{"id":20657,"date":"2026-04-29T13:08:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T13:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/?p=20657"},"modified":"2026-04-29T13:11:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T13:11:38","slug":"mali-leader-says-situation-under-control-in-first-speech-since-attacks-france-urges-citizens-to-leave-as-soon-as-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/20657\/mali-leader-says-situation-under-control-in-first-speech-since-attacks-france-urges-citizens-to-leave-as-soon-as-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Mali leader says situation under control in first speech since attacks; France urges citizens to leave ‘as soon as possible’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The leader of Mali’s military government, Assimi Goita, on Tuesday made his first public appearance since insurgents launched coordinated attacks over the \u200bweekend, vowing in a televised address to “neutralize” those responsible.<\/p>\n

West Africa’s al Qaeda affiliate and a Tuareg-dominated separatist group hit Mali’s main army base and the \u200carea near Bamako’s airport in the attacks on Saturday, while also pushing\u00a0Russian troops supporting government forces out of the strategic town of Kidal in the north.<\/p>\n

The attacks have triggered a scramble for territory across Mali’s vast desert north, raising the prospect of significant gains by armed groups that have shown an increasing willingness to strike neighbouring countries and, analysts say, could eventually set their sights further afield.<\/p>\n

DEFENCE MINISTER KILLED<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mali’s defence minister, Sadio \u200bCamara, was killed in Saturday’s attacks. Goita had not been seen until his office on Tuesday afternoon published pictures of him meeting the Russian ambassador, Igor Gromyko.<\/p>\n

The \u200btwo men “discussed the current situation and the strong partnership between Bamako and Moscow”, and Gromyko “reaffirmed his country’s commitment to supporting Mali in the \u2060fight against international terrorism,” a social media post from Goita’s office said.<\/p>\n

Goita also visited a hospital where people wounded in Saturday’s attacks were receiving treatment, and expressed condolences to Camara’s family, \u200bhis office said.<\/p>\n

He then delivered a brief address on the evening news in which he declared that “the situation is under control” and said operations would continue until they achieved “the complete neutralization \u200bof the groups involved” in the attacks.<\/p>\n

The scale of the offensive, which hit multiple sites across the West African country, demonstrated an\u00a0unprecedented ability\u00a0by groups with differing objectives to work together and strike at the heart of the military government.<\/p>\n

MILITANTS THREATEN SIEGE OF CAPITAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a video message distributed on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the al Qaeda affiliate, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), boasted about Saturday’s violence and described it as revenge for \u200bdrone strikes and other attacks perpetrated by Malian forces.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson, Bina Diarra, also threatened to implement a siege of Bamako, a city of 4 million people.<\/p>\n

“As of today, Bamako is \u200bclosed off from all sides,” he said in the message.<\/p>\n

JNIM imposed a fuel blockade of Bamako last year, but it had eased in the period leading up to Saturday’s attacks.<\/p>\n

RUSSIA SAYS INSURGENTS REGROUPING<\/strong><\/p>\n

Russia said \u200con Tuesday \u2060that terrorist and separatist forces in Mali were regrouping after Moscow’s forces helped thwart what it described as a coup attempt on Saturday, preventing insurgents from seizing key facilities including the presidential palace.<\/p>\n

“The enemy has not abandoned its aggressive intentions and is currently regrouping,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Russian forces were conducting active reconnaissance operations to destroy insurgent field camps and stood ready to repel further attacks, it added.<\/p>\n

Moscow’s response to the attacks is being closely watched across the continent and beyond at a time when its forces are tied down \u200bfighting in Ukraine and it is trying to \u200bdeepen its role as a security \u2060guarantor to friendly resource-rich governments in Africa.<\/p>\n

Mali turned to Russia for support after expelling French and U.N. troops following coups in 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n

ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTERS ENTER NORTHEASTERN TOWN<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Malian forces sought to mount a defense in the north, fighters from West Africa’s Islamic State affiliate entered \u200bthe northeastern town of Menaka, five sources told Reuters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The group, known as Islamic State in the Sahel Province, did not \u200btake part in Saturday’s \u2060fighting. However, its fighters were present in Menaka, near the border with Niger, as of Tuesday morning, according to two residents, two security analysts and an official from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA).<\/p>\n

One resident said the fighters had established checkpoints in some neighbourhoods while Malian soldiers had moved to a nearby camp.<\/p>\n

Another resident reported seeing terrorists come and go in small groups on motorcycles but said there \u2060was no \u200bgunfire and that people continued to move about the town.<\/p>\n

None of the sources reported direct clashes.<\/p>\n

ISSP and JNIM \u200bhave fought each other for years. Since their first skirmishes in 2019, the two groups have clashed hundreds of times, leaving more than 2,100 people dead, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

FRANCE URGES CITIZENS TO LEAVE ‘AS SOON AS POSSIBLE’<\/strong><\/p>\n

France has urged its nationals in Mali to leave “as \u200bsoon as possible” following\u00a0coordinated attacks \u200cat the weekend, including in the capital Bamako, a travel advice update \u200bfor the West African \u200bcountry said.<\/p>\n

The security situation remains volatile \u2060and pending their departure, French \u200bcitizens should stay at home, \u200blimit movement and follow instructions from local authorities while keeping relatives informed, the \u200bFrench foreign ministry said. All \u200btravel to Mali is strongly discouraged, the \u200cupdate \u2060said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The leader of Mali’s military government, Assimi Goita, on Tuesday made his first public appearance since insurgents launched coordinated attacks over the \u200bweekend, vowing in a televised address to “neutralize” those responsible. West Africa’s al Qaeda affiliate and a Tuareg-dominated separatist group hit Mali’s main army base and the \u200carea near Bamako’s airport in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":7,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":"","source_name":"Reuters"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2362,1129,27],"tags":[1501,319,187],"class_list":["post-20657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-security","category-west-africa","tag-al-qaeda","tag-assimi-goita","tag-mali"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20657"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20661,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20657\/revisions\/20661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}