Some news from Mali.
The last of the french forces departed the country today.
They first arrived in 2013 for Operation Serval under a UN resolution to counter Islamic militant groups hat were threatening the country, from northern Mali that were then going to the south. Serval transformed into Operation Barkhane in 2014, with the theater going to the whole of the Sahel region, a co-operation between five countries.
The withdrawal started in february.
Operation Barkhane ended because the co-operation effort was falling apart.
Mali is currently changing their entire alliance. They are now allied to the Russian Federation, and the combat is now helmed by the Wagner group.
This shift is understood to have been a deliberate effort from the russian. And started when a Junta took power of the country in 2020.
This was done through the (now) usual propaganda, social medias… But also through direct actions.
In March the russian mercenary group Wagner massacred a town, and buried the victims near an withdrawn french base. Propaganda then ensued to accuse the french troop of war crimes.
We know that because a french drone captured it on camera.
The reaction of the Malian authorities ? They blamed France for violating their airspace.
The European Union is accusing Wagner to deliberately destabilizing the region.
The whole situation is getting worst.
Wagner is not good at COIN.
Islamic militant activities are flaring up, and the whole Sahel region will certainly be impacted by it.
JNIM and ISGS are using local conflicts and local politics and blend them to radical ideologies, which is then linked to regional and even transnational agendas.
The malian government is also shifting all blame of any consequences to France or to the UN peacekeeping operation MINUSMA (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali).
Nationalist sentiment are also played up to reject all non-russian help, with accusation of lack of co-operation, permission, and agreement… Germany recently suspended its reconnaissance operation because of that.
To give an exemple, recently FAMa suffered heavy casualties in a terrorist attack in Tessit. They then announced that the UN is giving air support to the terrorists (the helicopter were in reality here to medevac malian troop).
Now the “good” news is that in front of the worsening situation, the troop rotation for MINUSMA will resume. The malian governemnt suspended them a month ago, after accusing the foreign soldiers of entering without pernission.