In Mali, Al-Qaeda Affiliate Scores Another Victory

While much of the world is fixated on the Shi’a fanatics who rule Iran and control the Strait of Hormuz, Sunni fanatics in northwest Africa are relentlessly expanding their operations. The Islamic terror group Boko Haram has been conducting operations not just in northern Nigeria, but also in the neighboring states of Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Now in Mali, the Al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), has been fighting the national army and winning; its latest achievement was assassinating the Malian Defense Minister. More on t he recent successes of JNIM can be found here.

Mali’s Defense Minister Sadio Camara was killed in an attack by an al Qaeda affiliate on his residence near the main army base outside Bamako on Saturday, France’s RFI radio and two relatives said on Sunday.

The operation in Kati, 15 km north of Bamako, was part of a wider assault by the affiliate, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which cooperated with a Tuareg-dominated rebel group in what analysts and diplomats described as one of the largest coordinated attacks in the country in recent years.

A relative of Camara’s told Reuters he had been killed, while a Malian journalist known to be a brother-in-law of the defense minister posted about his death on Facebook.

A spokesperson for Mali’s defense ministry and a government spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday. A statement by the armed forces said operations were continuing in various parts of the country to repel the insurgents.

A Reuters witness reported gunfire in Kati on Sunday morning.

MAJOR SHOCK FOR MALI’S MILITARY LEADERS

The United Nations called for an international response to violence and terrorism in West Africa’s Sahel region following Saturday’s assault, for which authorities have not provided a death toll.

“The Secretary‑General is deeply concerned by reports of attacks in several locations across Mali. He strongly condemns these acts of violence,” a U.N. spokesperson posted on X.

If confirmed, Camara’s death would represent a major shock for Mali’s military leaders, said Djenabou Cisse, associate fellow at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), which specializes in West African security.

The current government, led by Assimi Goita, took power after coups in 2020 and 2021 and has pursued closer ties with Russia while spurning Western military cooperation – a strategy Camara promoted.

“As a key figure within the junta and a central architect of the Mali–Russia rapprochement, his removal would underscore JNIM’s capacity to strike at the core of state power,” Cisse said.

FATE UNCLEAR OF STRATEGIC CITY KIDAL

In addition to Kati, Saturday’s strike hit near Bamako airport and in localities further north, including Mopti, Sevare and Gao.

The fate of the strategic city of Kidal, a former stronghold for the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), the Tuareg-dominated group that partnered with JNIM, was unclear on Sunday.

The FLA said in a statement that Kidal had fallen, and a spokesperson for the group said on X that a deal had been struck to let Russian mercenaries leave a besieged camp outside the city where Malian armed forces were still entrenched.

But Sunday’s statement from Mali’s armed forces said operations to repel the insurgents were still underway in Kidal among other places.

It’s unclear if the Malian army is still fighting the JNIM forces in Kidal; the government may simply be claiming to be involved in a continuing battle in the city in order to keep up morale. Such false claims by the Malian government have been made before.

Meanwhile, the Russian mercenaries whom the Malian government relied on for help has now had two defeats. First, they were unable to prevent the fall of the Tuareg city of Kidal to the Al-Qaeda linked terrorists of JNIM; second, they were unable to prevent the killing of the Malian Defense Minister,

JNIM is on the march in Mali, just as Boko Haram is in Nigeria. The Russian mercenaries did not save the Malian army in Kidali, Neither they, nor the Malian armed forces, managed to protect the Defense Minister from assassination. Boko Haram, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, is on the march in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad, JMIN, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda in Mali, seems poised to take over that country after a ten-year insurgency. But how little attention is being given in Washington or in Europe to Al Qaeda’s affiliates and their victories in West Africa, and how much that inattention will cost us in the end.