Niger’s military junta announced on Tuesday that it would cut diplomatic relations with Ukraine in solidarity with its neighbour Mali. Both parties accuse Kiev of alleged involvement in a massacre of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group and Malian soldiers carried out by Tuareg rebels last July. This gesture further accentuates the Sahel countries’ distancing from the West and their growing rapprochement with Russia.
Mali was the first country to announce the end of relations with kyiv following the incident, in which a group of Tuareg separatists ambushed and killed at least 84 Russian mercenaries and 47 Malian army soldiers on July 26 near the border with Algeria, in a disputed territory. Now, Niamey is taking the same step “immediately” and “in solidarity” with the authorities and the population of the neighbouring country, according to government spokesman Abderrahmane Amadou. So far, there has been no reaction from kyiv.
The controversy stems from statements made on television by the spokesman for the intelligence services of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (GUR), Andriy Yusov. He hinted at Ukrainian involvement by stating that the insurgents “received the necessary information that made it possible to carry out a successful military operation against Russian war criminals.” These allusions were quickly reinforced by the spread of the story in the newspaper kyiv Post from a photo in which the Tuaregs pose with the Ukrainian flag after their attack on the mercenaries.
Bamako accused kyiv of supporting international terrorism and violating its sovereignty and international law by allegedly collaborating in the armed action, which led to Wagner’s biggest defeat since he intervened two years ago to support Malian military authorities against insurgent groups operating in the African country.
Ukraine rejected Mali’s accusations and criticised the country for deciding to break away “without conducting a thorough study of the facts and circumstances of the incident and without providing any evidence of Ukraine’s involvement,” Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said in a statement. Kuleba called the move “short-sighted and hasty.”
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are ruled by military juntas that came to power through coups. The new governments have suspended their military agreements with France, have moved closer to Moscow and maintain pacts with Russian mercenaries to combat jihadist terrorism in the region.
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Oleksii Melnik, co-director of the Razumkov Center, a Ukrainian research institution on international and security policy, believes that both decisions were initiated by Russia. “There are Russian advisers in these countries; people who receive orders from Moscow to influence in a certain way,” he said in a telephone conversation with Morning Express. The diplomatic consequences for Ukraine are not strategically detrimental in Africa, because kyiv has no major interests there, and there is not even an embassy in Mali. For Melnik, this should be of greater concern to other international actors such as France and the United States. “France was expelled from Mali, the United States had to leave Niger… And their positions are being taken by Russia,” recalls the expert.
Senegal has also taken action in relation to the Mali incident. Last Friday, Foreign Minister Yassine Fall summoned the Ukrainian ambassador in Dakar, Yuri Pivovarov, to explain a video posted on the Facebook page of the Kiev embassy containing clips from the battle and in which the diplomat rejoices at the victory of the rebels. Indeed, the statement issued by Mali also appeals to the “competent judicial authorities regarding the comments by Yusov and Pivovarov, which constitute propaganda for terrorism.”
The controversy comes at a time when Ukraine is trying to win support from the global south. Indeed, Kuleba is visiting Zambia and Malawi this week, where he discussed the two countries’ support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan to end Russia’s large-scale invasion.
This is not the first time that information has been released about Ukraine’s presence in operations on African territory against Russian units. Last week, the newspaper The World He said that Ukraine not only provides strategic information to the rebels, but also trains them in the use of drones.
Last February, a video published by Ukrainian media showed a group of Kiev special forces present in an assault in Sudan and a GUR officer assured Morning Express that they were recruiting volunteers willing to fight in that country. In addition, in September 2023, CNN broadcast another video showing attacks with drone bombs on positions of the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces and the Wagner group, allegedly carried out by Ukrainian forces, according to anonymous sources in kyiv cited by the media.
Noting that there has been no confirmation from kyiv of its involvement, Melnik believes that in the hypothetical case that this is not the case, these actions would not be aimed at fighting for its influence in these countries, but rather at military prevention. “The number and name of the Wagner mercenaries eliminated are well known in Ukraine, so if they were killed in Africa it would be to prevent them from returning to this front,” he believes.
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