What's behind the latest fighting in Mali?

Fighting has continued across Mali since Tuareg separatists and an al-Qaeda-affiliated coalition launched a surprise attack on the country’s military junta last month. Fighters from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) groups have seized towns and army bases , blockaded the capital city, Bamako, and killed the country’s defence minister, Sadio Camara , in the most serious challenge to the the government since it came to power in 2020. Both groups are

Russian Africa Corps mercenaries are also embroiled in the country as part of the Kremlin's wider push to assert its influence across the region. Mali is vast, a landlocked former French colony that gained formal independence in 1960 and stretches from the Sahara desert in the north to the semi-arid Sahel and humid savannah in the south. A rebellion by Tuareg separatists in the country’s north triggered the outbreak of a wider civil war in Mali in 2012 that has flared intermittently since then. The country has been ruled by a military junta since a coup against the civilian government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020. Assimi Goita, the special forces officer who led the coup, became vice-president, installing former defence minister Bah Ndaw as civilian president. Goita seized full control in another coup in May 2021, arresting Ndaw and prime minister Moctar Ouane and assuming the presidency. Since then, Goita has imposed authoritarian rule, cracking down on rebel groups and deepening ties with Moscow. The Africa Corps has been deployed across the country since December 2024: many of its personnel were previously involved with the Wagner Group, which announced last year that it was leaving Mali. French troops, stationed in Mali since 2014, pulled out in 2022 amid deteriorating relations between Paris and Bamako. The decade-long UN peacekeeping mission left in May 2023 after its director was expelled . But much of the country is contested, with separatist movements controlling parts of Mali’s outer regions. Rebels from the FLA and JNIM coalitions attacked military outposts throughout the country on 25 April.

Key points

• Russian Africa Corps mercenaries are also embroiled in the country as part of the Kremlin's wider push to assert its influence across the region.
• Mali is vast, a landlocked former French colony that gained formal independence in 1960 and stretches from the Sahara desert in the north to the semi-arid Sahel and humid savannah in the south.
• A rebellion by Tuareg separatists in the country’s north triggered the outbreak of a wider civil war in Mali in 2012 that has flared intermittently since then.
• The country has been ruled by a military junta since a coup against the civilian government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020.
• Assimi Goita, the special forces officer who led the coup, became vice-president, installing former defence minister Bah Ndaw as civilian president.