, Director of Regional Sahel Programme at Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Mali, is out guest.

A spate of attacks was coordinated by Tuareg separatists and jihadis with links to al-Qaeda. It's the most serious fighting to rock the Sahel nation in years.

An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group said Saturday that its fighters had joined forces with Tuareg rebels to launch attacks against the army across junta-ruled Mali. Helicopters buzzed over Bamako and around the international airport and fighting was reported at a nearby military base in what was one of the most complex attacks in years in the impoverished west African country.

On Saturday, April 25, several cities, including Bamako and Kati, where the ruling generals reside, became the targets of a coordinated assault by jihadists from JNIM and pro-independence Tuaregs from the ALF. By evening, government forces and their Russian ally had regained control of the capital.

The armed group JNIM claimed to have seized two key cities and destroyed the defense minister’s residence in a coordinated offensive that experts said was a major escalation in yearslong hostilities.

Al-Qaida-linked group JNIM claims responsibility for strikes on airport in capital, Bamako, and four other cities Islamic militants and separatists attacked several locations in Mali’s capital and other cities on Saturday in one of the largest coordinated attacks in the country in recent years. The al-Qaida-linked militant group JNIM claimed responsibility for the attacks on Bamako’s international airport and four other cities in central and northern Mali on its website Azallaq. It said the attacks were carried out jointly with the Azawad Liberation Front, a Tuareg-led separatist group. Continue reading...