(Bloomberg) — France urged its citizens to leave Mali “as soon as possible” as a separatist group vowed to expand its campaign to topple the nation’s military junta and Islamist militants renewed threats to blockade the capital.
President Assimi Goïta admitted the country was facing a “moment of extreme gravity” after a series of coordinated attacks over the weekend killed the country’s defense minister and forced Malian and Russian mercenary forces to withdraw from the northern stronghold.
“These attacks are not isolated incidents, they are part of a vast destabilization plan devised and carried out by terrorist groups,” Goïta said in a televised address late on Tuesday. Still, “the situation is under control,” he said.
The April 25 attacks represent the most serious threat to Goït’s regime since he seized power in a coup five years ago. They also exposed Russia’s failure to guarantee security in the vast West African country, with the Kremlin-backed Africa Corps, which is linked to the junta, forced to withdraw from the key northern city of Kidal after airstrikes began.
When the junta took power from Mali’s civilian leadership in 2021, it accused its predecessors of failing to protect civilians during the decades-long insurgency. The military quickly ended United Nations peacekeeping operations, cut ties with European partners and moved closer to Russia.
Operations are underway to neutralize the attackers, Goïta said, while reaffirming security cooperation with Russia, whose armed forces will “fight together” with Mali against the attacks.
“We will fight together against the treacherous attacks of terrorism that are now intensifying on the territory of Mali,” Russian Ambassador to Mali Igor Gromyko said in remarks broadcast on national television after meeting with Goïta.
In a video shared on social media on Tuesday, al-Qaeda’s Malian affiliate — Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin — said the capital Bamako was “surrounded” and declared a blockade. Bloomberg was not immediately able to verify the video. The group previously used the same channel in September to announce a months-long fuel blockade that brought the city of four million to a standstill.
A spokesman for the separatist Azawad Liberation Front vowed on Wednesday to force Russian forces to withdraw completely from the country. The group, which includes members of the Tuareg and Fulani ethnic communities, also vowed to seize additional territory in northern Mali, Agence France-Presse reported, citing FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadan.
“We have already liberated Kidal, Taoudéni was already under our control and Gao, Timbuktu and Menaka will also be our next targets for liberation,” he said. “Our goal is for Russia to withdraw permanently from Azawad and beyond that from all of Mali,” he said, referring to the name he uses to identify northern Mali.
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–With help from Diakaridio Dembele.
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