Imperialist-backed forces are biggest threat to Mali’s peace and stability – Liberation News

On April 25, a coordinated wave of terrorist attacks were launched across multiple localities in Mali, including the capital, Bamako. The garrison town Kati – near the capital – Gao and Kidal in the north, and Sévaré and Mopti in central Mali, were hit alongside Bamako. The attacks were carried out by the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), which is a Tuareg-led separatist armed group, and al-Qaeda linked jihadist militants from the Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM). The unprecedented attacks across Mali were the first in recent months marking a clear escalation.

The assault by the FLA and JNIM carried into Sunday, they targeted civilians and key infrastructure including military bases, airports, and other strategic sites. That day, the Malian government confirmed that Defense Minister General Sadio Camara was killed in the joint FLA and JNIM attack inside the town of Kati. Mali declared two days of national mourning which began Monday, April 27. 

In a communiqué shared from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), the confederation condemned the attacks as “barbaric and inhumane” while describing the assaults as strategically planned by the FLA and JNIM. Burkina Faso’s President, Ibrahim Traoré, asserted the attacks were part of a broader destabilization agenda to undermine the liberation struggle in the Sahel. While many countries and organizational blocs have made statements condemning the attacks, it is notable that many Western countries have largely been silent, including the United States. 

Malian president, Assimi Goïta, addressed the Republic of Mali on Wednesday, April 29. The public address and official statements released by the Malian presidency shared that the situation was under control stating, “the attackers suffered heavy human and material losses before being forced to retreat, thanks to the responsiveness, determination, and professionalism of the defense and security forces.” Additionally, Goïta stated “this is the time to reaffirm Mali’s firm will to maintain its course of refoundation. Our people have made a choice: that of sovereignty and dignity, which symbolizes taking control of their own destiny.”

Mali mourns the fall of Defense Minister

Defense Minister General Sadio Camara fell in battle during the April 25 attacks in the garrison town of Kati. The town is just about 10 miles from the capital of Bamako where militants also struck. Camara was fatally wounded after a suicide bomber drove a car loaded with explosives through his residence, killing and wounding several others, and detroying a neighboring mosque. 

General Camara was a key figure of the popular government. He was among the core group of officers who overthrew the regime of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita – a French-backed government overseeing increased French military presence from 2013-2020, leading to the mass protests against Keita’s rule. Under Goïta’s government, Camara, as defense minister, played a crucial role in leading the charge to expel French troops from Mali in 2022. This expulsion further consolidated popular support for Goïta’s military government. Goïta has assumed the role of Defense Minister in late Camra’s place. 

Role of Western media coverage in the attacks

Since the outbreak of attacks, western news media outlets have claimed that the FLA and JNIM overpowered the Malian army (FAMA), capturing key cities such as Kidal in the north. Moreso, outlets such as BBC in the initial fog of the attacks, reported on the ground through communication with the FLA. Much of the reporting from western news media outlets have emphasized the fighting power of the FLA and JNIM while vilifying the role of Russia’s security force, Africa Corps (formerly Wagner), as the main Malian-backed players on the ground. The coverage focuses on the retreat of the Africa Corps and the superficial success of the joint attacks from the jihadists and separatists that could “accelerate a security collapse across the Sahel.”

Other outlets like Al Jazeera are covering the developments as an organic power play between a “coalition of armed groups and rebels” challenging the authority of the Malian military government. Furthermore, recent news headlines from western media continue to make claims that “Bamako is under siege,” revealing a long espoused notion that the AES – and the confederation making up the bloc – are hollow in “functional depth” and “risks being seen being seen not as a security solution but as part of the problem.” However, what several analysts have pointed out is the ultimate goal stated from the FLA and JNIM: to carry out the refoundation of Mali. In other words, a militia offensive aimed at decapitating Malian leadership while attempting to create popular unrest for the overthrow of the popularly-supported government. 

Since the formation of the AES nearly three years ago, pro-West ECOWAS along with France and the United States, have been skeptical of its founding purpose – tackling regional instability through security, economic, and political coordination. It’s important to recount that ECOWAS, with support from the West, threatened to invade Niger after imposing sanctions that restricted access to necessary medical supplies. Western media most notably have raised alarms over Russia and China’s growing influence in Africa. In a couple short years, the regional bloc initiated economic, technological, and political partnerships with Russia. The AES also established mutually beneficial cooperation with China through infrastructure investment and resource-sharing projects. The “skepticism” from the West flows from the decline in influence across the continent. Instead of fully condemning the joint terrorist attacks, the media has made sure to point to non-Western partnerships as the reason for the ‘weakness’ in FAMA and Africa Corps response. 

Largely absent from reports are the role of FAMA and the Malian people in the affected localities that have fought back and mobilized in defense of the current Malian project for sovereignty. Malians have rallied to mourn the victims of the attacks while some videos circulating online depicted residents of Kati chasing out an armed terrorist, effectively neutralizing him. People across Mali are sending a clear message: they choose to live with dignity and not live in terror. 

U.S. and Western European allies are responsible for the security crisis in the Sahel

The expansion of jihadist militia groups that spread throughout the Sahel was directly a result of the U.S./NATO war in oil-rich Libya. NATO members France and Britain, with the U.S. (through AFRICOM), ushered in the total destruction of the Libyan state in 2011. This intervention had dangerous repercussions for Africa and is a key factor in the destabilization campaigns and proliferation of arms in the Sahel. Mainstream media outlets such as the Guardian could not deny the high-ranked standard of living under Muammar Gaddafi. Yet, the West left Libya with constant civil war, returning to open slave markets, a mosaic of armed militias terrorizing civilians, widespread internal displacement and mass migration. 

When Assimi Goïta’s government came into power after a popularly-supported coup in 2021, they immediately called for an end to France’s nearly decade-long Operation Barkhane, when former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita requested the assistance of French troops in 2013 to combat the growing regional crisis of al-Qaeda linked Islamist militants flowing from countries like Libya. This was initially known as Operation Serval that began in northern Mali. France’s operation expanded its colonial footprint across the Sahel, adding two additional permanent bases in Niamey, Niger and N’Djamena, Chad.

What became a 9-year operation ultimately failed. Operation Barkhane was the longest and most costly French military operation since World War II. Total costs from 2014 to 2022 approximate €1 billion per year. Numerous reports came out of French air strikes killing Malian civilians. One 2021 UN investigation report highlighted the bombing of a Malian wedding celebration by French troops, killing at least 22 civilians. Terrorist groups expanded deeper into Mali while economic conditions continued to deteriorate for Malian people.

Following the AES’ removal of French troops between 2021-2023, Senegal, Chad, and Ivory Coast announced their departure of French troops in 2025. 

Mali’s fight for peace

The Malian government and its people have already made it clear that stability and security are strategic priorities in the project for sovereignty. As affirmed in mobilizations and official statements, peace for the Sahel will happen on the terms established by the popularly-supported governments of the AES and the millions within their respective countries. The Western media alongside the jihadist and separatist militias thought the Republic of Mali would fall within days of the surprise coordinated attacks. 
Over a week since the initial attacks, Mali is marching forward with developmental projects. FAMA and Africa Corps continue to fight off the terrorist groups with domestic, regional, and international support as seen in the mass mobilizations across France in defense of Mali’s sovereign project.

Featured image: General Assimi Goita, Head of State, presided Thursday, April 30, 2026, over the ceremony of national funeral honors for the late Army General Sadio Camara, former Minister of State, Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs.