Ukraine’s alleged support for Tuareg rebels in their war against the Malian army and its Russian allies Wagner, which came to light after the battle of Tinzaouaten last July, represents a new twist in the complex conflict in the Sahel and brings to this region of the world the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev reminiscent of the Cold War. On August 19, the military juntas that govern Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which make up the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), asked the UN to adopt measures against Ukraine for this support.
In a joint letter to the UN Security Council, the foreign ministers of the three countries denounced “the official and unequivocal support of the Ukrainian government for terrorism in Africa, particularly in the Sahel,” which they say constitutes “a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity.” In this regard, they demand that the UN “take appropriate measures against these subversive acts that strengthen terrorist groups in Africa.”
On July 27, a convoy of Wagner mercenaries and Malian soldiers was attacked outside Tinzaouaten in northern Mali, near the Algerian border, by the Tuareg-majority independentists of the Permanent Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad (CSP-DPA) and jihadists of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM). According to the CSP-DPA, 84 Russian contractors and 47 Malian soldiers were killed in the battle. In a subsequent statement, Wagner acknowledged having suffered severe losses.
Two days later, Andrii Yusov, spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence’s intelligence services (GUR), said in an interview with Ukrainian television that the Tuareg rebels “received the necessary information, and not just information, that allowed them to carry out a successful military operation against Russian war criminals.” Sources close to the CSP-DPA agree that Ukraine provided intelligence information on the movements of Wagner’s column, but that in recent months it has also contributed to the military training of the Tuareg rebels in the use of light drones capable of dropping small explosives.
These statements, together with the publication on social networks of a video celebrating Wagner’s defeat by the Ukrainian ambassador to Senegal, Yurii Pyvoravov, prompted Mali and then Niger to break diplomatic relations with Ukraine. The Senegalese government also reminded Kiev of its diplomats’ duty of discretion and non-interference and denounced the “apology of terrorism” carried out by its ambassador. Even the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at odds with the ESA countries, issued a statement days later to condemn “any external interference in the region that could constitute a threat to peace and security, as well as any attempt to drag the region into the current geopolitical confrontations.”
The Ukrainian government denies that it supports “international terrorism”, as the Sahel countries accuse it of doing, and blames Mali for having broken off relations “without providing evidence of Ukraine’s involvement” in the battle of Tinzaouaten. However, Kiev is making notable efforts to counter the growing Russian influence in Africa. Its foreign minister, Dmitro Kuleba, has already made four tours of the continent and has promised to “liberate Africa from Russia”. Although his words refer to diplomatic efforts, Mali is not the first African country where Ukraine has faced Wagner: Ukrainian special forces are fighting in Sudan alongside the army against the Rapid Support Forces, which in turn have Russian mercenaries as allies.
Knowing what’s happening outside means understanding what’s going to happen inside, so don’t miss anything.
KEEP READING
The presence of Ukrainian forces on Malian soil has not been confirmed, but the words of its intelligence spokesman are clear. The issue is not just semantic, it is the expression of “support for terrorism” that Kiev denies. In its communication strategy, the Malian military junta calls both the jihadist groups and the Tuareg-majority separatist groups from the north of the country “terrorists.” Although these are different groups with different ideologies, rebels and Islamic radicals collaborated in the past, there is a great porosity between them and they have a common enemy: the Malian army and its Wagner allies. Although there is officially no common strategy, the fact is that in Tinzaouaten, both the CSP-CDA and JNIM harassed the same military convoy.
Ukraine’s support for a rebel group seeking independence, even though it is fighting a military junta that came to power in a coup, has not gone down well in many African countries and is a setback for kyiv’s strategy to win the favour of a continent where Russia, the main arms exporter on the continent, has important allies and where some twenty countries refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. “The memory of how the US and the USSR brought the Cold War to Africa in conflicts that became poisoned, such as those in Somalia, Angola or the Democratic Republic of Congo, is still very fresh. Ukraine would do well to remember this too if it wants to have the African continent on its side,” says an African diplomat.
Follow all the international information atFacebook andXor inour weekly newsletter.
