The colonels who took power by force in August 2020 have since turned to Russia and turned away from France, which has been engaged militarily against the jihadists since 2013.
Article written by
Published
Reading time : 2 min.
Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara, one of the strong men of the ruling junta, received new military equipment on Wednesday, March 30, including two combat helicopters delivered by Russia. The delivery of this material is the “fruit of a sincere and very old partnership (Russia-Mali)”, the Malian army said on its website. The colonels who took power by force in August 2020 in this country in the midst of security turmoil have since turned to Russia and turned away from France, engaged militarily against the jihadists since 2013. France and its European allies within the group of special forces Takuba have just announced their military withdrawal from Mali.
A first batch of military equipment was received on March 30, 2022 by the Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs, Colonel Sadio Camara at President Modibo Keita Bamako-Sénou International Airport.
Read the whole article at this link: https://t.co/NoL3UGwhek pic.twitter.com/UAys3oFUao— Malian Armed Forces (@FAMa_DIRPA) March 30, 2022
Russia had delivered to Mali, in October 2021, at least four helicopters and weapons. Mali has welcomed in large numbers what the junta presents as Russian instructors. France and its partners denounce for their part the recourse made according to them by the junta to the services of the Russian private security company Wagner, to the decried actions. The junta denies and speaks of a former partnership with the Russian army. “All the elements that we have show that the presence of Wagner in Mali is about exactions and the limitation of public freedoms. It is a new authoritarianism which means that the junta in power is also taken hostage a little on these points there by force Wagner”, said Jean-Yves Le Drian on the France 24 news channel.
The equipment sent by Russian carrier plane and received on Wednesday evening at the military base at Bamako airport consists of “combat helicopters, (de) last generation radars and many other materials necessary in the fight against terrorism and extremism”, says the army on its site. Two helicopters and at least five transport trucks were observed. “Today we can proudly say that our national army is able to operate independently without asking anyone for help,” assures Colonel Sadio Camara. No information has been made public regarding the conditions for acquiring the equipment. The Minister of Defense as well as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Colonel Alou Boï Diarra, had gone discreetly to Russia at the beginning of March, in the midst of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Mali was among the countries that abstained from voting on the two resolutions adopted in March by an overwhelming majority by the UN General Assembly and demanding that Russia immediately cease military operations in Ukraine.