Mali’s defence minister reported dead in major assault
Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara was killed in an attack on his home near the main army base outside Bamako by an al-Qaeda-linked group, France’s RFI radio and two relatives said.
Saturday’s operation in Kati, 15km north of Bamako, was part of a broader offensive by Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which is collaborating 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 told Reuters on Sunday that he had been killed, while a Malian journalist known to be the defense minister’s brother-in-law posted about his death on Facebook.
A spokesman for Mali’s defense ministry and a government spokesman did not respond to requests for comment Sunday. In the statement made by the armed forces, it was stated that operations continue in various parts of the country to repel the rebels.
A Reuters witness reported hearing gunshots in Kati on Sunday morning.
The United Nations has called for an international response to violence and terrorism in West Africa’s Sahel region following Saturday’s attack, for which authorities did not specify a death toll.
A UN spokesperson said in his post on channel X, “The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the news of attacks in various parts of Mali. He strongly condemns these acts of violence.”
Djenabou Cisse, an associate member of the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), which specializes in West African security, said Camara’s death, if confirmed, would come as a major shock to Mali’s military leaders.
The current government, led by Assimi Goita, came to power after coups in 2020 and 2021 and has sought closer ties with Russia while rejecting Western military cooperation, a strategy supported by Camara.
“As a key figure of the junta and central architect of the Mali-Russia rapprochement, his removal would underline JNIM’s capacity to attack the core of state power,” Cisse said. he said.
In addition to Kati, Saturday’s strike also hit areas near Bamako airport and further north such as Mopti, Sevare and Gao.
The fate of the strategic city of Kidal, a former stronghold of the Tuareg-dominated Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), which has partnered with JNIM, was uncertain on Sunday.
The FLA said in a statement that Kidal had fallen, and a spokesman for the group said an agreement had been reached in X allowing Russian mercenaries to leave a besieged camp outside the city where Malian armed forces were still entrenched.
However, the Malian armed forces said in a statement on Sunday that operations to repel the rebels continued in Kidal, among other places.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the German think tank Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said the attack was a setback for Russia, which backed the military-led government after expelling the French, US and other Western powers.
“For Russia, the attack was a disaster,” Laessing said.
“They were unable to prevent the fall of the highly symbolic Tuareg stronghold of Kidal, and now they must abandon this northern city.”
Russian state television Vesti reported on Sunday that Russia’s African Union repelled a large-scale Islamist attack on the Malian government.
According to Vesti, Russian personnel responded together with the Malian Presidential Guard and units of the armed forces, preventing the capture of the presidential palace.
Some members of Russia’s Africa Corps were injured, Vesti said, without providing further details.
Saturday’s attacks are the latest sign that the Malian government has failed to provide greater security despite promising to do so.
