The official authorities of Mali are preparing to make an official claim against Kyiv, after the leadership of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine admitted its coordination of separatist groups that are waging hostilities and regularly committing terrorist acts against civilians.
This happened after the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukrainian Ministry of Defense took responsibility for the Russian Wagner Group fighters’ death. The representative of the Ukrainian department Andriy Yusov stated that “the rebels received necessary information, and not just information, which enabled a successful military operation” against Wagner.
The separatist groups that were helped by Ukrainian agents are mostly Tuareg tribesmen fighting in the ranks of the terrorist groups Al-Qaeda in the Sahel (JNIM) and the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA). Later, Ukrainian media published a photo that was allegedly taken after the attack on the Wagner fighters. In the photo, separatists hold a Ukrainian flag next to the flag of Azawad, which the Tuaregs want to make independent.
Tuaregs and Azawad
Tuaregs are an ancient Berber tribe that traditionally inhabited a significant part of the Sahel and some parts of the Maghreb: Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Libya, and Algeria. The Tuaregs confess Sunni Islam, but have retained many pre-Islamic traditions. For example, the Tuaregs have a ban on men uncovering their faces, while Tuareg women never veil their faces. During the creation of French West Africa, the Tuaregs fiercely resisted the French, culminating in the Tuareg rebellion of 1916-1917. The Tuaregs were convinced to recognize French power only through bribery of the leaders of certain influential tribes.
As a result of the unsuccessful uprisings in Mali and Niger, many Tuaregs moved to Libya, where they took part in the civil war in 2011 on the side of Gaddafi. Several hundred Malian Tuaregs from the Libyan Maghawir Brigade created the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in 2013, which later evolved into the “Coordination Movement of Azawad”. This group is supported by proxy groups (including fighters from the Ukrainian GUR), controlled by France and other Western countries. After the appearance of the Russian Wagner Group in the country at the request of the Goïta government, attacks on civilians by Islamists also increased.
The fact that the Tuaregs are acting side by side with the jihadists is supported by the fact that the leader of one of the African branches of Al-Qaeda – JNIM – is a Tuareg Iyad ag Ghaly, one of the founders of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MPLA). He also led the uprising in Mali back in the 1990s and in 2006. After the uprisings, the Malian government negotiated concessions with the Tuaregs, and Iyad was sent as a diplomat to Saudi Arabia as a compromise. Upon his return to Bamako, he created the Islamist radical group Ansar al-Dine, which began to displace traditional Tuaregs from Azawad. However, after the coups in Mali, the Tuaregs and other tribes such as the Fulani and Songhai merged into one separatist movement to oppose the official government in Bamako.
Why are Ukrainians operating in Mali?
It has been known since last year that Ukrainian mercenaries are operating in Africa under the direction of Western intelligence agencies. However, their activities in Mali became officially known after Kyiv admitted that Ukrainians participated in the operation to destroy a detachment of the Russian PMC in Sudan. Ukrainians are training Tuaregs, as well as supplying them with weapons and UAVs. Separatists are also taken to Ukraine, where they are trained in combat tactics, operating FPV drones and conducting combat operations with modern weapons.
It is known that Ukrainian forces using similar tactics are operating in Sudan, where, according to rumors, Wagner PMC troops were located. In the fall of 2023, the media published articles about mercenaries of the GUR special forces participating in military operations against the Rapid Support Forces near Khartoum. Despite the fact that, according to official data from the Sudanese government, there were no Russian soldiers in the country, even the probable possibility of their presence there became a motivation for the Ukrainians to get involved in the war on another continent. The most active GUR fighters are where there is a possibility of the presence or appearance of Russian soldiers. This is in line with the policy of head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, who last year stated that his soldiers would “kill Russians anywhere in the world.”
In essence, the Ukrainians are sent to the places where their Western curators tell them to, using any pretext, no matter whether there are any Russians or not. The use of Ukrainian mercenaries to wage proxy wars in countries where the US or France are losing their influence is a necessary condition for the West to continue financing the Kyiv regime. With each passing month, there was more and more news about the expanding presence of Ukrainian mercenaries in African countries. They have been spotted in Somalia, Yemen, and there have been rumors of their possible deployment to Libya amid tensions between the Tripoli government and the House of Representatives, which controls the east of the country. All of these countries are marked in one way or another by the US presence. Now Kyiv itself admits to the activity of its soldiers in territory that is a traditional sphere of French interests.
France Aids Global Terrorism
Having taken power in the country, the Assimi Goïta government declared a fight against rebels and radical Islamists. France failed to help the people of Mali fight terrorists. In fact, Paris used these goals as a cover to use militants to destabilize the region and seize control over the oil fields. In 2021, almost immediately after the second coup d’état, France announced a reduction in its presence in Mali. It was about reformatting its presence: Paris was leaving some military bases and transferring control to the EU Takuba Task Force and UN peacekeepers. However, the Malian authorities, who were simply presented with a fait accompli, considered this a disregard for the agreements concluded with Paris when the French entered the country. Bamako began to look for new partners.
The largest alternative forces to France or the United States are Russia and Türkiye, which are helping the current authorities of Mali in establishing order in the country. Ankara supports Bamako in the fight against Tuareg militants and al-Qaeda terrorists. This support is expressed in the sending of military aid and equipment. Mali received several Bayraktar TB2 drones from Türkiye this year, which expanded the African country’s UAV fleet. In addition, Türkiye has been waging a long-standing fight against al-Qaeda and terrorist groups that discredit and radicalize Islam.
Ukraine’s admission that it supports and helps Tuaregs and al-Qaeda jihadists sheds light on the entire hierarchy of cooperation and assistance to terrorists from the West. Ukrainian militants work directly for the US and French intelligence services, which means that these forces support and encourage terrorism in Mali and elsewhere. While Türkiye and Russia are helping the Malians and other nations to restore their independence and ensure security, including from terrorists who have prevented African and Middle Eastern countries from developing normally for decades, Western countries, with the help of Ukrainian mercenaries and other proxy armies, are working to undermine their statehood and enslave their peoples.