Brussels 05.05.2026 Mali’s leader General Assimi Goïta has been appointed as Defence Minister after the officer who previously held the post was killed in a wave of jihadist’s, and Tuareg’s rebels attacks.(Image above: courtesy Bob Brewer).

The West African country has been going thought a security crisis for more than a week after an alliance of jihadists launched their nationwide raids.

Tuareg separatists and Al-Qaeda linked groups have seized key Mali towns, forcing Russian paramilitaries to withdraw.

Al Jazeera’s Laura Khan explains. pic.twitter.com/gRvMudIS6n

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 4, 2026

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During the offensive, Defence Minister Sadio Camara was killed in an apparent suicide truck bombing on his residence near the capital, Bamako.

A decree read on state television on May 3 said Goïta would replace Camara as Defence Minister. He will be assisted by army chief of staff Gen Oumar ⁠Diarra, who has been appointed Minister delegate.

Massive bombshell. George Galloway directly accuses Emmanuel Macron and the French government of secretly funding and arming ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Mali. The West is intentionally using terrorists to overthrow African nations and steal their gold. Pure imperialism! pic.twitter.com/A2ZPcHnG0J

— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) April 26, 2026

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On April 25, an alliance of Tuareg nationalist militias and Islamists launched a coordinated offensive across Mali. This offensive shook the ruling military junta, which responded in 2013 to mass demonstrations against the French-led war in Mali by imposing the withdrawal of French troops and allying itself with the Moscow.

The offensive began with surprise attacks across the country, targeting Kidal and Gao in the north, Sévaré and Mopti in the center, and Kati and the capital, Bamako, in the south. According to the X account of the Russian Africa Corps stationed in Mali, the offensive mobilized between 10,000 and 12,000 fighters. In Kati, it assassinated the junta’s second-in-command, Defense Minister Sadio Camara, a key architect of the alliance with Moscow, with a car bomb.

Mali: JNIM and Tuareg rebels (FLA) captured a Malian army base in Hombori (central Mali), Mopti region.

JNIM claims full control of the camp.

They also seized nearby checkpoints (Fana, Kassela).

This is part of a coordinated offensive launched April 25, hitting multiple cities… pic.twitter.com/WZyycU4WHa

— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 30, 2026

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The Africa Corps was forced to suddenly abandon Mopti, negotiating the departure of its troops but leaving hundreds of Malian soldiers behind as prisoners of the Islamists. Islamist and Tuareg militias are now trying to blockade energy supplies to Malian cities.