BRUSSELS: The EU on Sunday condemned “terrorist attacks” in junta-ruled Mali and stressed its commitment to security and stability in the Sahel region.
The bloc “strongly condemns the terrorist attacks perpetrated in Mali on April 25,” a spokesperson said in a statement, adding that condolences were extended to “the families of the victims as well as to the Malian authorities.”
Meanwhile, Mali’s Defense Minister Sadio Camara was killed in an attack by an Al-Qaeda affiliate on his residence near the main army base outside Bamako, France’s RFI radio and two relatives said on Sunday.
HIGHLIGHT
Mali’s Defense Minister Sadio Camara was killed in an attack by an Al-Qaeda affiliate on his residence near the main army base outside Bamako, two relatives said on Sunday.
The operation in Kati, 15 km north of Bamako, was part of a wider assault by the affiliate, Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, which cooperated with a Tuareg-dominated terrorist group in what analysts and diplomats described as one of the largest coordinated attacks in the country in recent years.
A relative of Camara’s said he had been killed, while a Malian journalist known to be a brother-in-law of the defense minister posted about his death on Facebook.
A statement by the armed forces said operations were continuing in various parts of the country to repel the insurgents.
Meanwhile, the UN called for an international response to violence and terrorism in West Africa’s Sahel region following the assault.
“The secretary-general is deeply concerned by reports of attacks in several locations across Mali. He strongly condemns these acts of violence,” a UN spokesperson posted on X.
If confirmed, Camara’s death would represent a major shock for Mali’s military leaders, said Djenabou Cisse, associate fellow at the Foundation for Strategic Research, which specializes in West African security.
The current government, led by Assimi Goita, took power after coups in 2020 and 2021 and has pursued closer ties with Russia while spurning Western military cooperation — a strategy Camara promoted.
“As a key figure within the junta and a central architect of the Mali–Russia rapprochement, his removal would underscore JNIM’s capacity to strike at the core of state power,” Cisse said.
In addition to Kati, Saturday’s strike hit near Bamako airport and in localities further north, including Mopti, Sevare and Gao.
The fate of the strategic city of Kidal, a former stronghold for the Azawad Liberation Front, the Tuareg-dominated group that partnered with JNIM, was unclear on Sunday.
The FLA said in a statement that Kidal had fallen, and a spokesperson for the group said on X that a deal had been struck to let Russian mercenaries leave a besieged camp outside the city where Malian armed forces were still entrenched.
But Sunday’s statement from Mali’s armed forces said operations to repel the insurgents were still underway in Kidal among other places.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at German think tank the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said the attack was a setback for Russia, which backed the military-led government after it kicked out French, US and other Western forces.
“For Russia, the attack has been a disaster,” Laessing said. “They were unable to prevent the fall of the highly symbolic Tuareg stronghold of Kidal and now need to leave this northern city.”
