The Mali is plunged into a critical security situation after a series of unprecedented coordinated attacks on Saturday across the country by jihadist allies to the Tuareg rebellion against strategic positions held by the ruling junta’s army, which continued to sporadically fight on the ground on Sunday.
This situation in Mali since Saturday – unprecedented coordinated attacks and presence of armed groups in several cities, according to the defense minister – is unprecedented since nearly 15 years and the events of March 2012. At that time, Tuareg independentist rebels, quickly ousted by their Islamist allies associated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, had taken control of the cities of Kidal, Gao, and then Timbuktu in the north.
Since then, Mali has been plagued by jihadist conflicts and violence, but Saturday’s attacks by jihadists from the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (JNIM, allied with Al-Qaeda) and the Tuareg independentist rebellion of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) are also unprecedented since the junta’s takeover in 2020.
By the end of Sunday, the fighting had subsided in intensity across the territory, as observed by AFP journalists.
The FLA rebels, a separatist group claiming territory in Azawad in northern Mali, claimed “total” control of the key city of Kidal, following clashes that resumed in the morning and then paused. The FLA also announced reaching an “agreement” allowing Russian soldiers from the Africa Corps (Russian paramilitary organization controlled by Moscow) to withdraw from Kidal.
Kidal had been retaken in November 2023 by the Malian army supported by Wagner Group paramilitary fighters (now Africa Corps), ending over a decade of control by rebel groups.
– Silent junta leader –
A source in Mali’s security indicated to AFP that “he was exfiltrated from Kati on Saturday and is in a safe place.” However, several observers are surprised by his silence, as well as that of the two other junta members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a confederation which, in addition to Mali, includes Niger and Burkina Faso.
– Mali “in danger” –
The JNIM, which has been fighting against the military in power in Bamako for years, proclaimed victory on Saturday evening following the attacks, stating that it was the result of “hard work”, coordination with its “partners”, and “thanks to the active participation of our brothers” from the FLA.
They claim responsibility for the assaults targeting the Malian president Assimi Goïta’s headquarters, Minister of Defense Sadio Camara, Bamako’s international airport, and military sites in the city of Kati.
Mali has been facing a deep security crisis since 2012, fueled by jihadist violence linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, as well as communal criminal groups and independentists.
In September 2024, the JNIM claimed a major attack on the military airport of Bamako and the gendarmerie school, resulting in over 70 deaths and 200 injuries, according to security sources.
The Coalition of Forces for the Republic (CFR), a movement to which the influential Malian imam in exile Mahmoud Dicko belongs, stated in a release on Sunday that Mali is “in danger.” The junta “promised Malians security, stability, and the return of the state. Today, these symbols are under threat,” according to the CFR.
