Free Republic

The news release came after Russia said earlier in the day that it was seeking stability in the 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. ... The same day, the Russian Ministry of Defence issued a statement declaring that its paramilitary forces had ‌‌helped prevent a coup during...

Mali’s army spokesperson has said Russian soldiers have deployed to the northern city of Timbuktu to train Malian forces at a base vacated by French troops last month amid persistent insecurity in a country where large swaths of territory are out of the government’s control. The Malian government said late last year that “Russian trainers” had arrived in the country, but Bamako and Moscow have so far provided few details on the deployment, including on how many soldiers are involved or the Russian troops’ precise mission. On December 23, a group of Western countries led by former colonial power France,...

For quite a long time now, China has been behaving like a power that owns Africa and all its resources. Having debt trapped countries, the red rogue nation has been looking to seize control of their strategic assets, with the ultimate goal of establishing bases for itself across the continent. China has been pursuing a neo-colonial agenda for quite some time, but countries of Africa are now coming together to kick China out of the continent. An interesting phenomenon is beginning to make a comeback in Africa. The vast continent is no novice when it comes to military rule and...

Col. Assimi Goita, who emerged Thursday as the head of the junta in power, worked for years with U.S. Special Operations forces focused on fighting extremism in West Africa. He spoke regularly with U.S. troops and attended U.S.-led training exercises, said officers from both countries, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Goita, who also received training from Germany and France, according to the officers, headed Mali's special forces unit in the country's restive central region, where fighters linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have established a stronghold that...