Rebels pressure Mali's junta as it struggles for control

In the wake of fresh, coordinated attacks in Mali by jihadists and their Tuareg allies, the country's junta appears more threatened and isolated than ever in the capital Bamako and the nearby garrison stronghold of Kati.

Just over two months after launching a major offensive that weakened the military rulers, Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM jihadists and Tuareg FLA separatists carried out a new wave of assaults Saturday, in localities that stretched across the country.

The demonstration of their ability to harass the central government laid bare the junta's difficulty in controlling the vast, Sahel nation.

The rebels attacked several key towns in the north and centre, as well as one of the country's largest prisons, located a few dozen kilometres (miles) south of the capital.

In the northern Kidal region, the FLA claimed control of the town of Anefis, where Russian paramilitaries remain entrenched in a military camp as fighting continued Sunday.

"These coordinated attacks between JNIM and FLA are intended to overwhelm the Malian army and Africa Corps, and they appear to be successful at that", Rida Lyammouri, a senior fellow at the Moroccan think tank Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), told AFP.

Faced with what seems to be a strategy to wear down the central government, the junta is struggling to maintain control.

"The state controls Bamako and a few strategic pockets within the country, that's it. The rest is in flux," said Bakary Sambe, director of the Dakar-based Timbuktu Institute.

 

- 'Illusion' of control -

 

In a massive attack at the end of April, JNIM (the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims) and the FLA (Azawad Liberation Front) took the strategic town of Kidal in northern Mali and killed the country's defence minister.

"For now, the objective appears to be seizing and securing the north before moving further south", an associate at the Abidjan-based Strategic Research Institute of the International Academy for the Fight Against Terrorism told AFP.

Junta leader General Assimi Goita came to power following two coups in 2020 and 2021.

Under his leadership, Mali has turned its back on former colonial ruler France, which had maintained a military presence in the country, and pivoted instead to Russian paramilitaries from the Wagner Group, which has since been replaced by Moscow's Africa Corps.

Meanwhile the capital Bamako has not been spared.

For months it has endured blockades by JNIM intended to strangle the economy and cause fuel shortages.

In September 2024 a massive jihadist attack targeted Bamako's military airport and a military police training camp, leaving more than 70 people dead and 200 wounded.

The rebels' killing of powerful Defence Minister Sadio Camara at his home in late April in Kati demonstrated their ability to strike the regime at its heart.

Measures taken by the government "may curtail some capabilities of armed groups hostile to Bamako, but they are insufficient to prevent a new wave of attacks", Sahel analyst Julien Hoffmann said.

Nevertheless, the junta insists it is in control.

In early June, a journalist was jailed for "spreading false information" after claiming Kidal, a stronghold of Tuareg separatists, was under the control of JNIM's leader.

"For now, the stifling of public opinion creates the illusion of total political control", Sambe of the Timbuktu Institute said.

"The military authorities are trying to cling to power by hunkering down, but this is not sustainable in the long run", he added.

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© Agence France-Presse