CSP has denied any cooperation with JNIM in these battles. Though CSP has many reasons to officially deny any such coordination, it seems likely that the two sides deconflicted with each other, at the very least, to avoid clashing. At the maximum, the two communicated to drive the retreating Russians into JNIM’s ambush.
Several CSP factions, including the aforementioned HCUA, have long had strong organizational and familial ties with JNIM’s factions in Mali's northern Kidal Region. HCUA was formed as a splinter from the former Ansar Dine, one of JNIM’s constituent groups, which JNIM’s current emir, Iyad Ag Ghaly, founded.
Others, including the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), are openly more antagonistic towards JNIM, as JNIM’s constituent groups previously fought MNLA in 2012 for control over northern Mali.
Factions from the CSP and JNIM also clashed closer to central Mali earlier this year, but the JNIM and other CSP factions still enjoy closer ties in Kidal. This relationship was reinforced by Alghabass Ag Intallah, the leader of HCUA, calling for the CSP to agree to a non-aggression pact with JNIM just a month after that clash.
None of these ties mean the two groups are intrinsically one and the same, as both fight for different causes and ideologies. However, the situation also does not mean they cannot cooperate against what each considers the ‘bigger enemy’—Mali and its Wagner allies. The arrangement benefits both groups, and Al Qaeda specifically permits a ‘big tent’ approach that allows cooperation with non-jihadists when it benefits its goals.
Mali army admits ‘significant’ losses in Wagner battle
Mali’s army has admitted it suffered “significant” losses during two days of fighting involving Tuareg separatist rebels and al-Qaeda-linked militants. It is rare for the military to own up to battlefield disasters and comes a day after its ally, the Russian mercenary Wagner group, said one of its commanders had died in the fighting that took place during a sandstorm. Neither Mali’s military nor Wagner have given figures, but the estimated death toll for Wagner fighters ranges from between 20 and 80.
Wagner estimated the Tuareg and Islamist fighters had combined manpower of more than 1,000 - and that one of two Russian helicopters that went to the aid of the mercenaries and Malian soldiers was downed. JNIM said 50 Russians and 10 Malian soldiers had been killed, although these numbers have not been verified. The extent of the co-ordination between the separatists and Islamists is also unclear.
Tuareg and Arab groups in the north feel ignored by the more prosperous south. Northern Mali is a vast, arid, under-developed and sparsely populated area, which the separatists call Azawad.
The security situation in the whole country remains precarious - and these recent losses for the Russian-backed junta are humiliating. Russia’s defence ministry has been approached for more help by Wagner, but it is unclear whether that will be forthcoming given the war in Ukraine.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq5xvl1111yo