Sahel Edition

Sahel: Mali fires six senior army officers, including top army leader, as Tuareg groups in the north unifyF

Posted On 9 February 2023

Number of times this article was read : 704
The North Africa Journal's WhatsApp Group

The North Africa Journal’s WhatsApp Group

Six senior Malian military officers, including the army chief of staff and head of the national guard, were relieved of their functions on Wednesday, the country’s junta-run government said. The four others are the heads of military security, the gendarmerie police force, military engineers and armed forces’ health service, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The communique gave no reason for the announcement.

The landlocked Sahel state is in the grip of an 11-year-old jihadist insurgency that has ricocheted across the region, killing thousands and forcing millions from their homes. Mali is run by a military junta that seized power in 2020 and broke a long-standing alliance with France, choosing instead to forge close ties with Russia.

In a separate development on Wednesday, three groups in northern Mali that have a record of clashes with the central government in Bamako signed an agreement to amalgamate. The groups have until now been components of a predominantly Tuareg alliance called the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA). The three are the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), the Upper Council for Azawad Unity (HCUA) and the Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA). They “decided to amalgamate the movements which constitute the CMA into a single political and military entity,” they said in a one-page statement. In 2012, the groups launched an insurrection against the Malian state before signing a peace agreement with it in 2015 that sets the goal of greater regional autonomy and integrating combattants in a reformed arm. The insurrection was initially joined by jihadist groups that continued their fight after the other rebels signed the peace deal.

Wednesday’s announcement comes amid mounting tensions between these northern groups and the junta. In December, the CMA announced it was suspending participation in mechanisms for implement the 2015 accord, angrily accusing the junta of lacking “the political will” to honour its provisions.

AFP

More on the Sahel

Mali: Bamako Under Siege$

Bamako is facing mounting pressure as jihadist group JNIM expands its campaign beyond military operations and increasingly targets the economic lifelines connecting Mali’s capital to the rest of West Africa. Attacks on highways, freight traffic, and commercial transport corridors have disrupted trade, affected regional commerce, and raised concerns about the government’s ability to maintain security and economic stability.

German Think Tank Accuses the UAE of Destabilizing Africa$

A report published by Germany’s Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik accuses the United Arab Emirates of playing a destabilizing role in several African conflicts through support for armed groups, logistical networks, and regional interventions. The report focuses particularly on Sudan, Libya, the Horn of Africa, and Yemen, while also criticizing Western governments for avoiding direct public criticism of Abu Dhabi.

Mali: After Kidal, The War Comes to Bamako$

Mali’s military government lost Kidal to a joint FLA-JNIM offensive on April 26, 2026, after Russian Africa Corps personnel and Malian troops withdrew under rebel escort. The fall of the city, retaken by Bamako with Russian support in November 2023, exposes the limits of the junta’s sovereignty narrative and raises serious questions about the durability of Mali’s security model.