“terrorist attack” against the heart of the military apparatus of the transitional junta

First modification: 07/22/2022 – 20:13

The Malian Armed Forces claim to have repelled a “terrorist attack” at the Kati military base, where the head of the questionable junta that governs Mali, Colonel Assimi Goita, and his Defense Minister, Colonel Sadio Camara, live.

They blame the Katiba (militia) Macina, a terrorist group dependent on Al-Qaeda in the Sahel, although it has not yet claimed responsibility.

The coup, carried out by “suicide” attackers aboard two vehicles loaded with explosives, occurred during the early hours of this Friday, July 22, for the first time near Bamako, the nucleus of the Malian military apparatus that governs the country, plunged into growing insecurity due to the staggered withdrawal of international anti-terrorist forces.

“We woke up to gunshots at 5 in the morning and explosion noises, we don’t know what is happening,” confirmed two residents who live in Kati, the garrison town.

“Our camp is under attack,” a resident who spoke by phone told AFP, preferring to remain anonymous for security reasons.

In the attacked military base, the military protagonists of the two coups that took place in Mali in 2020 and 2021, after which a military junta is in power, were trained and have their operations center.

Even from Kati “the majority of the coups in the modern history of Mali have started”, says Jérôme Pigné, president and co-founder of the network for strategic reflection on security in the Sahel, interviewed by France 24 in French.

Kati, “more than ever, embodies the symbol of military power in Mali,” says Pigné.

The garrison, located 15 kilometers north of Bamako, had never been the target of an attack. Instead, on Thursday there were six simultaneous attacks in central Mali and in the Koulikoro region near Bamako.

According to the latest balance given by the Army, a Malian soldier died and six other people were injured. The military killed seven members of the assailant group and arrested another eight suspected terrorists.

The increase in jihadist attacks, perpetrated by the Islamic State and local affiliates of Al-Qaeda, occurs in a context of tension between the military junta and the international community, which aggravates the lack of security in the country.

The French Embassy warned its nationals by text message of an “ongoing attack in Kati”, recommending caution.

The disagreements of the coup board with the foreigner

Five international military missions operated in Mali:

– The French Barkhane and Takuba.

– The European training EUTM.

– La Minusma, the operations center of the UN mission.

– The G5 Sahel region.

All, except the UN, have begun to leave the country this year and the coup government hired as an alternative, according to France, mercenaries from the Russian private company Wagner, linked to the Kremlin.

One of the last decisions of the transitional government was this Wednesday, July 20, to give 72 hours to the spokesman for Minusma in Mali, Olivier Salgado, to leave the country for questioning the official version of the Malian junta on the arrest of 49 Ivorian soldiers last 10 July in Bamako.

Salgado’s expulsion is added to that of last July 14 when the board suspended all rotations of the military and police contingents of that UN mission for “reasons related to national security.”

The military junta also has discrepancies and misunderstandings with France (its former colonizing power) and lately with Spain.

The military junta refused to call elections last February, as promised, and offered earlier this month to hold them in February 2024.

Due to the delay in returning to constitutional order after the two coups, the country has suffered for months strict sanctions from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), of which Mali is a part.

With AFP and EFE