MALI’s military leader Assimi Goita has met the Russian ambassador to the East African country, according to his office.
Goita’s office published photos of the meeting on Tuesday in what was his first public appearance since rebel attacks over the weekend that killed one of his ministers.
The news release came after Russia said earlier in the day that it was seeking stability in the West African country. , in which it has won significant influence since Goita’s military government took power in a coup in 2021.
West Africa’s al-Qaeda affiliate and the Tuareg separatist group on Saturday hit Mali’s main army base and the area near Bamako’s airport, while driving Russian soldiers – deployed in support of government forces – out of Kidal in the north.
No statement accompanied the photos of Goita’s meeting with Russian Ambassador Igor Gromyko, but the image “speaks louder than words” of the regime’s reliance on “Russian mercenaries”, said Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, who has reported extensively from Mali.
The same day, the Russian Ministry of Defence issued a statement declaring that its paramilitary forces had helped prevent a coup during the attacks on Saturday, stopping rebel fighters from seizing key objects, including the presidential palace.
“In fierce battles with overwhelming enemy forces, the units of the Africa Corps inflicted irreparable losses on the enemy in personnel and hardware, forcing [them] to abandon [their] plans and preventing [them] from carrying out the coup d’etat, retaining the authority of the legitimate government, and preventing mass civilian casualties,” the statement read.
The Ministry of Defence also confirmed that mercenaries from Russia’s Africa Corps, controlled by Moscow and sent to back up the Malian government, had been forced to withdraw from the key northern town of Kidal.
The Kremlin, separately, said it urgently wanted peace and stability in Mali, which has battled more than a decade of rebellion and conflict.
The photos, alongside the statement from the Defence Ministry in Moscow, are clearly designed to show that the military government remains secure, Haque noted.
Defence Minister Sadio Camara was killed in the assault on Saturday, while Goita had not been seen since.
The military chief is now “trying to reassure the country that he is in charge and, with the help of the Russians, he will be able to garner safety for the people in Bamako”, Haque said.
However, social media footage has been emerging showing Russian mercenaries and Malian troops surrendering to the armed groups that have united in trying to topple the military government, the reporter said.
Russia has warned that the Tuareg separatists who have captured Kidal are “regrouping” for fresh attacks.
The armed groups – Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) – were reported to be advancing in northern Mali on Tuesday.
The scale and scope of the offensive on multiple sites across the vast West African country over the weekend demonstrated an unprecedented ability to coordinate fighters from different groups with different goals and strike at the heart of the military government.
The attacks were the largest in nearly 15 years, and saw two former foes, the al-Qaeda fighters and Tuareg separatists, join forces against the military government and its Russian paramilitary backers.