Significant fights are taking place near several major cities in Mali, including the capital Bamako.
- According to authorities, “terrorist groups” and Tuareg rebels are currently clashing with the army.
A series of coordinated offensives. Fierce clashes are underway this Saturday, April 25 in Mali. The Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda and considered the “most significant threat in the Sahel” according to the UN, claims a series of coordinated attacks with the Tuareg rebellion. It declares a “victory,” attributing it to “hard work,” coordination with its “partners,” and “thanks to the active participation of our brothers from the Azawad Liberation Front” (FLA, Tuareg rebellion). “Together we are making a real transformation, serving the religion, the country, and the people,” it states.
Several cities have fallen
The fights involve several major cities in the country and are spreading to the outskirts of the capital Bamako. The key city of Kidal, in northern Mali, captured by regular forces at the end of 2023, has fallen. “The city of Kidal is under the control of our armed forces,” writes the FLA group, a merger of several dominant Tuareg groups, in a Facebook message. “Our FLA troops control Kidal, mainly Kidal. The governor of Kidal has taken refuge with his elements in the former Minusma camp,” declares its spokesperson Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane to AFP. The JNIM talks about “a successful operation carried out against the Malian army and the Russian corps mercenaries with the participation of our FLA partners.”
Additionally, the army is said to have also lost “total control of the city of Mopti (center)” and “most of (its) strongholds in Sevare (center) and Gao (north).”
Severe security failures in Bamako
According to Charlie Werb, an analyst at Aldebaran Threat Consultants (ATC), “we are facing a vast coordinated offensive throughout the country at a level unprecedented since 2012, when the government lost half of the country.” “There have been severe security failures in Bamako,” he affirms. “The JNIM and the FLA have launched coordinated attacks in Mali. Many positions of the army and the Africa Corps (Russian paramilitary organization) continue to be targeted in Kati, Kidal, Sevare, and Gao,” adds Hasret Kargün, Africa researcher at Mintel World intelligence firm.
The Mali conflict has been ongoing since 2012, with jihadist groups, criminal community groups, and separatists causing violence. Following two coups in 2020 and 2021, the country came under the authority of a military junta supported by Russian militias. This regime led to the withdrawal of French troops deployed to combat the Islamic State in the region.
