A column of black smoke rises above buildings as traffic passes the Africa Tower monument in Bamako, Mali, on April 26.-/AFP/Getty Images
Hundreds of Russian troops have abandoned a key military base in Mali after insurgents launched an unprecedented wave of co-ordinated attacks across the country, killing the Defence Minister and capturing a northern town.
Islamist radicals joined forces with northern separatists to orchestrate the biggest rebel offensive in the West African country in 14 years, with attacks on towns, cities, military bases, airports and homes of senior politicians.
Defence Minister Sadio Camara, a close ally of Moscow, was among the dead. Videos from Mali showed his home reduced to rubble after it was targeted by a truck bomb on Saturday as the attacks began. His death was officially confirmed on Sunday night. Two senior army and intelligence commanders were also reported to be severely injured.
With arms shipments and military training, Russia deepens its influence across Africa
The assault was a humiliating setback for Mali’s military junta and its Russian allies, which were unable to prevent an insurgent operation that ranged from northern towns to the centre of the country and even into the junta’s strongholds around the capital, Bamako.
As many as 12,000 insurgents were involved in the attacks, according to a statement by Africa Corps, the Russian military contingent that operates in several African countries.
Mali has been central to Moscow’s strategy in Africa for the past four years. Its current government, after seizing power in coups in 2020 and 2021, expelled French and United Nations forces and replaced them with Russian soldiers.
Since then, Russia has become increasingly active across the continent, forging deals to provide weapons or troops to regimes in Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Madagascar, Equatorial Guinea and others. It also has troops in Libya and the Central African Republic under earlier deals.
In 2023, Russian troops played a key role in helping Malian forces to recapture Kidal, a strategically important town in the north of the country. But during the rebel offensive on Saturday, the town was overrun by a combined force of Tuareg separatists, known as the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), and Islamist jihadists, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, who are affiliated with al-Qaeda.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Mali's President Assimi Goita during a meeting following the Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in July, 2023.TASS/Reuters
The Russians retreated to a former UN peacekeeping base on the outskirts of Kidal. After negotiations, the insurgents agreed to let the Russians withdraw, leaving the town entirely in rebel hands.
Video footage from Kidal showed a convoy of Russian trucks and armoured vehicles withdrawing from the base, with masked Russian soldiers on board. Insurgents cheered and waved FLA flags, while some shouted “God is great” and “Bye-bye Wagner,” using the previous name of the Russian contingent.
In a statement, Africa Corps said its forces had repelled a “massive offensive” and coup attempt by the insurgents. But it made no mention of its retreat from Kidal and acknowledged that the situation “remains difficult.”
In addition to capturing Kidal, the insurgents attacked the Bamako international airport, the Kati army base near Bamako, and several other military bases in central and northern Mali. They shot down a Russian helicopter, captured dozens of Malian soldiers, gained control of a military warehouse in the town of Sévaré, and seized most of the northern city of Gao.
Liam Karr, an Africa analyst at the U.S.-based Critical Threats Project, said the wave of rebel attacks was “catastrophic” for Russia. “Utter failure,” he said in an online commentary on Sunday.
Andrew Lebovich, an analyst at the Clingendael Institute who specializes in Mali and other Sahel countries, said the killing of the Defence Minister was “an enormous blow to Mali’s government, and the Russian presence in Mali.”
Despite the presence of an estimated 1,500 to 2,500 Russian troops in Mali over the past four years, the Islamist militants and Tuareg separatists have steadily expanded their attacks across the country. The Russians were unable to prevent a fuel blockade that caused huge, widespread shortages last year. The Russian soldiers have also been accused of massacres and other atrocities against Malian civilians.
The latest insurgent attacks were also a setback for the United States, which has been seeking to win favour from the Malian regime and has lifted sanctions on senior Malian officials. The Trump administration has sent envoys to Bamako and has begun sharing intelligence data with Mali in recent months. It has also been conducting a counterterrorism exercise with African forces this month in Ivory Coast, a neighbour of Mali. None of those moves appeared to deter the insurgents.
On Saturday, the U.S. embassy in Bamako advised American citizens in the country to shelter in place.