It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Are Mali’s Tuareg-led FLA fighters terrorists or separatists?
A Tuareg-led separatist group in Mali has insists it is not a “terrorist” organisation despite carrying out coordinated attacks with al-Qaeda-linked fighters that hit military targets and killed the country’s defence minister last month. The group, known as the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), was formed in December 2024 and is seeking independence for northern Mali.
The FLA issued a statement on Friday rejecting the term “terrorist”, which has been used by Mali’s transitional authorities and by several international actors in response to the coordinated attacks on 25 April.
Fighters from the FLA and militants from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), a group linked to al-Qaeda, carried out the attacks across the country, hitting the main army base outside the capital and killing Defence Minister General Sadio Camara.
The group presents itself as a politico-military movement and rejects the label.
“The FLA is not a terrorist organisation because it carries the aspirations of an entire people,” Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, the group’s spokesperson, said in its statement. “It has a political project for the self-determination of the people of Azawad.”
Independence drive
Tuareg separatists with the Movement for the National Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) declared independence in April 2012.
“The FLA is simply the continuation of a struggle that has long been waged by this population, which has suffered so many massacres and is now resisting,” Ramadane said. “The FLA is fighting for a population that aspires to live freely and with dignity on its own territory.”
The rebels are allied with JNIM fighters, who have targeted civilians, taken hostages and imposed blockades on communities.
“It is a tactical military coordination to confront a common enemy,” Ramadane said. “The FLA is in no way responsible for the actions carried out by JNIM.”
He also said the FLA does not target civilians and accused the Malian army and its Russian partners from the Wagner paramilitary group, now known as Africa Corps, of abuses. 'Violent methods'
The alliance with JNIM has led some analysts to argue the FLA should be classified as a terrorist group.
“It has entered into an explicit operational alliance with JNIM, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, to carry out coordinated actions against strategic Malian positions,” Ahmadou Touré, director of the Bamako-based Centre for Research on Governance, Mediation and Security in the Sahel, told RFI.
This “hybridisation of separatism and international jihadism” goes beyond a rebellion and threatens Mali’s stability, Touré said.
“Through its violent methods, the FLA threatens Mali’s territorial integrity, causes population displacement and undermines national stability,” he said, adding that claiming a political cause does not justify working with a group designated as terrorist by the UN, the United States and others, or using force against a sovereign state.
“Genuine peace talks require disarmament as a precondition and a clear rejection of terrorism.”
Peace deal collapse
The debate reflects a wider pattern seen in conflicts around the world.
The armed groups that now make up the FLA are the same actors that signed a peace agreement with Bamako in 2015.
The deal reduced violence, kept separatists within the Malian state framework and distanced them from jihadist groups, but its implementation was slow and incomplete.
Mali’s military-led government, which took power after coups in 2020 and 2021, withdrew from the agreement in 2024, creating conditions for renewed conflict.
This article, adapted from the original in French by David Baché, has been lightly edited for clarity.
INTERVIEW
Global press freedom in 'deplorable' state, journalism federation chief tells RFI As the International Federation of Journalists opens the 32nd world congress in its 100-year history, outgoing president Dominique Pradalié condemned the "deplorable" state of global press freedom in an interview with RFI.
More than 300 delegates representing journalists’ unions and organisations around the world are gathering in Paris for the event from 4 to 7 May, hosted by the International Federation of Journalists' (IFJ).
Outgoing IFJ president Dominique Pradalié, whose mandate ends on Monday, called the congress an opportunity "to debate the major challenges facing journalism today, such as surveillance and ongoing impunity for crimes against journalists, artificial intelligence, declining workers’ rights, among many others".
On World Press Freedom day, RFI spoke with Pradalié about the urgency of raising the alarm over the dangers faced by journalists.
Dominique Pradalié: The obstacles for journalists are manifold. They range from direct, specific threats to threats against one’s family. These arrests and disappearances are not just happening in the Sahel or in Africa, they are happening all over the world.
And as president of the International Federation of Journalists, which represents some 600,000 journalists worldwide, we have sounded an alarm bell regarding the deplorable state of press freedom and the terrifying threats that haunt journalists day and night.
On 1 May, we published a global monitoring report highlighting systemic and unprecedented surveillance targeting journalists. As well as traditional phishing emails, fake websites now coexist with state-sponsored spyware, compromising the safety of journalists and the protection of their sources, without any meaningful or active legislative or regulatory oversight. And what is happening? The result is that in 2025, 128 journalists were murdered.
RFI: Two-thirds of these deaths are attributed to Israel, including 86 in Gaza, making it one of the deadliest places in the world for journalists. Yet the protection of journalists in war zones is guaranteed by international law. Why, in your view, are these principles so difficult to apply in Gaza today?
DP: In Gaza, a genocide is under way. To prevent any testimony, the Israeli army, the Israeli government – dominated by the far right – has decided to target all journalists. At least 250 have been killed in two years. A massacre that no one, even in their worst nightmares, would have imagined possible.
You mentioned international conventions. Nothing specific exists for the protection of journalists. Absolutely nothing. They are considered civilians, that is all. Civilians are more or less protected depending on the parties involved and the nature of the wars.
But journalists need specific protection. After working extensively with international lawyers, we have drawn up a convention, a text against impunity. Nothing exists at the international level against impunity for the murderers of journalists. And this text provides, in particular, for permanent annual monitoring. This means that every country, every year, will have to report on what it has done to promote press freedom.
Independent international teams will be deployed to investigate in countries where journalists have been killed and where justice has not been served. They will attempt to find not only the killers but also the instigators, and bring them to justice.
RFI: Is there currently evidence available in any of these cases that could help establish clear accountability?
DP: Absolutely. I’ll give three examples. In Serbia and in Greece, there have been acquittals very recently for the murderers of journalists, on the grounds that it wasn’t fully proven that they had actually tried to kill them. I’ll leave it to you to interpret and understand what these words might mean for the family and for the profession. These journalists were deliberately killed. The third example is in Latin America, and there are numerous examples in Mexico where [journalists] are effectively being hunted down.
But I am thinking of our Lebanese colleague Amal Khalil, who was deliberately targeted, warned that she would be targeted if she continued, and who was murdered – just like Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin four years ago.
In other words, governments no longer bother with any precautions whatsoever. They simply decide to eliminate inconvenient witnesses. And that is impunity, pure and simple. It is a cancer eating away at all democracies. And since journalists are part of the proper functioning of democracy, every country – and France has not yet taken a stand – must publicly declare its support for an international convention against impunity.
If this is not done by 2 November, the day designated by the United Nations to condemn impunity for the killers of journalists, everything will seem like a joke.
Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, pictured on 22 March, 2026, was killed on 22 April, 2026. AP - Mohammed Zaatari
RFI: In the United States, President Donald Trump’s rhetoric against the media is consistently confrontational. There too, press freedom is under serious threat.
DP: Donald Trump is setting a bad example to the whole world. This man isn’t controversial just because he is president of the United States, and that is an important office. This man lies constantly. I think it was the New York Herald or the Washington Post, I can’t remember which of the two, in its list covering his two terms, reported that the US president had told more than 2,000 lies.
The press is trying to do its job, lies or no lies, and the politicians on the other side are doing what they can to keep their seats and their illegal, illiberal and harmful practices for the whole world.
RFI: How can the IFJ take concrete action in the face of the increasing number of attacks on press freedom?
DP: Well, we go out into the field whenever we can. I do it very often. Members of our executive committee do it. We file complaints, and we’re going to bring all these complaints together at an international level.
We have a pool of international lawyers who will begin working publicly on Monday at the opening of the world congress in Paris to create specific international legal remedies for all journalists, so that they are no longer hunted down like game, but can, on behalf of everyone, fulfil their mission in the public interest.
RFI: What measures can you put in place to provide concrete protection for reporters in the field?
DP: Well, there are two types of measures for journalists, before and during their trips. We run a huge number of training courses for journalists – as you will understand, we keep these discreet, and the countries involved are also discreet – to train them in warfare techniques, espionage techniques and protection techniques.
And then, on the ground, we provide aid in Ukraine in particular, but also in Gaza. We have three aid centres in Gaza, where we provide protective equipment and all sorts of forms of daily assistance. That’s part of our day to day work. The same is true in Sudan, and it’s true in Iran too, where we do what we can. But there too, we’re discreet above all else. So, we’re providing training and direct support through our affiliates. We have 188 affiliates worldwide. We’re not doing enough, but at least we’re doing something.
RFI: Is press freedom making progress in any part of the world?
DP: I won’t go through all 148 countries where we have affiliates in detail, but I would say that there are indeed a number of countries [where this is the case], such as Uruguay, from where I have just returned. There, in the name of press freedom, they are creating a press council and a specific chamber set aside in the Uruguayan parliament. And this is something could be done everywhere for journalists, to demonstrate the importance a government attaches to press freedom.
This article has been adapted from the original interview in French by Olivier Chermann and lightly edited for clarity.
Friday, May 01, 2026
Mali rebels seize key military camp as junta forces and Russians retreat
Bamako (AFP) – Mali's army and its Russian mercenary allies surrendered a strategic northern military stronghold to armed rebels on Friday, as Tuareg separatists and jihadists waged a unified front to bring down the country's junta.
Forces at Mali's Tessalit military base, a "super-camp" near the Algerian border, surrendered and were scattering southward, an official from the Tuareg-dominated FLA separatist group told AFP.
The FLA's allies, jihadists from the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), are calling for cooperation to bring down the junta that has run Mali since 2020.
Friday's assault follows large-scale, fatal attacks at the weekend by the separatist and jihadist rebels on key junta strongholds across Mali.
And it comes just one day after JNIM began a road blockade on the capital, Bamako. Only people already in the city were allowed to leave.
A security source in Gao, south of Tessalit, told AFP that "no clashes took place" during the rebel forces' capture of Tessalit, and that regular troops had already evacuated when the assailants entered.
A local elected official confirmed to AFP that the Russians had also abandoned their position there.
Tessalit serves as a strategic base due to its geographical location and features a well-maintained airstrip capable of accommodating helicopters and other large military aircraft.
It had hosted a significant number of Malian troops and their Russian allies, in addition to a substantial quantity of military equipment.
"Tessalit is the oldest base built by the colonial power (France)", a military officer told AFP, adding that its position in the far north offered "a panoramic view of the entire Sahara".
Push to take north
The coordinated weekend attacks marked the largest assault in the west African country in nearly 15 years.
The fierce fighting at various locations, including around Bamako, resulted in the death of at least 23 people and killed defence minister Sadio Camara, a key junta figure.
A government tribute was held for the 47-year-old minister on Thursday, who died as a result of a car bomb at his residence in Kati, a garrison town near Bamako.
During the series of attacks, the militants took the northern city of Kidal.
The Tuareg rebels later predicted they would conquer the country's north and the junta would "fall".
In recent years, Mali, like neighbouring junta-led Burkina Faso and Niger, has cut ties with colonial power France and moved closer to Russia.
Russia has sent in mercenaries to help fight a long-running jihadist insurgency.
The three west African neighbours banded together to form the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which created a joint force it says numbers some 15,000 men.
The government of Niger said late on Thursday that the three countries had "conducted intense air campaigns" following the attacks in Mali on Saturday.
While that assault marked a turning point in JNIM's fight against the Malian junta, it was far from the jihadists' only campaign in recent times.
Late last year, JNIM attempted to cripple the Malian economy by imposing blockades on the supply of petrol and diesel being trucked in from abroad, particularly from Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal.
Russia vows to keep forces in Mali despite warning from separatists to withdraw
Russia said on Thursday its forces would remain in Mali and continue backing the country’s military rulers, rejecting demands from Tuareg separatists to withdraw after surprise attacks forced Russian troops out of a key northern town.
Alongside jihadist forces, Tuareg rebels launched coordinated attacks across the country last weekend.
The offensive forced Russia’s Africa Corps paramilitary unit to pull out of Kidal, a strategic northern town that Russian forces helped the Malian army recapture from Tuareg rebels in 2023, prompting speculation about a wider pull-out.
A Kremlin spokesperson denied Russian forces were planning to leave Mali. “Russia is present there in connection with the necessity declared by the authorities,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
“Russia will continue, including in Mali, to fight against extremism, terrorism and other negative manifestations. And it will continue to provide assistance to the current authorities.”
Russian paramilitary forces provide key support to Mali’s military junta, which has been in power since 2020 and is battling insurgents in a long-running conflict in the north.
Defence Minister Sadio Camara, a central figure in the military government and the driving force behind Mali’s partnership with Russian mercenaries, was killed in an attack on his residence on Saturday.
On Thursday, a ceremony was held to commemorate Camara, who was killed when a truck packed with explosives was driven into his compound in Kati, outside the capital, Bamako.
The service at the military engineering battalion's grounds in Bamako was attended by the defence ministers of Niger and Burkina Faso, which, together with Mali, form the Alliance of Sahel States.
Dressed in combat fatigues, junta leader Assimi Goita paid tribute to Camara by bowing before his coffin, draped in Mali’s flag.
The minister's funeral service was due to take place later on Thursday.
The 47-year-old, who received military training in Russia, was widely regarded as the architect of the junta’s turn towards Moscow and away from former colonial ruler France.
Separatist warning
Kati was one of a number of strategic junta positions that were attacked on Saturday by jihadist fighters from JNIM, a group linked to Al-Qaeda, and Tuareg separatists from the Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA.
A spokesperson for the FLA said it wanted Russia to "withdraw permanently" from all its positions in Mali.
During a visit to Paris on Wednesday, spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane told French news agency AFP that the rebels intend to take control of other strongholds including Gao and Timbuktu.
"The regime will fall, sooner or later," he said.
Mali has faced a security crisis since 2012, fuelled by violence from groups linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, as well as separatist movements and criminal gangs.
Like neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, Mali has shifted politically and militarily towards Moscow.
Russia’s Africa Corps is overseen by the defence ministry in Moscow and succeeded the Wagner paramilitary force, whose founder Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash in August 2023, two months after leading a mutiny against Russia’s military leadership.
(with newswires)
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Mali: France urges citizens to leave amid Tuareg advance
With Tuareg-led rebels saying the ruling junta in Mali will fall "sooner or later" and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops, the French Foreign Ministry has called on French nationals to leave the country.
Paris says the security situation in the former French colony remains 'volatile'
Image: AFP
France has urged its nationals in Mali to leave the country "as soon as possible" amid continuing attacks by Tuareg-led rebel forces who have claimed that the ruling junta will "fall sooner or later" and demanded that Russian forces also withdraw from "all of Mali."
The French Foreign Ministry said the security situation in the former French colony remains "volatile" following a coordinated assault by Tuareg-dominated separatists allied with the al-Qaeda-linked Jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
In the largest attacks in Mali in nearly 15 years, the rebel alliance, the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), has captured the strategic northern desert town of Kidal and killed Defense Minister Sadio Camara, seen as the mastermind behind the military government's pivot away from the West and towards Russia in recent years.
Mali: Russian Africa Corps admits losses
Russian troops from Moscow's Africa Corps, who have provided security for the junta, admitted they have "sustained losses" but provided no further details.
"Our objective is for Russia to withdraw permanently from Azawad and beyond," said FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, referring to the northern part of Mali in which the rebels would like to declare an independent state.
"We have no particular problem with Russia, nor with any other country," he said. "Our problem is with the regime that governs [in the capital] Bamako."
Nevertheless, he said the Russian troops were still viewed negatively for their role in "supporting people who committed serious crimes and massacres."
In Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that Africa Corps fighters had been forced to withdraw from Kidal, with Ramadane saying they had been escorted out of town.
"The Russians found themselves in danger; there was no way out," he said. "When they realized they could not hold out against our forces and our firepower, they requested this withdrawal." Mali junta 'will fall sooner or later,' say rebels
Ramadane, who was set to meet French security and defense officials in Paris on Wednesday, claimed that FLA troops had won "all the confrontations we had with the Russians" who he said were no match for Tuaregs who are defending their homeland.
"Even if they are a powerful force, they will not be able to stand up to the Azawadians, the masters of the terrain," he said.
The leader of Mali's military government vowed on Tuesday to "neutralize" those responsible for the attacks, but Ramadane said that the FLA also intends to "liberate" the towns of Gao and Timbuktu along the River Niger.
"To achieve peace, to find stability in Azawad, in Mali and beyond in the Sahel, the first thing is to get rid of this junta," he said. "The regime will fall, sooner or later." Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru
Insurgent alliance strikes at heart of Mali’s junta, exposing limits of Russian protection
Mali’s ruling junta was reeling on Monday after coordinated attacks by separatists and al Qaeda-linked jihadists sparked two days of fierce fighting across the country. It was the most serious challenge to Mali's central government since a 2012 rebel offensive was pushed back by the intervention of French forces.
Mali has been plunged into its worse security crisis in more than a decade after Tuareg separatists and al Qaeda-linked jihadist fighters joined forces to launch sweeping attacks on Saturday, delivering a huge setback for its ruling military junta and its Russian allies.
Insurgents struck the main army base outside the capital Bamako and killed General Sadio Camara, the country’s defence minister, further undermining the junta’s claim that it is restoring order to impoverished West African nation that has long battled Islamist militants and separatist rebellions. The violence also saw rebel forces drive Russian mercenaries out of the key northern city of Kidal.
It was the most sweeping rebel offensive since 2012, when Tuareg separatists joined forces with Islamist groups and eventually seized control of two-thirds of the country. As fighters advanced on the capital, Mali’s government appealed to former colonial ruler France for reinforcements. After France helped oust the Islamists, the subsequent presence of French troops and a UN peacekeeping mission helped ensure a wary peace over most of the next decade.
A 2020 military coup in Mali saw relations with France deteriorate, and by 2022 France had withdrawn the last of its troops despite a jihadist resurgence.
But history now appears to be repeating itself, with many of the same players on the ground – alongside some new elements that further complicate Mali’s search for stability. · Defence minister killed, key town captured
Several strategic towns and areas around Bamako were targeted in Saturday’s dawn offensive by Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and the al Qaeda-linked jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
Defence Minister Sadio Camara, seen as the military regime’s second-most-powerful figure and a key Moscow ally, was killed in an apparent suicide truck bombing on his residence in Kati, a garrison town near Bamako that serves as the junta’s headquarters.
JNIM fighters also struck near Bamako airport and in localities farther north, including Mopti, Sevare and Gao.
In another major blow to the junta, FLA rebels claimed “total” control of their historic northern bastion of Kidal, where they secured the withdrawal of junta-allied mercenaries from Russia’s Africa Corps, which has taken over from the Wagner paramilitary group in much of Africa.
General Assimi Goita, the military ruler who deposed Mali’s civilian government in a 2020 coup, has not been seen or spoken publicly since the start of hostilities.
“This is a dramatic setback for the Malian government and a new phase in the ongoing insurgency in the Sahel,” said Andrew Leibovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Conflict Research Unit focusing on North Africa and the Sahel.
“The fact that they were able to assemble so many fighters, particularly in and around Bamako and Kati, without detection and without the government being able to stop them, indicates how tenuous the security situation is, even around the capital,” he added. · JNIM and FLA: Who are the insurgent forces?
One of Africa's deadliest jihadist groups, JNIM formed in 2017 through the merger of five separate militant groups. It has been the main force behind a resurgence of jihadist attacks across several West African nations, including Mali’s neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger.
The group is believed to have around 6,000 fighters. Its leader is Iyad Ag Ghaly, the ethnic Tuareg head of the Ansar Dine Islamist group that took over the historic city of Timbuktu in northern Mali in 2012 and imposed sharia law there.
JNIM aims to establish Islamist governance across the Sahel. Its years-long insurgency broadened to economic warfare last year when it staged a fuel blockade that paralysed Bamako and large swaths of the country.
But experts have cast doubt on the group’s ability to govern.
“JNIM fighters don’t have the capacity to take and run a city like Bamako. What they are trying to do is to target major regime figures, destabilise the junta and perhaps spark an uprising,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel Program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Mali has been grappling with ethnic Tuareg rebellions since shortly after it gained independence from France in 1960. The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), officially formed in November 2024, is just their latest iteration.
Present across the Sahara region, nomadic Tuaregs are fighting for an independent homeland they call "Azawad". In 2012, it was the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) that first swept through northern Mali until its campaign was hijacked by Islamist groups.
Mali struck a peace deal with Tuareg separatists in 2015, but the military junta withdrew from the agreement in 2024, leading to a resumption of hostilities.
In July 2024, Tuareg fighters attacked a convoy of Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters in the north, claiming to have killed 84 Russians and 47 Malian soldiers. Ukraine's military intelligence service then suggested it had helped the Tuareg rebels carry out the attack by providing intelligence, and Mali responded by cutting ties with Kyiv. · ‘A shaky, ad hoc alliance’
Saturday’s coordinated attacks mark the first time since 2012 that jihadists and Tuareg separatists have cooperated on this scale, providing the most concrete evidence yet of a rapprochement negotiated more than a year ago, according to FRANCE 24’s expert in jihadist networks Wassim Nasr.
“We now have proof that there is genuine coordination across the country: all these attacks took place simultaneously,” Nasr explained.
“The aim was not to bring down Bamako, but to tie down the army in order to cut off the north and gain control of it,” he added. “There is a clear coordination to resume fighting against the Malian junta, but also against the Russians."
An FLA spokesperson confirmed the coordinated push on Sunday, stating that JNIM “is also committed to defending the people against the military regime in Bamako”.
However, analysts caution that the two groups have relatively little in common aside from a common enemy, suggesting theirs could be little more than an alliance of convenience.
“They both know they can’t really force regime change on their own – that's why they are teaming up the way they did in 2012,” said Laessing. “The jihadists eventually got rid of the Tuaregs back then, so this is a very shaky, ad hoc alliance, and not something that can run Mali.”
· Twin blows for the junta
Saturday’s brazen attacks on the heart of government, coupled with the fall of Kidal, constitute major setbacks for a military junta that seized power in 2020 on a promise to stabilise the country and assert the central government’s control throughout its territory.
Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the rebellion before being taken by junta forces and mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner. Its capture in late 2023 marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its allies in Moscow.
The attacks on Kati and Bamako, and the killing of Defence Minister Camara, are “an even greater blow to the junta’s confidence”, said Paul Melly, Consulting Fellow on the Africa Programme at Chatham House.
“The fact that they could even launch a truck bomb at the house of the regime’s number two shows the fragility of the regime’s military hold. Even in Kati, basically the headquarters of the junta, they could not guarantee the security of their most senior figures,” he said.
“The reason the military junta took over from civilian authorities was because of the mounting insecurity in the region, under the promise that they would quell the violence. But the data shows that insecurity in Mali and across the Sahel region has only worsened,” added Folahanmi Aina, a lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.
He pointed to early signs of a “legitimacy crisis” for the regime.
“While part of the population remains supportive of the junta, we’re beginning to see an erosion of trust in its ability to address the situation on the ground and guarantee the safety and security of the Malian people,” Aina said.
· Russia's African ambitions undermined
The fall of Kidal and the failure to thwart attacks on Bamako and Kati have also exposed the limits of Russian military power in West Africa.
Russia’s Africa Corps confirmed its withdrawal from Kidal on Monday, acknowledging that “the situation in the Republic of Mali remains difficult”. Moscow also lost a key ally with the killing of Defence Minister Camara, a key architect of the rapid shift in alliances that saw the junta expel French and UN forces and turn to Russia for military support.
“The attacks show that Russian mercenaries only have a limited capacity, in stark contrast to the situation before the coup, when Mali had a military partnership with France and there was a very large UN peacekeeping force of 13,000-14,000 soldiers, many of them West African, which helped to maintain a basic degree of security and stability,” said Chatham House’s Melly.
“The French never really had a chance to pacify this vast country and the Russians even less so,” added Laessing. “In fact, they (the Russian mercenaries) made the conflict worse by being brutal and not distinguishing between civilians and combatants, which has made it easier for jihadists to recruit fighters.”
The regime’s political isolation – and that of allied juntas in Burkina Faso and Niger, which have also severed ties with France and left the ECOWAS group of West African states – has left them with few other options to confront the security emergency, he added.
“Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are on a nationalist, anti-Western course and it is not clear who will want to engage with them,” Laessing explained. “I don’t think Europe or France will be willing or even welcome to put boots on the ground to help stabilise the situation, which is probably beyond a military solution anyway.”
Street battles and withdrawal of Russian mercenaries: Inside the 48-hour fall of Mali’s Kidal The Azawad Liberation Front and the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) launched an offensive against several Malian towns on April 25. In the north, the city of Kidal was recaptured following a three-year presence of Russian and Malian forces. Verified footage offers a window into these two days of tensions.
FLA fighters pose in Kidal’s main square after seizing control of the city on April 25. Location: 18°26'48.17"N 1°24'32.56"E Source: X / Wamaps_news / Guillaumem_MRC
The assault began at 6am. Six Malian cities found themselves under fire. In Kidal and Gao, the offensive was led by a coalition comprising the FLA and the al Qaeda-linked Jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
A morning of heavy fighting on the outskirts of Kidal
An FLA commander told the FRANCE 24 Observers team that checkpoints at the city’s entrance fell within the first hour of fighting. The Tuareg rebel, originally from the area, said that the city fell to the coalition by early afternoon.
Around noon, a video shows vehicles belonging to the JNIM or the FLA circulating freely past a military camp north of Kidal. With a Starlink receiver mounted on the hood of their car, the armed men drove past the building without stopping.
An account supporting the FLA independence movement shared a video showing militants bypassing a military camp north of Kidal. Location: 18°27'27.73"N 1°24'4.54"E Source: Facebook / AlkassimAgAhouchel.1990
Within the city, fighting was concentrated around the police station, where Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) soldiers had taken up defensive positions. The building’s perimeter was breached at approximately 2pm.
Footage published on April 25 shows armed FLA militants parading a Kidal police car they have captured. Source: X / XNewsUncensored
Symbolic sites
Another symbolic victory was claimed as the Kidal governorate fell into the hands of separatists. This building served as the administrative headquarters for General El Hadj Ag Gamou, the governor of the region, following the Malian junta’s return in 2023. As the leader of the Imghad Tuareg Self-Defence Group and Allies (Gatia), Gamou has remained loyal to the junta.
By late afternoon, a pro-FLA account released a video showing independence forces hoisting their flag atop the building.
Footage shows FLA members raising the group’s flag atop the Kidal governorate. Location: 18°26'58.81"N 1°24'12.59"E source: X / Guillaumem_MRC
The FLA and JNIM also claim to have captured soldiers from the Malian army. The former UN base south of Kidal: a strategic stronghold
Located on the southern outskirts of the city, the former camp of MINUSMA, the former UN mission in Mali, served as a strategic stronghold. While encircled and entrenched within the base, Russian Africa Corps mercenaries were reportedly targeted by drone strikes and mortar fire from the FLA.
To organise their evacuation, negotiations between the FLA and Russian forces reportedly began as early as April 25, according to the pro-independence source the Observers team spoke to. Russian troops were evacuated from the former UN base the following day, at approximately 4 or 5pm.
However, resistance from Africa Corps mercenaries also persisted on the fringes of Kidal until the evening of April 25. Our source within the FLA said the mercenaries and Malian troops, entrenched in a turret with precision rifles, were finally evacuated to the MINUSMA camp the following day.
Withdrawal of Russian mercenaries
At 5pm, the Tuareg commander claimed that the independence fighters had taken control of the camp’s exit points. He said the Russian mercenaries burned several installations and vehicles before pulling out.
Our team geolocated a video showing a convoy of vehicles from the Africa Corps mercenaries and the Malian army departing the MINUSMA base and heading north. However, it’s currently impossible to determine where the forces previously stationed in Kidal are repositioning.
This video was published on April 25 by a pro-FLA account. It shows the evacuation of vehicles from the Africa Corps and the FAMA. Location: 18°26'10.28"N 1°24'29.34"E source:X / BayeAg1 / Guillaumem_MRC
The retreating Russian column included heavy weaponry, such as several BM-21 Grad multiple-rocket launchers, and truck-towed artillery pieces.
The total number of casualties remained unknown after a day of intense fighting. While footage emerged on April 25 showing the bodies of Malian soldiers in Kidal, none of the combatant groups has disclosed their losses. Meanwhile, the Malian Armed Forces stated that “the hunt for armed terrorist groups continues in Kidal, Kati, and other locations across the country”.
Global press freedom falls to lowest level in 25 years, RSF warns
Freedom of the press has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, NGO Reporters without Borders (RSF) warned Thursday as it released its annual global ranking. The group reported a worldwide decline in media freedom, citing factors ranging from US President Donald Trump’s “systematic” attacks on the press to actions in Saudi Arabia, where a journalist was executed in 2025.
The NGO's annual ranking, which was established in 2002, uses a five-point scale to asses the level of press freedom in a country, ranging from "very serious" to "good".
This year's index reveals a global trend towards restricting press freedoms.
"For the first time in the index’s 25-year history, more than half the world’s countries now fall into the 'difficult' or 'very serious' categories for press freedom," RSF said.
The proportion of the population living in a country where the press freedom situation is "good" has plummeted, falling from 20% to "less than 1%", it said.
Only seven countries in northern Europe are ranked "good", with Norway receiving the highest rating. France ranks 25th, with a ‘"satisfactory" score.
“In 25 years, the average score for all the countries studied has never been so low,” the NGO said.
The United States, received a "problematic" rating and has dropped seven places to 64th, between Botswana and Panama.
The organisation said US President Donald Trump's attacks on the press had become “systematic” resulting in such incidents as the the detention and subsequent deportation of the Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who was reporting on the arrests of migrants in the United States.
Trump has also overseen a drastic reduction in funding for US international broadcasting.
RSF also highlighted the dramatic falls of El Salvador (143rd), which has dropped 105 places since 2014 following the launch of a war against the Maras criminal gangs, and Georgia(135th), which has fallen 75 places since 2020 due to an “escalation of repression”.
The sharpest decline in 2026 is attributed to Niger (120th, down 37 places) due to the “the deterioration of press freedom in the Sahel over several years”, amid “attacks by armed groups and (the) ruling juntas”, RSF said.
Saudi Arabia (176th, down 14 places), where the columnist Turki al-Jasser was executed by the state in June – “a unique occurrence in the world” – sits alongside Russia, Iran and China at the very bottom of the ranking, which is rounded out by Eritrea (180th).
By contrast, Syria (141st) has leapt 36 places following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Reporters Without Borders head on group's list of 'press freedom predators'
The director general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the "series of crises" affecting journalism. Thibaut Bruttin hit out at the "return of violence against journalists" and the "erosion of support" for the protection of journalism. Bruttin was speaking to us to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. This year, his organisation is unveiling what it calls a list of 34 "press freedom predators" who attacked journalists and the right to information in 2025.
With three in four countries "problematic" or worse, the 2026 World Press Freedom Index offers a bleak picture for global media. The conditions for press freedom are rated "satisfactory" in only a few dozen countries. All data, methodology and code behind this story can be found in this github repository.
In many countries around the world, working as a journalist has become increasingly dangerous
Image: Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhoto/picture alliance
The ability of journalists to work safely and independently is under threat globally, according to the 2026 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The NGO, which has reported on the state of worldwide journalism annually since 2002, defines press freedom as "the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety."
RSF now classifies the press freedom environment as "problematic" or worse in about three-fourths of the 180 countries evaluated. Conditions for media are classified as "difficult" to "very serious" in over half of the countries, RSF found.
In 2013, conditions in fewer than one-third of countries were classified as "difficult" to "very serious." The press freedom environment in seven-tenths was classified as "problematic" or worse.
Though there's a global downward trend, press freedom varies by region. Generally, the freest countries — including the top four: Norway, Estonia, the Netherlands and Denmark — can be found in Europe, while journalists in parts of Africa and Asia face the harshest conditions.
Discrepancies within regions can also be pronounced. In Europe, for example, there's a strong divide between the Southern and Eastern regions, where challenges to press freedom are higher, and the Northern and Western regions, where countries are generally ranked as "satisfactory" to "good." Similarly, journalists in North Africa are, in general, less free than their counterparts in the Southern region of the continent.
Poland and Slovakia take different paths
One example of an interregional divide can be found in the heart of Europe: The press in Poland has become freer, while hostility toward the media is growing in Slovakia. Both countries are classified as "satisfactory," but they are trending in different directions
According to RSF, the turning point for Poland was a change in government. After the Law and Justice party (PiS), which opposed abortion and LGBTQ+ rights and pushed anti-migration policies, was ousted from power in late 2023, the new government toned down verbal attacks and judicial actions against the press.
An election that year also served as a turning point in Slovakia, where, after years in the opposition, Robert Fico began his fourth term as prime minister in 2023.
"He has a long career behind him, and it was always his narrative that journalists are his enemy," said Lukas Diko, the editor-in-chief of the Investigative Center of Jan Kuciak (ICJK), an independent news organization named after a journalist murdered during Fico's third term.
Kuciak had been investigating connections between organized crime groups and businesses in Slovakia that were linked to members of Fico's ruling party. Though Kuciak's killing led to a wave of anti-corruption protests that helped bring down Fico's government in 2018, Diko said attacks on the press had escalated since the prime minister returned to office.
"It's really without any rules," he said.
Diko said the fear caused by the murder of a young journalist and the hostile official rhetoric had discouraged people from careers in reporting.
"Not many young people want to become journalists anymore," he said. "The murder of Kuciak is still something that tells them not to do it — but they also don't want to be verbally attacked on a daily basis."
Attacks on press as a political strategy
Argentina is another country that has sharply dropped in the index. Media advocates say anti-press smear campaigns waged by President Javier Milei, whose hard-right policies favor financial freedoms above all others, have created a hostile climate for journalists. He often uses social media to attack critics, and claims that journalists are "not hated enough."
"When Milei insults a journalist, he is not doing that as Milei, the economist, or Milei, an ordinary citizen," said Fernando Stanich, the president of the Argentine press forum FOPEA, an organization that defends freedom of expression and promotes quality journalism. "He is doing that as the main representative of the Argentinian state. "
Stanich said previous Argentine governments had been hostile to the press — the Peronist Cristina Kirchner had frequently sparred with the media as president from 2007 to 2015 — but, according to FOPEA's monitoring, the current level of verbal attacks on journalists is unprecedented.
Like Argentina's Milei and Slovakia's Fico, US President Donald Trump has insulted and threatened the press since his first campaign for office in 2016. Coincidentally, the United States has also seen a significant drop in its standing in the World Press Freedom Ranking, along with other countries where leaders follow the same playbook — such as El Salvador.
Argentina, Slovakia and the United States show how quickly countries considered relatively stable and democratic can become hostile to journalists. The press has never been free in Eritrea, China, North Korea and Iran, which have long been ruled by authoritarian regimes that silence independent reporting.
According to the RSF report, "armed conflict is the primary reason for [the] decline in press freedom" in countries such as Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen. Since Israel launched its war in Gaza following the Hamas-led terror attacks on October 7, 2023, more than 220 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army, including at least 70 while working, the report states.
Networks fight threats to press freedom
Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova, a professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool, said societal threats to press freedom fell into three main categories. The use of political structures to intimidate or harm journalists, including verbal attacks by public officials and threats of violence and incarceration, is the most obvious indicator of press freedom in decline. But societal and economic factors, such as the targeting of journalists for their gender, race or sexual orientation and the pressures of a precarious media labor market, can also curtail press freedoms.
Slavtcheva-Petkova said journalists could fight such challenges by banding together, as well as by collaborating with organizations that share their values, including rights activists and academics.
"Knowing that there is somebody you can rely on for support is very important," Slavtcheva-Petkova said. "When journalists don't have that, when they don't know whom to turn to for help ... then they feel that what they're experiencing might even be their own fault."
With most journalists worldwide now working in conditions that are problematic at best, as the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index demonstrates, such networks are likely to take on increased importance in the coming years — both within countries and internationally. Only 17 countries improved their press freedom scores from 2013 to 2026; conditions in 163 got worse.
South Africa is one example of a country with robust networks to fight for press freedom. The country has maintained its "satisfactory" rating since 2013, resulting in a steady climb in the rankings as other nations' scores have slipped.
Glenda Daniels, a journalist and professor of media studies at Wits University in Johannesburg, said a strong civil society had helped South Africa maintain its status as press freedom declines globally. Despite challenges common to journalists across the world — including biases against and threats to women in the media and a shrinking labor market — Daniels said strong networks had helped preserve press freedom in South Africa.
Daniels herself serves as secretary-general of the South African National Editors’ Forum, which defends journalists' right to conduct their work. "SANEF is loud and noisy," she said. "It makes a difference to have a strong civil society approach, advocacy and activism."
For the first time, representatives from both sides of Libya's political divide are participating in Flintlock, a multinational military exercise under US leadership. Is this a tentative sign of hope for reunification?
The US-led military exercise Flintlock 2026 kicked off in Sirte, Libya with Libyan special forces training together for the first time
Image: Special Operations Command Africa
Soldiers from around 30 nations are training to fight terrorism, practicing international cooperation and seeking to strengthen the region's fragile stability in Flintlock, a joint military exercise under US leadership. The training takes place in Libya and Ivory Coast through the end of April.
For Libya, which has been split into east and west administrations following years of civil war, it is particularly significant that representatives from both parts of the country are participating in the exercise for the first time. 'Visible rapprochement'
"All things considered, this is a truly remarkable political signal," Hager Ali, a political scientist at the German think tank GIGA Institute in Hamburg, told DW. Flintlock is part of an established US-led military exercise format; however, the location and participants make a difference this time, she said.
"The fact that the exercise is taking place in Libya for the first time and that both rival camps are represented is certainly a special feature," she added, noting that it is evidently part of the longer-term efforts to reunite the armed forces that have been fragmented since the fall of Gaddafi in 2011.
Michael Bauer, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) office in Tunis, agrees. "The publicly staged handshake between the two rival camps represents a rare, visible sign of rapprochement," he said. This demonstrates that cooperation is possible, at least at the operational level — albeit still under external mediation, particularly by the US, he told DW.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Libya's commander of the east, General Khalifa Haftar, have a shared interest in Libya's resourcesImage: Gavriil Grigorov/SNA/IMAGO Dysfunctional state
This cautious rapprochement under American pressure involves a country that still barely functions as a state. "The country lacks a unified, functional government structure with a clear delineation between the executive, legislative and judicial branches," the recently published Bertelsmann Transformation Index 2026 states.
In other words, political and economic power is divided between rival governments, armed groups and other regional actors, resulting in a fragmented political environment that hinders the establishment of effective democratic rule.
Libya has been divided since 2014 between two rival governments. In the west, the UN-recognized Government of National Unity in Tripoli. In the east, the Government of National Stability in Tobruk is backed by General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army.
Against this backdrop, any form of cooperation is remarkable — and the military exercise is not the only example. Recently, for the first time in many years, a joint national budget was adopted. North Africa expert Bauer views this as a "tangible sign of institutional rapprochement," but warns against unrealistic expectations.
Hager Ali, too, considers this to be only one possible step in a longer process. "The joint budget could help rebalance economic power structures — particularly vis-à-vis influential actors such as General Khalifa Haftar, who rules the eastern part of the country and whose network is deeply embedded in Libya's economic structures," she said, adding that at least, it represents an attempt to centralize political and economic leverage more strongly.
Other factors at play
Both analysts emphasize that the motives behind theUS-led military exercise extend far beyond Libya. The focus is on counterterrorism across the entire Sahel region, the increasing spread of weapons there — for example as a result of the war in Sudan — and efforts to push back Russian influence. Hager Ali points in particular to Moscow's presence in eastern Libya, noting that "the US in particular is clearly seeking to counter this more strongly."
Libya is increasingly become a stage for international strategic competition due to its geographical location in North Africa and oil resources.
"Libya's oil production, stable for now under informal arrangements but structurally fragile, matters more than usual," the Washington-based think tank Middle East Institute (MEI) recently stated.
This could present an opportunity for Libya, however, domestic political dynamics remain unpredictable, and key questions regarding the distribution of power and resources continue to be disputed among rival centers of power. "Succession in Libya is unlikely to be resolved solely through formal legal mechanisms," the MEI analysis says. Isolated signs of cooperation are unlikely to make much of a difference in addressing this structural problem.
Libya's location along the Mediterranean Sea in North Africa, and its vast oil and gold ressources, are considered strategically attractive for foreign countries
Image: Hussein Malla/AP Photo/picture alliance
Economic tensions
"Libya's current fiscal path is unsustainable. Persistently large fiscal deficits are intensifying pressures on the exchange rate, international reserves and inflation," the International Monetary Fund assessed in a recent study. High public spending, inflation, and currency pressures are placing pressure on the population and exacerbating social tensions. Reforms have long been considered urgently necessary but remain politically difficult to implement.
Despite the recent signs of cooperation, North Africa analyst Michael Bauer sees likttle chance in the near future of substantial progress between the conflicting parties and their leaders. "The division gives them access to resources and ensures their influence," he told DW. "The tentative attempts at cooperation have so far been little more than collaboration deemed useful by both sides," the Libya expert added.
For Libyans, this means that cooperation on military exercises and the national budget could indeed be a first step. However, as long as the key political actors continue to profit from Libya's division and maintain their power structures, a strong and united Libya is likely to remain an illusion. This article was first published in German. Kersten Knipp Political editor
