Mali continues to be strongly supported by the Russian Defense Ministry’s Africa Corps and its allies in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). On April 25, a joint force of jihadist and Tuareg separatist terrorists launched coordinated attacks across Mali in an attempt to carry out a coup. The attacks failed on all fronts, especially in the capital of Bamako, where the general population took to the streets in support of government forces and troops of the Africa Corps.
Malian President Assimi Goita issued a statement on May 1, hailing the cooperation among the three AES states:
“In this common cause, Malian combat aircraft operate on the territory of Burkina Faso, and Burkinese aircraft operate in Mali. There are no more borders between us, neither on the ground nor in the air.”
On May 1, with strong support from the Russian Africa Corps, Malian forces successfully escorted more than 800 fuel tankers into Bamako, defeating terrorists’ attempts to block fuel deliveries to the capital. Mali is landlocked and does not have pipelines to the Atlantic ports, so fuel must be transported by truck.
In a joint operation, the security forces of all three AES states launched “extensive air operations” in northern Mali as a counterattack against jihadist groups and Tuareg rebels, the government of Niger announced on April 30. Earlier this year the three Sahel states declared the creation of a joint force of 5,000 troops against armed groups, which was increased to 15,000 soldiers in mid-April.
In a statement released after a cabinet meeting, Nigerien authorities praised the “rapid and energetic response” of the AES units, stating that they conducted “intense air campaigns” a few hours after the attacks of April 25 in Gao, Ménaka, and Kidal.
During the April 30 funeral in Bamako for the Malian Minister of Defense, who was killed in the April 25 attack, the Burkinabe Minister of War General Célestin Simporé pledged full support for Mali and accused “foreign powers,” including France, of having been involved in the attacks.
It has become widely discussed that France and its ally Ukraine have been deeply involved in supporting the terrorists, who were reportedly equipped with French Mistra and American-made Stinger l manpads capable of shooting down helicopters and low-flying aircraft. Thousands of these weapons have been shipped to Ukraine and are suspected to have been brought to the terrorists by Ukrainian mercenaries.
