Gen Assimi Goïta promised to tackle Mali’s long-running security crisis when he seized power in 2020/Image@ BBC
Facing the gravest security test since seizing power, Mali’s military ruler Gen Assimi Goïta has moved to personally take command of the country’s defence establishment, assuming the ministry left vacant by the death of his defence minister in a wave of coordinated attacks that has shaken the foundations of his government.
A decree broadcast on state television Monday confirmed Goïta would step into the role previously held by Gen Sadio Camara, who was killed when a suicide truck bomb struck his residence near the capital, Bamako, during the assault. Gen Oumar Diarra, the army chief of staff, has been named minister delegate to assist Goïta in managing the portfolio — a dual command arrangement that analysts are likely to read as a deliberate effort to consolidate authority at a moment when his grip on power looks increasingly fragile.
The crisis was triggered on 25 April, when residents across Malian cities and towns were jolted awake by gunfire and explosions as two armed factions — the separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and the al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM — launched sweeping, coordinated raids nationwide. The insurgents have since tightened their hold, imposing a partial blockade on Bamako and several other urban centres, while Malian and allied Russian forces were compelled to withdraw from the northern city of Kidal — a retreat that has deepened questions about the military government’s battlefield capability.
Goïta’s administration, which came to power through a coup in August 2020, has struggled to contain an insurgency that has now demonstrated a capacity to strike simultaneously across the country. Over the weekend, Malian authorities announced the arrest of a group of soldiers allegedly linked to the offensive. A Bamako military court prosecutor said the investigation had established that both former and serving military personnel were complicit in planning and executing the attacks — a revelation pointing to dangerous fissures within the armed forces themselves.
In response, Mali said it had joined forces with the armies of neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso to launch air strikes against the jihadist and separatist positions. Niger’s authorities confirmed the joint operation began within hours of the initial attacks. The three nations — all governed by military juntas — form the Alliance of Sahel States, a bloc that has expelled French troops, the legacy force of the former colonial power, and brought in Russian military personnel to shore up their defences against the regional insurgency.
Yet the results have fallen short of expectations. Attacks have persisted across all three countries, and vast swathes of their territories remain beyond the reach of central government authority, underlining the limits of both the Russian partnership and the Alliance’s collective military strategy.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah