A series of reversals suffered by Mali’s Moscow-backed military government has dented Russia’s image as a self-styled security guarantor in Africa and threatens its strategic and economic interests on the continent.

The military junta, which turned to Russia for support after expelling French and United Nations troops following coups in 2020 and 2021, was rocked ‌at the weekend by an offensive by West Africa’s al Qaeda affiliate and a Tuareg-dominated separatist group.

Mali’s Russia-trained Defence Minister, Sadio Camara, was killed in a suicidal bombing, Russia’s Africa’s Corps was forced to withdraw from Kidal, an important town that Russian mercenaries helped take in 2023 and Moscow used helicopter gunships and strategic bombers to hold insurgents back.

Assimi Goita, the junta leader who was welcomed in the Kremlin last summer by President Vladimir Putin, survived.

–Reuters–