By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita was on Tuesday sighted in the capital Bamako, after his temporary disappearance from public glare, following the weekend coordinated attacks by jihadist-separatist.
According to his office, he had met with the Russian ambassador to his country.
Goita’s office published photos of the meeting, after Russia earlier in the day said it wanted stability in the west African country.
Similarly, Russia’s defence ministry warned that Tuareg separatists, who captured the key northern town of Kidal at the weekend, were “regrouping” for fresh attacks.
The attacks were the largest in nearly 15 years and saw two former foes, Islamist insurgents and Tuareg separatists, join forces against the military junta and its Russian paramilitary supporters, analysts say.
Defence Minister Sadio Camara, seen as the mastermind behind the junta’s pivot to Russia was killed in two days of fierce fighting between the army and Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) allied with the Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that the rebels, who have captured a key town in the mostly desert north, were “regrouping” and the situation “remains difficult”.
The fighting saw “attempts made to seize key facilities in the capital, Bamako first and foremost, the presidential palace”, the ministry said.
It confirmed that mercenaries from Russia’s Africa Corps, controlled by the government in Moscow and sent to back up the Malian junta, had been forced to withdraw from the northern town of Kidal, now under the full control of the armed groups.
