Mali attacks dent Russia's Africa security image

A series of large-scale attacks on Mali's military government has damaged Russia's reputation as a security guarantor in Africa. The junta, which expelled French and UN troops after coups in 2020 and 2021, turned to Moscow for support. Over the weekend, West Africa's al-Qaeda affiliate and a Tuareg-led separatist group launched offensives. Mali's Russia-trained defense minister, Sadio Camara, was killed in a suicide bombing. Russia's Africa Corps withdrew from Kidal, a town they helped capture in 2023. Moscow deployed helicopter gunships and strategic bombers to hold back insurgents. Junta leader Assimi Goita, who met President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin last summer, survived but now faces armed groups seeking to seize northern Mali. Russian warnings indicate insurgents are regrouping. Political analysts say the events threaten Russian interests, and Moscow's response is being watched as its forces are tied down in Ukraine. Irina Filatova, an honorary research associate at the University of Cape Town, noted that Mali is a center of Russian power in West Africa.