Mali on edge as insurgency tests junta's resolve

Five Maliangarrison towns — Kati, Bamako, Sevare, Gao and Kidal — were targeted simultaneously over the weekend. The Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists of the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) in coordination with the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), mainly composed of Tuareg rebel independence movements, claimed responsibility.

Nina Wilen, director for the Africa Programme at Egmont Institute for International Relations, told DW the events are "unprecedented in Mali's history" and showed how "strong JNIM has become over the past year."

Wilen added: "The fact that the Malian military intelligence has not been able to detect that these attacks were about to take place is a major failure for them." 

Sadio Camara, Mali's defense minister, was killed on Saturday, April 25, in a suicide bombing carried out by JNIM. The government said the attacker detonated a car loaded with explosives outside Camara's private residence in Kati, located about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the capital, Bamako.

Kati is the center of military power and the seat of the transitional government. A state funeral for the minister and a two-day period of national mourning was announced.

Nina Wilen told DW there appeared to be two reasons why Camara, considered the second-in-command within the junta, was targeted.

"He's a very symbolic figure for the military junta," she said. "The second reason is that Camara has been the leading figure establishing relations with Russia. So attacking him can also be a way of saying that we do not want the Russians troops here anymore." 

Tuareg rebels recapture Kidal

Kidal, in the northeast of the country, is the stronghold of the FLA. The city is — or rather, was — also a symbol of the growing power of the Malian army, which recaptured Kidal from the Tuaregs in 2023 with the support of the Russian Wagner Group.

But the tide has turned, according to Djallil Lounnas, associate professor of International Relations at Morocco's Al Akhawayn University.

"The Malian army is extremely weak. In the past few years, it just was controlling the urban centers. But whole rural areas were out of control. So the Malian army was isolated in Kidal," he told DW.

DW News Africa with Michael Okwu, 12 June 2025

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On April 27, the Moscow-controlled Africa Corps — considered the successor to the Wagner Group — confirmed its troops had withdrawn from Kidal following heavy fighting after consultation with the Malian leadership.

The rebels had previously announced they had taken over large swathes of northern Mali.

According to analyst Djallil Lounnas, the Africa Corps fought in Kidal, Kati and Bamako.

"However, we are talking about only 600 to 1,000 fighters," he says.

"It's very small. I don't think the Russians could do more. Besides that, they are stuck in Ukraine. They didn't participate much in Iran, so I don't expect much Russian participation in Mali."

JNIM and FLA – collaboration of jihadists and Tuaregs

"Remarkably, there has been a coordination between jihadists and Tuareg rebels, which have nothing in common, but they have a joint enemy," said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel ​program at Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in Bamako.

"They staged an attack together in 2012 and took over northern Mali. Later, the jihadists got rid of the Tuareg," Laessing told DW.

Djallil Lounnas is less surprised by the renewed cooperation between JNIM and the FLA, telling DW: "There are very strong bridges between them. They're all from the same tribal backgrounds. They fought together."

However, Laessing does not believe the rebels intend to take the bigger cities like Bamako.

"They don't have the capacity to run a large city. They want to spark an uprising, hoping to pressure the government into negotiating with them, or that they get a new government," Laessing said. "But there's no indication that's happening. Most people are unhappy with the situation in Mali, but they still back the government because they don't want to be run by by jihadists."

Since Saturday evening, Bamako has been under a 72-hour night time curfew. Roadblocks have appeared in front of police stations, the Armed Forces General Staff, and the state television premises.

A resident of Kati, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "It is extremely difficult to leave Kati. The access roads to the main streets are closed to traffic."

A weakened AES is barely capable of acting

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

Strong words — but Mali has not yet received any concrete military aid from its allies.

Analyst Nina Wilen says this fact "is quite astonishing, because they are not only calling themselves a defense alliance, but also a confederation." She tells DW the situation in Mali shows the AES is "more of an alliance on paper than it is in practice." 

Ulf Laessing of the KAS adds: "Burkina Faso and Niger don't really have the capacities. They're busy themselves fighting off jihadists. They might help a bit with drone attacks, but I don't think that Burkina and Niger will send troops."

DW correspondent Mahamadou Kane said by Sunday calm had returned to the Malian cities of Mopti and Sevare, which hosts one of the country's most important military bases. A Mopti resident, who spoke anonymously, said this was due the arrival of air support from the Malian army: "They were able to recapture the governor's residence and the Baricondaga security post, two locations that had fallen into the hands of the terrorists on Saturday."

AU and UN react to Mali violence

The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, strongly condemned the attacks, "which could expose the civilian population to considerable danger."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned "violent extremism" and called for "coordinated international support."

Germany has also "noted the situation with concern," Kathrin Deschauer, spokesperson for the Federal Foreign Office, told DW. German citizens are urged to leave the country if possible and to avoid traveling there for now.

Contributors: Mahamadou Kane, Frejus Quenum

Edited by Cai Nebe