San Francisco Frontiers - Mali attacks kill defence minister, deepening security crisis

The junta faces an unprecedented situation since the 2020 coup that brought it to power, after Defence Minister Sadio Camara was killed and military ruler General Assimi Goita has not been seen or spoken publicly since the start of hostilities.

Several strategic towns and areas around Bamako were targeted in a dawn offensive on Saturday by Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) coalition and the Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

Mali has been mired in more than a decade of violence but analysts said the attacks were the most serious challenge to its rulers since a March 2012 offensive that was repelled by the intervention of French forces, who have since left.

In another major blow to the junta, FLA rebels, a separatist group claiming the territory of Azawad in northern Mali, said they had "total" control of the key city of Kidal in the north.

They also said they had reached an "agreement" allowing Russian mercenaries from the Africa Corps paramilitaries controlled by Moscow to withdraw from Kidal.

Kidal had been under the control of rebel groups for several decades before being retaken by the state in November 2023 after a Malian army offensive supported by fighters from the Africa Corps' predecessor the Wagner Group.

According to a local official, the Russians should leave the country via Libya.

- Military presence -

After two days of intense fighting between Malian soldiers and the armed groups, Bamako and Kati, a garrison town and junta stronghold about 15 kilometres (nine miles) north of the capital, were quiet on Monday after clashes the previous day.

No gunfire was heard in Kati where the wreckage of burnt-out cars could be seen as well as the impact of bullets, AFP journalists saw.

Schools and offices were open in Bamako, while people went about their normal business, and checkpoints set up by the army to military camps in both places, and the airport, were lifted.

There was still a visible presence of heavily armed soldiers in combat gear.

The area around the airport in the outlying district of Senou was also calm on Monday, where only a few military aircraft were making runs at regular intervals.

"We conducted sweep operations throughout the night, which allowed us to reduce the checkpoints. Now we are counting on the public to report any suspicious individuals in the neighbourhoods," an officer in Senou told AFP.

- Mali 'in danger' -

Camara, the 47-year-old defence minister and a key junta member, was killed on Saturday in a car bomb attack on his home in Kati, the government said in a late Sunday statement.

His second wife and two of his grandchildren also died, his family and an official said.

Camara fought his attackers, "some of whom he succeeded in neutralising", but the general died of his wounds in hospital, the government statement added.

A Malian security source has told AFP that Goita was in a safe place.

After seizing power, he emphasised Mali's commitment to the anti-jihadist fight and initially pledged a return to civilian rule.

Mali, which has gold and other valuable minerals, has since severed ties with former colonial ruler France and several Western countries, moving closer to Moscow.

The opposition Coalition of Forces for the Republic (CFR) said in a statement that Mali was "in danger".

The junta had "promised Malians security, stability and the return of the state" it said.

After the weekend offensive, nobody could seriously claim that Mali was either pacified or secure, it added.

The Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which comprises Mali and its junta-led neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, denounced the attacks as "a monstrous plot backed by the enemies of the liberation of the Sahel".

The European Union has also condemned the attacks.

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E.Walker--SFF