BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The leader of Mali's ruling junta, Assimi Goita, held his first public meeting with Russia's ambassador to Bamako, Igor Gromyko, on Tuesday. This meeting comes in the wake of a significant coordinated attack by Islamic militants and separatists over the previous weekend. Russia has referred to this attack as a coup attempt against the junta's authority.
The images released by Goita's office indicated that the meeting took place in what appeared to be the presidential palace in Bamako, the capital of Mali. During this tense period, the U.S. Embassy in Mali issued a security alert, warning residents of "possible terrorist movements within Bamako," which included reports of forced school closures.
Since seizing power in a coup in 2020, the junta has faced escalating violence. Recently, it experienced a substantial assault when al-Qaida-affiliated militants and the separatist Azawad Liberation Front carried out a coordinated attack across multiple cities, marking a surge in terror-related casualties within the region. The attacks occurred almost simultaneously and targeted key locations, including Bamako's international airport, the nearby garrison town of Kati, and several northern and central cities such as Kidal and Sevare.
The separatist Azawad Liberation Front claimed that its fighters managed to capture Kidal after Malian and Russian forces withdrew from the city. In this violent upheaval, Mali's Defense Minister, General Sadio Camara, was reported killed during the attacks. Three days following these events, the situation remained chaotic, with unclear control over the attacked areas and uncertainty surrounding the casualty figures from the clashes.
The mood in Bamako was tense, with many residents expressing concerns over their safety following the recent violence. Concurrently, Russia's Ministry of Defense condemned the attacks as a failed coup attempt and asserted that Russian forces, part of the Africa Corps supporting Mali's junta, had intervened alongside Malian security personnel. A ministry statement detailed that approximately 12,000 attackers utilized advanced weaponry for the assault, referencing the deployment of military aircraft that supported ground forces in the conflict.
The Russian statement also acknowledged the withdrawal from Kidal as a decision made by the Malian government. It claimed that the units stationed in Kidal had engaged in combat for over 24 hours while being surrounded and under attack from vastly superior enemy forces, successfully repelling four major assaults on their stronghold and outer defensive positions.
Despite these assertions, the Malian government has not provided a comprehensive account of the attacks, and The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify the details disseminated by the Russian officials.
