The junta and its Wagner Group allies are reopening battles with the former separatist as they race to take over the UN s bases, After a decade of the UN s 15,000-strong peacekeeping force operating in northern Mali, the region is adapting to its sudden departure. Two threats stand out: the insurgent Islamist groups heading southwards are capturing more territory in the Ménaka and Gao regions; and Mali s national army, backed by fighters from Russia s Wagner Group, are fighting former separatist groups for control of the UN s recently vacated bases in the region.
The five ruling colonels are digging in for a long stay – but neither Wagner s mercenaries nor the army are stemming the jihadist tide, The military junta is making itself comfortable. That much was clear on 21 February when the National Transitional Council (NTC), a hastily convened rubber-stamp parliament of 120 placemen of the colonels in Bamako, unanimously voted to hold elections in five years time.
Mali has opted out, so other Sahelian states are trying to cooperate militarily to fill a vacuum in which the jihadists are thriving, New alliances are being reinforced by states on the front line against jihad to make up for Mali s decision to go it alone and expel France and its advanced military resources. Niger and Burkina Faso are working together and with the foreign powers, but they are also being joined by threatened coastal nations.
With French troops pulling out, and the UN mission at risk, African leaders mull how to fill the security vacuum, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has presented West African governments with hard military choices, by proposing the African Union establish a new force that could replace the United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali, the Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations unies pour la stabilisation au Mali (Minusma).
African activists and politicians offer mixed reviews of President Macron s record but agree that his closest rival would be disastrous for them, Emmanuel Macron, who has been called France s first post-colonial president , is bidding for re-election after a first term in which colonial history cast a long shadow on policies ranging from climate change, job creation, and migration to regional security.