Russian mercenaries in Mali face significant setbacks amid jihadist offensives

A major and symbolic defeat unfolded on Sunday, April 26, in Kidal, northeastern Mali. Russian mercenaries from the Africa Corps, who succeeded the Wagner Group in 2025 and are allied with the Bamako junta, were forced to withdraw. Humiliating images circulated on social media, showing Africa Corps personnel in trucks, disarmed, and under pressure from the GSIM (Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims), also known as JNIM, and their Tuareg rebel allies from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA). Their departure was so swift that they abandoned dozens of armored vehicles and helicopters to the jihadist and Tuareg rebel forces. Several Malian soldiers were also captured after brief skirmishes.

Since Saturday, the Sahelian nation has been rocked by a series of coordinated assaults launched by Al-Qaeda-affiliated GSIM jihadists, in conjunction with the FLA Tuareg independence rebellion. These attacks targeted strategic junta positions across the country, including areas on the outskirts of the capital, Bamako.

a strategic reversal in Mali

On Monday, the Africa Corps paramilitary group, overseen by the Russian Ministry of Defense, confirmed its forces had pulled out of Kidal, a key northern city in Mali. This withdrawal marks a significant victory for the FLA rebels, who had witnessed Russian Wagner Group mercenaries seize the city and proudly raise their black flag with a white skull just eighteen months prior, in November 2023. For the Russian allies of the Malian junta, this represents a bitter failure. Djenabou Cissé, an associate researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research, noted to Le Parisien that “the only true strategic success the Russians had achieved since their arrival in Mali in 2021 was precisely the capture of Kidal, a historic Tuareg stronghold.” Its fall, she added, “sounds like a repudiation.”

The GSIM’s coordinated assaults also struck the capital, Bamako, as well as Kati, home to the country’s primary military base, and Gao, a former UN base. In total, at least six Malian cities were targeted.

Since 2021, Mali has been governed by a military junta that seized power in a coup that same year. Concurrently, the nation has endured years of siege by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadist group, which contributed to making the region the global epicenter of terrorism and its victims by 2025, according to a report by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Since the summer of 2025, jihadists have inflicted numerous defeats upon Malian armed forces and their Russian partners, notably establishing blockades around the capital in an effort to economically strangle it.

ineffectiveness of russian forces

To counter the jihadist advance, Malian military leaders enlisted Russian mercenaries, initially with Wagner from 2021 and subsequently with Africa Corps since 2025. However, the violence has only intensified. Disturbingly, some of the most severe attacks against civilians have been attributed to Russian mercenaries and elements of the Malian army, as reported by The Washington Post. Since 2021, various reports from the United Nations and the International Federation for Human Rights have documented a surge in conflict-related sexual violence, perpetrated by Malian defense and security forces and their Russian auxiliaries, as Le Monde highlighted last August.

According to Wassim Nasr, a journalist specializing in jihadist movements, it has long been evident that Russian mercenaries, whether under the Wagner banner or now with Africa Corps, were “ineffective as counter-terrorism partners.” He told The Washington Post that “Saturday’s attacks merely confirmed these difficulties.”

Over the weekend, videos from across Mali showcased the scale of the offensives. In Kidal, jihadists stormed the governor’s office. Meanwhile, in Bamako, residents observed GSIM fighters entering the city without encountering any resistance. On the outskirts of the capital, at Kati, the junta’s headquarters, a bomb attack destroyed the home of Defense Minister Sadio Camara, who was tragically killed in the offensive.

questions of loyalty and control

On Monday, Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga addressed the press, honoring Defense Minister Sadio Camara while attempting to reassure the populace. In a brief televised address, his first appearance since the jihadist offensive began on Saturday, President and junta leader Assimi Goïta declared on Tuesday evening that the situation was “under control” and affirmed that operations would persist until “the complete neutralization of the groups involved” in the attacks.

Despite restrictions on freedom of expression, the effectiveness of the Malian Armed Forces (Famas) and Africa Corps soldiers is already being questioned within Mali. “The Russians betrayed us in Kidal,” a Malian officer told RFI. He claimed the regional governor had warned the Russian mercenaries “three days before the attack, and they did nothing. In reality, they had already negotiated their departure.” If the Russians have indeed left Kidal, they may also be preparing to withdraw from other northern localities, potentially further destabilizing the regular Malian army.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, during his daily briefing on Tuesday, April 28, declined to answer whether the Africa Corps would be able to regain control of the situation. However, he asserted that Russian forces had thwarted an attempted coup by FLA and GSIM fighters in Mali, as reported by Reuters.