The Malian Minister of Defense, one of the main leaders of the junta in power since 2020, was killed in the attack carried out on Saturday by the Sahelian branch of Al-Qaeda against his residence, the AFP learned Sunday from his family, government sources, and military sources.
“In the attack in Kati, Minister (Sadio) Camara was killed along with his second wife,” a member of his family said. “We have lost a very dear person, the Minister of Defense. He fell on the battlefield,” said a government source, confirmed by other military sources.
According to residents, the minister’s residence in Kati was largely destroyed on Saturday by a strong explosion. His entourage had denied allegations that Sadio Camara was injured.
Unprecedented Attacks
Mali has been experiencing conflicts and jihadist violence for over a decade, but since the junta took power in 2020, the Saturday attacks by jihadists from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM, allied with Al-Qaeda) and the Tuareg rebellion of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) are unprecedented.
From dawn on Saturday, there were clashes between the army and the assailants, intensifying in the afternoon on the outskirts of Bamako and in several cities in the country, including Kati, a stronghold of the junta near Bamako, as well as in Kidal (north), Gao (north), and Sevare (center). They resulted in 16 civilian and military injuries and “limited material damage,” the government said in a statement on Saturday evening.
General Assimi Goïta, the junta leader, has not been seen or spoken since the start of hostilities. A Malian security source told AFP that he “was evacuated from Kati on Saturday and is in a safe place.” However, several observers are surprised by his silence, as well as that of the other two junta members of the Alliance of the Sahel States (AES), a confederation that, in addition to Mali, includes Niger and Burkina Faso.
The fighting resumed Sunday morning between the rebels and the army, supported by Russian mercenaries, in Kidal (north) and Kati. On Sunday, the JNIM and the Tuareg rebels announced they had reached an “agreement” allowing Russian soldiers from the Africa Corps (a Russian paramilitary organization controlled by Moscow) to withdraw from Kidal, which they say they now “fully” control.
A Tireless Effort
The FLA, a separatist group claiming the territory of Azawad in northern Mali, claimed to have taken control of Kidal on Saturday after fighting in the city, a bastion of the Tuareg rebellion. However, fighting resumed on Sunday morning, according to the rebels, who said they want to “dislodge the remaining Russian fighters who have taken refuge” in a camp, said a spokesperson, Mohamed Ramdane.
According to a diplomatic source interviewed by AFP at midday, “the Russian fighters in Kidal decided to leave their position” and are “coordinating with the FLA rebels on their departure.” Kidal was taken back in November 2023 by the Malian army supported by fighters from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner (now Africa Corps), ending over a decade of control by rebel groups.
The FLA also claims to have taken control of several positions in the Gao region (north). In Kati, a garrison town and junta stronghold since 2020, “sporadic and intense shooting was heard on Sunday,” residents told AFP.
In a statement released on Saturday evening, the JNIM, which has been fighting against the military in power in Bamako for years, proclaimed “victory” following these attacks, stating that it is the result of “tireless work,” coordination with its “partners,” and “thanks to the active participation of our brothers” from the FLA. It declared that it takes “responsibility” for the assaults targeting the Malian President Assimi Goïta, the Malian Minister of Defense Sadio Camara, the international airport in Bamako, and “military sites in the city of Kati.”
